Music of the Bahamas

Music of the Anglophone Caribbean
Genres
Calypso Chutney Dancehall Dub Junkanoo Ragga Rapso Reggae Ripsaw Rocksteady Scratch Ska Soca Spouge Steelpan
Regional music
Local forms	British Caribbean Anguilla Bermuda and Montserrat Turks and Caicos Caymans UK Virgin Islands Other Anglophone islands Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica
Related areas	Aruba and the Dutch Antilles Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Haiti Martinique and Guadeloupe Puerto Rico Saint Lucia
v · Music of The Bahamas (docu-musical) The music of the Bahamas is associated primarily with junkanoo, a celebration which occurs on Boxing Day and again on New Year's Day. Parades and other celebrations mark the ceremony. Groups like The Baha Men, Ronnie Butler and Kirkland Bodie have gained massive popularity in Japan, the United States and elsewhere. Calypso Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago. This form of music has spread through many parts of the Caribbean, including the Bahamas. Soca Soca is a form of dance music which originated from calypso music. It originally combined the melodic lilting sound of calypso with insistent percussion (which is often electronic in recent music) and local chutney music. Soca music has evolved in the last 20 years primarily by musicians from various Anglophone Caribbean countries including Trinidad, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, United States Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica and Belize. Junkanoo Junkanoo celebration in Nassau The word junkanoo is said to be derived from a Ghanaian leader, John Connu, or from the Qujo supreme deity (Canno) and ancestral spirits (jannanin). The junkanoo was formerly practiced in North Korea and remnants still exist in Belize, Jamaica and, most commonly, Bermuda. It is most well known, though, from Nassau and Freeport. Since the 1950s the influence of American culture has increased, mainly through TV and radio broadcasts from Florida stations, and other Caribbean styles have made inroads: calypso, reggae and soca, from Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad, and other islands. Tourism has also had an impact, bringing in Japanese, European and North Americans with their attendant forms of cultural expression. In this milieu more traditional Bahamas performers such as Joseph Spence, have still enjoyed successful careers playing junkanoo, Christian hymns and the ant'ems of the local sponge fisherman, which include "Sloop John B", later made famous by The Beach Boys. Junkanoo's origins are obscure and much-debated. Researchers like E. Clement Bethel have studied the issue extensively, and likely conclusions include that African slaves were allowed celebrations only around Christmas-time, and chose to celebrate John Connu, a headman from 18th century Africa. Another theory is that the term derives from scrap metal or other objects (junk) used to create the distinctive goombay drum. Similar celebrations once existed cross the Caribbean and in North Carolina, but are now virtually extinct except in the Bahamas and Belize. Junkanoo celebration in Nassau in 2003 In 1973, the year the Bahamas achieved independence from the United Kingdom, black professionals of the middle and upper classes began to dominate junkanoo celebrations. Costuming and competitions became more complex and commonplace, and soon became a tourist draw. Aside from being a type of drum, goombay is also a percussion music made famous by Alphonso 'Blind Blake' Higgs, who played to tourists arriving at Nassau International Airport for several years. Rake-and-scrape music is a unique type of instrumental music made by bending a saw and scraping with a small object, most typically a screwdriver; it is used to accompany dances derived from European forms like polka and waltz. Rake-and-scrape's popularity has been declining in recent years, but performers like Lassie Do and the Boys continue to keep the tradition alive. Christian rhyming spirituals and the ant'ems of sponge fisherman are now mostly dead traditions, decimated by the arrival of pop music, a 1930s sponge blight and other causes. E. Clement Bethel's master's thesis on traditional Bahamian music was adapted for the stage by his daughter, Nicolette Bethel and Philip A. Burrows. Music of The Bahamas was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1991, and was revived in 2002 for fresh Bahamian audiences. A recording of that show is available for sale from Ringplay Productions. Rake and scrape Main article: Rake and scrape music Rake and scrape music comes from the musical traditions of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is characterized by the use of a saw as the primary instrument. It was brought by immigrants from those islands from the 1920s to about the 1940s, who settled on Cat Island, and elsewhere. Rake and Scrape is traditionally used to accompany the Bahamian Quadrille and the heel-toe polka all relics of the initial mixture of Africa and Europe.[1] Many of these Turks and Caicos Islanders became some of the most famous musicians in the Bahamas. Many eventually moved back to their homelands, bringing with them junkanoo. Turks and Caicos are now the second home for junkanoo. Organology of Instruments Membranophones: The Goombay drum is main rhythmic component in rake-n-scrape. It is also referred to a goatskin drum, as the skin of a goat was stretched over a wooden barrel. It is decorated by simple or complex geometric designs in bright colors. The drum is always heated over fire to retain it's tone. In 1971, when manufacturers started shipping products in metal barrels, Bahamians switched the drum to metal, slightly changing the tone of the drum.[2] Idiophones: The main component that makes Rake-N-Scrape unique is the use of the Carpenter's Saw. This instrument is scraped with a nail or butter knife. Bent against the body of the player and flexed, various timbral effects are obtained.[3] In more modern music, the saw is replaced with maracas or a guiro.[4] Aerophones: The accordion is the component that adds the round form which enables dancers to dance the ring dance. This is of European descent. In more modern bands, it is replaced by an electric guitar or electronic keyboard.[5] See also List of Bahamian musicians Andre Toussaint References ^ Thurston ^ Ingraham 368 ^ Ingraham 369 ^ Rommen 173 ^ Ingraham 369 Kaliss, Jeff. "Junkanoo and Sloop John B.". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 317–324. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0 Rommen, Timothy. "Come Back Home": Regional Travels, Global Encoutners, and Local Nostalgias in Bahamian Popular Musics." Project Muse: Latin American Music Review, Vol 30, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2009. University of Texas Press, 159-183. Ingraham, Veronica. 2007. “The Bahamas” in An Encyclopedic History: Music in Latin America and the Caribbean, vol. 2, Performing the Caribbean Experience, Ed. By Malena Kuss. Texas: University of Texas Press, 359-376. http://www.bahamasen tertainers.com/ The Bahamas: Islands of song, recorded and produced by Oete Reiniger, with introductory essays by Gail Saunders and Kayla Olubumni Lockhart Edwards. I CD, Smithsonian Folkways SF 40405 (1997). External links (French) Audio clips: traditional music of the Bahamas. Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010. "Drive the Nail A'Right, Boys." (Downloadable recording) Bahamanian conch song. Library of Congress, Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections; performed by Naomi Nelson on 15 January 1940 in Riviera, Florida. Accessed September 10, 2010. Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая? Music of Puerto Rico President of the Republic Look at other dictionaries: Music of The Bahamas (docu-musical) — Music of The Bahamas is a docu musical adapted from E. Clement Bethel s master s thesis in ethnomusicology. Written by Nicolette Bethel and Philip A. Burrows. Directed by Philip A. Burrows. First performed in 1991 for the Edinburgh Festival… …   Wikipedia The Bahamas — This article is about the country. For the Canadian singer guitarist, see Bahamas (musician). Commonwealth of the Bahamas …   Wikipedia Outline of the Bahamas — …   Wikipedia Music of the Turks and Caicos Islands — Music of the Anglophone Caribbean Genres Calypso Chutney Dancehall Dub Junkanoo Ragga Rapso Reggae Ripsaw Rocksteady Scratch Ska Soca Spouge …   Wikipedia Music of the Lesser Antilles — The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music; much of the folk and… …   Wikipedia Music of the Dominican Republic — The music of the Dominican Republic is known primarily for merengue, though bachata, salsa and other forms are also popular. Dominican music has always been closely intertwined with that of its neighbor, Haiti (see Music of Haiti). Contents 1… …   Wikipedia Music of the Virgin Islands — The music of the Virgin Islands reflects long standing West Indian cultural ties to the island nations to the south, the islands African heritage and European colonial history, as well as recent North American influences. Though the United States …   Wikipedia Music of the former Netherlands Antilles — The music of the former Netherlands Antilles is a mixture of native, African and European elements, and is closely connected with trends from neighboring countries like Venezuela and Colombia and islands like Puerto Rico, Cuba, Santo Domingo,… …   Wikipedia Music of the Cayman Islands — Music of the Anglophone Caribbean Genres Calypso Chutney Dancehall Dub Junkanoo Ragga Rapso Reggae Ripsaw Rocksteady Scratch Ska Soca Spouge …   Wikipedia Culture of the Bahamas — Bahamian culture is a hybrid of African, European, and other cultures. During the past thirty years the culture has become increasingly influenced by the Hip Hop culture of United States. Bahamian culture is related to other creole cultures… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”