Adjust the volume to a comfortable level when playing a CD, then listen closely to the music. It has a long history. Much of the music of the Bahamas has been played for centuries. For example, junkanoo developed as a way for slaves to talk to one another and helped bring about the largest slave revolt in the Bahamas. It is unclear where the term "junkanoo" came from. It may have originated as a corruption of the name of John Canoe, a slave, or it may refer to the "junk" employed to make the instruments used for the first junkanoo festival in the 1700s.
Listen to a calypso CD. Originating in Trinidad, calypso is a form of island music with easy-going rhythms that is popular with tourists, according to travel site Bahamas Gateway. Typical instruments used in contemporary calypso include drum, bass, electric guitar and others.
Keep an open mind when listening to rake 'n' scrape music. This older music form continues to be performed in the Bahamas. Makeshift instruments, such as a paper-covered comb serving as a harmonica; a worn carpenter's saw; a bass instrument composed of a tub, fishing line and wood; a goatskin drum and a conch-shell horn all make up the rake 'n' scrape group. An accordion may also be used, as in the Ed Moxley band. If you have heard zydeco music from Louisiana, then such songs as "Big Belly Man" from this group will sound familiar.
Buy a Bahamian reggae CD by the artist Irate. Like other artists in the Caribbean, he has been influenced by hip-hop music. Because of this influence, his music may seem more accessible to the average listener than other forms of Bahamian music.
Listen to various artists. Besides the Baha Men, well-known artists from the Bahamas include Maxwell Taylor, Stan Burnside and Amos Ferguson.