A look into ‘sans humanité’
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
