During the Carnival Season, our ears are exposed to various melodies, some of which are rooted in folk music. Once such example is ‘sans humanité’.
‘Sans humanité’ or ‘Santimanitay’ is a popular French phrase which means ‘without mercy’. It is commonly heard in Extempo music, sung when the singers end their band chorus, or in Kalinda/ Stickfighting chants. As a challenge refrain, it signals a battle atmosphere where two opponents go head-to-head in a verbal or skill battle.
Lise Winer (2009) noted that “Verbal aggression and encounter, very much part pf the Calinda tradition, remained as a central feature of the Sans Humanité songs, whose refrain sans humanité, is considered to have been a retention from the violent stickfighting songs. (Rohlehr, 1990).”
Below is a rendition of an extempo chorus on the Tenor Steelpan as well as its musical notation.
Enjoy!
Sources:
Winer, Lise. Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago: On Historical Principles. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP, 2009.
Rohlehr, Gordon. Calypso and Society in Pre-Independence Trinidad. POS, 1990.
Sans humanité: scored by Rawle-Ann Gibbons © 2026
Sans humanité
