2. Bellwork  Define Terms:  Oko: a Yoruba god, a member of the Nigerian Orisha pantheon, guardian of crops and fertility.  Ethos: the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.  Elegba—twisted-limbed gatekeeper.  Glossolalia: the ecstatic ritual language.  Beg Pardon: a song which is used to invoke and invite the spirit ancestors to the dance.

3. Announcements  Test on Carriacou is Tuesday, September 24 th  Reading #6 will be due on this Friday, September 20 th.

4. Oko Picture

5. Guided Notes: The Bicycle Wheel of polyrhythms  Picture  Bicycle wheel analogy: One rhythm is the density referent, a pattern that is like the center of a bicycle wheel.  This part is usually played by the loudest instrument, with a distinctive timbre like a bell or rattle.  Held together by this central reference point, these other parts are like the spokes of a wheel.  If there is a troublesome part, he must drop out and reenter correctly.

6. CFU: Polyrhythm  A volunteer will play a loud steady beat on the drum.  Clap twice during the beat  Clap three times during the beat.  Half the class claps 2, the other half 3

7. A new rhythm is born!  Instead of 1 2, 1 2 or 1 2 3, 1 2 3 we get…. 1 2 + 3

8. Guided Notes: Polyrhythms in the Big Drum  As the chantwell begins the song, the metal idiophone signals in a familiar African bell-gong mode.  The boli is the center of the rhythmic wheel—it maintains a steady beat so the cutter and boulas can build rhythms around it.  Each song incorporates a name—of an ancestor, the subject of the song, the song composer, or, in the oldest songs, places such as Haiti, Dahomey, Arada or the Congo.

9. Dates, the non-edible kind.  The three types of big drum dances are Nation, Creole and Frivolous.  18 th Century: Nation  19 th Century: Creole  20 th Century: Frivolous

10. Video Example #5 Questions  Describe the first dancers—are they standing upright, or bent closer to the ground?  When the girl dancer solos, why does she stand so close to the cutter drummer?

11. Video Example #5 Facts  People of the oldest generation feel that loss of knowledge about one’s origins may be recuperated through one’s affinity to or enticement by the boula pattern that identifies one’s nation.  In this way, music is a form of repatriation.  Deep spiritual practices underlie those that are now observed in the big drum such as healing and possession rituals.  Nation dances were danced in a low crouched position, with a crooked body contour.

12. CFU: Race matters.  We’ve studied two countries, Trinidad and Carriacou, where the people have struggled to find a concept of identity.  Write down your ethnicity.  On your chart of Pros and Cons list at least 4 reasons why is it good to be the ethnicity you are.  What are 4 struggles have you faced because of it?

13. Write your own notes  The cast of characters in the big drum dance include a divine pantheon of ancestors.  The defining social characteristics of the nation songs are elements of religious supplication and ancestral veneration.  Personal enmities among the enslaved revealed themselves in other song types; conflicts that were brought to the dance ring could be resolved within the spiritual space.

14. Video example #6: Questions  What type of people (young/old, girls/boys) are dancing the first dance?  Name some of the tones the drummers are using.  What are they sprinkling in the ring? Why?

15. Just da facs Listening Example #6  Centered on the unification of the 9 nation congress.  In the Big Drum, classes were equalized and divisions lessened through the cyclic nature of  A. saraka food giving,  B. ritual activity  C. the focus of the big drum  These combined activities worked towards social compromise.

16. Review from Thursday: Listening Example#4  This is known as a creole dance. Creole songs were introduced in the 19 th century.  Dance classifications express generation and gender.  This dance was for the older people to dance to so, It is slower.  The variety of themes in Creole songs are framed by social concerns elucidated by extended poetic forms.  Creole songs are accompanied by syncretic secular dances such as the bele and hallecord, which exhibit European dance qualities such as an uplifted stance and ballroom footwork.

17. CFU: Venn Diagram  On your venn diagram, compare and contrast the characteristics of nation songs and creole songs.  Questions to think about:  How are the dance styles different?  What language dominates each?  What is the subject matter about?  When were they created?

18. Take your own Notes  At the same time a desire for social differentiation and stratification was implicit in the code of ethnic categorization.  For example: As new peoples such as the scotch igbo entered society, a new racial classification as well as a new dance style was invented.  In a way formulated to create tradition, the introduction of a place or a personal name in each song imposed history on memory and validated the individual’s identity.

19. The Point  “The concept of nation, as held in Carriacou slave culture, is less a geographical ideal than a cultural principle that celebrates the connection between living and ancestral systems as well as between human ethnic groups.  As such, it promotes the value of history and the individual. Homeland longing is intense; lonliness and alienation are central themes in the Bongo repertoire.  By contrast, in the parabolic nation songs meanings remain unfathomable, although elements of religious supplication, ancestor adoration, and healing practices emerge to dominate the focus of the oldest songs.”

20. Exit Ticket  Who is Elegba?  Explain the bicycle wheel analogy:  Name the three aspects of the Big drum dance that equalized the classes:  Who are the cast of characters that make-up the big drum dance?  Complete this sentence: People of the oldest generation feel that…