:Carriacou and

Western African Tribes: Part III

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.

Announcements

Test on Carriacou is Tuesday, September 24th

Reading #6 will be due on this Friday, September 20th.

Oko Picture

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.

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

A new rhythm is born!

Instead of 1 2, 1 2

or 1 2 3, 1 2 3 we get….

1 2 + 3

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.

Dates, the non-edible kind.

The three types of big drum dances are Nation, Creole and Frivolous.

18th Century: Nation

19th Century: Creole

20th Century: Frivolous

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?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

Review from Thursday:Listening

Example#4 This is known as a creole dance. Creole songs were introduced in the 19th 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.

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?

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.

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.”

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…