The Music of the Carribean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvMaMbEN_RY

Caribbean Islands share a colonial history the region born in slavery indentured laborers European laws, languages, religions, and economies Descendants, over the course of several centuries, became Creoles and Caribbean nationals. Creole experiences are audible in the region’s musical instruments and styles.

Combined African and European musical practices, African rhythmic concepts such as: timelines clave call-and-response syncopation interlocking parts 3+3+2 patterns

Syncretism the result of a fusion, or reconciliation, of differing cultures, mixing belief systems, religion, and music, the success of which is the result of the heterogeneity

Clave Pattern

Garinagu also known as Garifuna, a diaspora of people of West African and Amerindian descent, who settled along the Caribbean coast of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua during the nineteenth century Garinagu is the name of the people of West African and Amerindian descent who settled along the Caribbean coast of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua during the nineteenth century. Garifuna is another, more common name for this people. The beginnings of the Garifuna trace to the island of St. Vincent, one of the few places in the Caribbean where Amerindians were able to successfully resist the colonial encounter well into the seventeenth century. On St. Vincent, the Amerindians met and intermarried with two shiploads of Africans who had swum to shore after their slave ships wrecked in a storm on the way to Barbados around 1635. The Garifuna, known in St. Vincent as the Black Caribs, eventually found themselves at war with and technologically outmatched by the British, who had become increasingly interested in St. Vincent during the course of the eighteenth century. The Garifuna, led by a chief named Chatuye, were eventually defeated in 1796——a defeat that prompted a massive (and forced) Garifuna migration with eventual resting points in places like Guatemala and Nicaragua. This migration began with the exile in 1797 of some 2,000 Garifuna to Roatan Island off the coast of Honduras. The dispersal of the Garifuna from St. Vincent has led many to refer to the Garifuna Nation throughout the diaspora. In 1802, Garifuna from Honduras began settling in Belize (then British Honduras), and on November 19, 1832 many of the exiles from Roatan Island joined the Garifuna who had already settled there, a day that, since 1977, has been recognized as Garifuna Settlement Day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBb4R95EAoI

Creole a person of mixed African and European ancestry, who speaks a Creolized language, based on French, Spanish, or English, and an African language

Rake-n-Scrape Music in the Bahamas Rake-n-scrape –– a traditional Bahamian music played on accordion, saw, and goat-skin drum

The accordion most commonly is a two-row button accordion the saw is literally a carpenter’s saw goat-skin drum is African derived Rake-n-scrape ensembles traditionally accompanied quadrille dancing and are an example of Creole musical style Ophie and the Websites “40 Years” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMb1fvcGsj0

Quadrille 19th century French-derived dance for four or more couples, found in the Caribbean islands In the past in conjunction with Rake and Scrape http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g_ruzfW0yQ

Calypso and Steel bands in Trinidad

Calypso a traditional French-Creole humorous song that comments on life in the Caribbean chantwells, assisted by drums and alternating in call-and-response, were a central component of the practice called kalenda (stick-fighting). In 1883, drumming was banned in an attempt to clean it up. This injunction came after a disturbance in the 1881 carnival, known as the Canboulay Riots. Canboulays were processions during carnival that commemorated the harvesting of burnt cane fields during slavery. Calypso is a traditional French Creole humorous song that comments on life in the Caribbean. The word cariso was used to describe a French Creole song in the 1780s, and in Trinidad, the (mostly female) chantwells performed cariso during the first half of the nineteenth century http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiYoBGgTRxo

Tamboo Bamboo After drumming and stick fighting were banned Tamboo Bamboo was created to accompany Calypso songs during carnival. boom, foulé, and cutter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QVEX_Fiinw The boom serves as the bass instrument, is usually about five feet long, and is played by stamping it on the ground The foulé, which is a higher-pitched instrument, consists of two pieces of bamboo, each about a foot long, and is played by striking these pieces end to end The cutter, which is the highest- pitched instrument in the ensemble, is made from a thinner piece of bamboo (of varying length) and is struck with a stick . These three types of instruments combined to beat out rhythms that accompanied the chantwells and were a staple of carnival celebrations for many years (they were gradually rendered obsolete by the steelband).

Political issues reflected in song Traditionalist see calypso as social commentary because in earlier years it served the purpose of telling stories, relaying news events and giving criticisms of persons and policy. social commentaries http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvAIFAcbssA&list=PL5VlG2Z1aaTadIGFrPTFGGavRiq-HNMeT humorous calypso http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-HHQWm7rrA social commentaries, which had songs dealing with politics and community issues humorous calypso, which told stories of events, real or imagined, with the intent of making the audience laugh.

In 1939, Growling Tiger was crowned the first calypso monarch of Trinidad (for his song, entitled “The Labor Situation in Trinidad”). Calypsonians came to be considered dangerous by the government because they could sway public opinion with their songs. By the end of WWII, calypso ensembles became reminiscent of jazz combos, and a typical calypso ensemble came to include a horn section, drums, percussion, bass, guitar, and keyboard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btUY8rGJGU8&list=PL782948F7BCB9EB20

Steelband an ensemble of steeldrums made from oil drums, tuned to Western pitches Building Steel drums http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eLLJ4VWmyY Today, several different sizes of instruments are used and they have names like tenor, double second, cello, and bass (generally, the bigger the instrument [the more metal], the lower its register). These instruments fill roles not unlike those found in a Western orchestra. The tenor pans generally play the melodies (like violins), the seconds handle harmonies and countermelodies (like violas), the cellos fill in harmonic materials (like cellos), and the bass pans, of which there are several different types, play the bass lines (like the double bass). Arrangers fulfill multiple roles, adapting a given calypso or song to the steelband, assisting in the process of teaching the parts to the steelband, and, once the arrangement has been learned, helping the steelband to polish the overall presentation for performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKzpoO3q87w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fd1yPJmRTg

Rumba in Cuba and Other Drum Styles Rumba –– an Afro-Cuban music and dance, derived from African sacred traditions Bèlè –– a cross-rhythmic drumming style developed in rural Martinique Bomba –– a drum style that emerged in the 18th century in Puerto Rico from the slave barracks

Rumba Rumba developed during the second half of the nineteenth century as a secular alternative to sacred African-derived drumming traditions in Cuba. The ensemble generally consists of a lead vocalist, a chorus, and at least three types of percussion instruments

Rumba Percussion clave palitos [short sticks] three congas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVQB1FFrigY

Rumba consists of two main sections: canto (narrative text) montuno (call and response with the chorus/percussion) Once the montuno starts, a male and female dance a ritualized enactment of male conquest. The male dancer uses surprise, stealth, and grace to get close enough to the female dancer to thrust his pelvis at her in a move called a vacunao. She in turn evades his moves, improvising her own dance moves in the process. Rumba was banned or severely limited on several occasions throughout the late nineteenth century. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaNfdh0iWCg

Bèlè Bèlè drumming (also called belair) developed in rural Martinique and is played on a drum of the same name The drum is played by two performers: one straddles the drum, playing on the drum-head with both hands and a foot other performer uses a pair of sticks (called tibwa) to beat out characteristic and intricate cross-rhythms on the side of the drum . Bèlè is accompanied by call-and-response singing and by dancing. Cinquillo also provided serious inspiration first for biguine and then for zouk (two Antillean popular musics). Cinquillo came to be a central and defining feature of the light-classical Cuban salon music called danzón, is prevalent in popular genres like Haitian meringue, and even makes its way into other popular musics like calypso. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reZCnVNkneE

Bomba Bomba is a Puerto Rican tradition that emerged out of the slave barracks, probably during the middle decades of the eighteenth century. The bomba was traditionally danced on special days: to mark the end of harvesting, for birthdays, christenings, and weddings. Bomba is a generic name that, like bélé, encompasses a wide range of rhythms and sub-types. The bomba ensemble generally includes dancers, a first drummer (requinto), a second drummer (sonador), sometimes a third drum (called bomba), cuá (sticks), maracas, singer, and chorus (coro). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09tYXHH0uk

The dance is essentially a challenge pitting the virtuosity of the dancers against the skill and speed of the lead drummer. Two levels of call-and-response happen in bomba dancing: between the lead singer and the coro, and between the lead drummer and the dancers.

Punta of the Garinagu Garingua—also known as Garifuna, a diaspora of people of West African and Amerindian descent, who settled along the Carribean coast of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua during the nineteenth century Punta—a song genre that symbolically reenacts the cock-and-hen mating dance and is usually composed by women. It is performed at festivals, wakes, and ancestor venerations. It involves call and response singing.

Punta is performed during festivals, at wakes, and at celebrations that follow dugu ceremonies (religious ceremonies during which a family appeals to the ancestors for help in solving a given problem). Punta usually involves call and response singing, drums, rattles, and sometimes conch shell trumpets. The drums used in punta are called the primero and the segunda. Punta Rock is a popular music style developed by the Garifuna peoples from punta. Features rapid movement of the of the hips and a totally motionless upper torso.

Traditional Punta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzw484QaXLw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZatx3gSOsc Punta Rock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ6TJ7xP8yw&list=PLD6CAD312B5447285

Merengue popular dance music of the Dominican Republic The rural merengue was denounced as primitive by those the elite. The early merengue ensemble usually included guira, guitar/quatro, marimba (like the marímbula), and tambora (a double headed drum), During the mid-nineteenth century, merengue developed out of the salon-type music popular throughout the region at the time (danza and contradanza).

Merengue is in 4/4 meter, and the “one, two, three, four” of each measure is pounded out by the kick drum and by the bass guitar The structure of these songs is similar to Cuban rumba/son in that there is a narrative section (called merengue) followed by a call-and-response section (called jaleo). Traditional Merengue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-viFokl1mDE Modern Merengue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K9-ZFg5jPk

Travel and Tourism Caribbean music has become globalized. Caribbean immigrants bring their music where they go, while tourists to the Caribbean purchase the cultural products and disseminate them. Globalization is a double-edged process that globalizes the local while localizing the global. Globalization is a double-edged process that globalizes the local while localizing the global. Caribbean musics have had a global effect, independent of Caribbean communities living abroad. Travel and tourism led to new trends of music making, such as salsa in New York, and new cultural practices (various carnivals) in places outside of the Caribbean where Caribbean nationals make their homes, such as Brooklyn, New York. Reggae is popular worldwide, and Rumba spread in Sub-Saharan Africa during the 1950s and ‘‘60s, directly related to the dissemination of commercial rumba and son during the 1930s and ‘‘40s in Europe and North America. The recent rise to popularity of reggaeton is interesting because it is a contemporary re-working of the habanera rhythm.

Religion Syncretism –– maintaining elements from two or more traditions combined into a new practice Orisha –– any of a number of West African spirits venerated in Caribbean syncretic religious rites Gospelypso –– a hybrid of gospel and calypso musics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b05zEpFgnN8

Religious syncretism is the result of traveling religious practices African-derived drumming is a major component of the ceremonial music central to syncretic religious systems such as Cuban santería, Trinidadian shango, and Haitian vodoun, all of which have found ways of combining African deities and cosmologies with Catholic saints and doctrines.

Sacred Drums The drums are considered sacred, and important rules and rituals circumscribe their construction, care, and use. Only initiated drummers may touch these drums, and the drums are imbued with a spiritual force, usually called Añá, upon their initiation. The drums are played without the improvisational elements present in genres such as rumba, bélé, and bomba. . Instead, each drum plays more-or-less set rhythms that are associated with individual orisha and that also correspond to patterns and inflections particular to Yoruba language. These rhythms provide the foundation that the lead singer builds on in invoking the particular orishas toward which the batá drums are directed.

Bata Drumming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68zJfDc_pGc

Santería, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poVoN421VMY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuKro0rOmIg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go16di77DOA

Rastafarianism developed in the 1930s is particularly interesting in that it managed to link its theological and social message to the soundtrack of reggae, particularly Bob Marley. Niyabinghi drumming, however, continues to be an important component of Rastafarian religious life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNBPniDJSFM The Niyabinghi ensemble consists of three drums——bass, funde, and askete (which improvises over the solid rhythms performed on the other two drums)——an ensemble of instruments and an associated set of rhythmic ideas adapted from Jamaican Kumina rituals and from Burru drumming. Many elements of Rastafari reflect its origins in Jamaica and Ethiopia, two countries with predominantly Christian culture as-well as Ethiopian Christianity tracing its roots to the 4th century and st Mark founded Coptic church of Alexandria [4][5] Rastafari holds to many Jewish and Christian beliefs and accepts the existence of a single tri-une Deity called Jah, who has sent his son to Earth in the form of Jesus (Yeshua) and made himself manifest as the person of Haile Selassie I. Rastafari accept much of the Bible, although they believe that its message and interpretation has been corrupted.[2] The Rastafari way of life encompasses themes such as the spiritual use of cannabis[6][7] and the rejection of the degenerate society of materialism, oppression, and sensual pleasures, called Babylon.[8][9] It proclaims Zion, in reference to Ethiopia, as the original birthplace of humankind, and from the beginning of the way of life calls for repatriation to Zion, the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth. Literally, moving to Ethiopia physically, but mentally and emotionally repatriating before the physical[10][11] Rastafari also embrace various Afrocentric and Pan-African social and political aspirations.[6][12]

Obeah Obeah is associated in the Bahamas with folk magic and at times with black magic. The juxtaposition of Christianity with obeah, in the case by singing gospel music in obeah country, is a religious and musical syncretism. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQnMa2R-AwI

Summary The Caribbean Islands share a colonial history, each negotiated and interpreted according to their individual circumstances. All shared the creolization process, creating unique cultures.

Creolization was the process of mixing African and European peoples, cultures, and languages, via colonialism, creating Creole cultures of the Caribbean.

Syncretism is the result of the fusion of differing cultures, mixing belief systems, the success of which is the result of the heterogeneity. Musical syncretisms studied in this unit are Bahamian rake- n-scrape, Trinidadian calypso, Cuban rumba, Garifuna punta.

Each Creole music today has become a measure and symbol of Caribbean national identity. Caribbean music has become globalized. Caribbean immigrants bring their music where they go, while tourists to the Caribbean purchase the cultural products and disseminate them.

Christianity and African religions syncretized in the Caribbean and brought about new forms of music and reinterpretations of traditional musics

Discussion With which globalized forms of Caribbean music are you most familiar, and how have you had access to them? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQSJ9qz55_E

Can we think of any other music and cultural syncretisms than those found in the Caribbean? Where are they? What were their influencing cultures? Students should learn to understand rock music and jazz as hybrids of African and European cultures, as well as understand China’s songs for the Masses as hybrids and Confucian music in Japan as well. Ethnomusicological analysis may be applied to any music, opening a broader base for understanding the music.

Do we regard any form of music as a symbol of our national identity as Caribbean nationals do? American , Asian, Armenian, Persian, etc.

What is your music?

What forms of political protest music exist in cultures outside of the Caribbean, especially in The United States, China, Africa, or Latin America?

Native American Music Read 355-381