Kaiso is a type of music popular in Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 and other Islands of the Caribbean such as Grenada

Grenada

Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

, St. Lucia, Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 and St. Kitts & Nevis which originated in West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

, and later evolved into Calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

. Kaiso songs are generally narrative in form and often have a cleverly concealed political subtext. Kaiso performers are known as Kaisonians. 　

The term kaiso is said to derive from a Hausa

Hausa language

Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...

 word used as an exclamation of approval, such as "Bravo!" http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Default.aspx?tabid=138 The word is often used synonymously with calypso today, but often with the connotation that the former is more authentic, showing approval consistent with its original meaning.

In Barbados, kaiso refers to a form of stage presented calypso, such as at the crop over

Crop over

Crop Over , is a traditional harvest festival which began in Barbados, having had its early beginnings on the sugar cane plantations during the colonial period. The crop over tradition began in 1688, and featured singing, dancing and accompaniment by bottles filled with water, shak-shak, banjo,...

festival.