Jamaica's Folk Music

Author(s): Olive Lewin

Source: Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 3 (1971), pp. 15-22
Published by: International Council for Traditional Music
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/767453
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 JAMAICA'S FOLK MUSIC

by Olive Lewin

The written history of Jamaica goes back only 477 years, starting with
coming of the Spaniards under Christopher Columbus in 1494. Columbus a
his men were greeted on arrival by a party of Arawak Indians, includin
Chief and musicians. The Arawaks were gentle peace-loving people who h
lived in Jamaica for about 800 years before Columbus came. However, th
were unable to endure the enslavement and the harsh treatment which th
suffered at the hands of the Spaniards and by the 16th century, with the
of European diseases against which they had no resistance, they seemed
have become extinct. They left no written records that have yet b
discovered and very little of their way of life survived. No sure remain
their music culture have been found. We have looked for our remote roots
from other sources. The Spaniards replaced the Arawaks with enslaved
Africans, the first of whom arrived in about the year 1517. These people
formed the beginning of the present day population of Jamaica, and when the
Spaniards were driven out by the English, (between 1655 - 1660) they and a
handful of Portuguese Jews, were all that remained. Under the English the
island quickly became a slave colony dedicated to the production of sugar.
Increasing numbers of Africans were brought in as slaves, and continued to be
until 1807 when the slave trade was abolished. The Africans came mostly
from the West Coast of Africa and were made up mostly of Fans, Akims,
Ashanties, Ebos, Pawpaws and Mandingoes.
The slaves made up songs and dances and constructed musical instruments.
The merry-wang, a guitar and four strings, was one of their favourites. It was
made "from a slice of calabash with dried skin bladder stretched over it". The
Goombeh was another favourite. It was made from a hollow block of wood
covered with a scraped sheep skin. Calabash rattles filled with Indian shot (a
hard seed) were used to accompany the goombeh. Dancing was the most
popular form of recreation among the slaves and took place usually on
moonlight nights or Saturdays. Dancing would sometimes continue until near
dawn. Apart from its recreational aspects it was a form of therapy, a way of
working off frustrations, and a vital part of their religious activities.
Slavery was abolished in 1838, and for a long time thereafter many
Jamaicans of African descent (Afro-Jamaicans make up about 90% of the
population) were inclined to look back upon the slave period with feelings of
shame and embarrassment. They didn't like to talk about slavery or Africa
and tried desperately to identify their background and their social, economic
and cultural progress with Europe. They became almost schizophrenic. When
the drive for independence began in the late 1930's however, self-examination

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16 / 1971 YEARBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

became necessary and Jamaicans began to realize that they had nothing to be
ashamed of. On the contrary much of their history had been one long struggle
for freedom on several fronts. Men whom they had been taught to look on as
criminals were seen to be fighters against a brutal slave regime. The period of
slavery became not an era of shame but Jamaica's heroic age.
With the removal of shame and stimulus provided by political
independence which we got in 1962, the need to disguise ourselves with an
ill-fitting European mask was removed, and we began to see the rich outlines
of our own culture. It took only a few years of serious research into our
musical heritage to show that it went a long way further back than the four
and three quarter centuries of our Jamaican history. Culturally we are as old
as the cultural history of Africa. It is probably music of the Kumina cult
more than any other - that has opened our eyes to the necessity for a
completely new attitude towards our culture and its significance.

Fast KUMINA SONG One day dah light

Cho cha_ chi - mi-yah chi-mi-yah chi-mi- ya -a

Doh di doh doh doh an a

Cha choa chi-mi-yah chi-mi-yah chi-mi - ya - a

One day.. ne d~,one day

Cha cha _ chi -mi-yah chi-mi-yah chi-mi - ya - a

We must be eternally grateful to Kumina Cultists for their patience and

generosity in allowing us ignorant seekers after knowledge to get as close as
we have to their ceremonies and rituals, for Kumina seems to be the bridge
between esoteric and the exotic in our traditional music. To clarify this, I can
hardly do better than draw heavily on the views expressed by Prof. Fela
Sowande in his paper "The Role of Music in African Society". To the
traditional African, there are "three psychological verities which are major
factors in the attempt to establish and maintain an ideal state between all the
levels of society with its four worlds: 1. The major Gods and Goddesses; 2.
Ancestors and Heroes; 3. Humans - the departed, the living and those of the
next generations; and 4. The world of Nature and of the Elemental Spirits.
These verities are Symbols, Sound and Sex and, together, constitute the
foundation on which traditional Art is based. They are essential in the
achievements of the proper, effective and harmonious functioning of the
male/female, that is, spirit/matter relationship, which ensures that all lines of
communication are open and alive and dynamic, functional and responsive.
Traditional art generates and stores the spiritual energy that can make the

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LEWIN JAMAICA'S FOLK MUSIC / 17

society come alive and remain so. It esta

the unity of the human group as one hu
the human group with the cosmos. Such art can take almost any
representational form: sculpture, carvings, painting, poetry, prose, dance,
music or whatever. In each case, there will be structure and form, but these
will be mere channels of manifestation for the psychic force represented by
the art. Music rests, of course, on the use of sound; in dance, sex finds its
normal expression in Art.
One worried Missionary described a dance which he had seen performed
by freed people in Jamaica, in these words: "Sometimes they stamped their
feet while performing voluptuous movements of the body. Sometimes they
held their heads erect with their hands in front of their bodies, almost
touching, while the whole body was moved without raising the feet from the
ground. The body was writhed and turned upon its own axis while the
dancers slowly advanced or retreated from each other. They would be nearly
naked and their writhing approaches to each other were highly sexual".
According to another description: "The female dancer is all languishing, and
easy in her motions . . . In her paces she exhibits a wonderful address,
particularly in the motion of her hips, and steady position of the upper part
of her person; the right execution of this wriggle, keeping exact time with the
music, is esteemed among them a particular excellence, and on this account
they begin to practice it so early in life, that few are without it in their
ordinary walking."
To some people those movements connote an abandonment to sexuality
but to the African-thinking person they have a completely different meaning.
We here are primarily concerned with sound, which Prof. Sowande describes
as "a metaphysical agent, potent in its own right, and as itself a creative force,
which operates effectively according to the laws of its own nature, with or
without the awareness or consent or approval of Man". The Africans who
came to Jamaica centuries ago must have brought their basic philosophies
with them . . Even now, it is clear that our Afro-Jamaican Ancestors used
organized sound as in African traditional society. Sowande's five categories of
African traditional music - Ritual, Ceremonial, Social, Functional and
Recreational are to date the only ones which can be satisfactorily applied to
Jamaican Folk Music.
Let us look at Ritual Music. Groups communicate with their Gods,
Goddesses, Ancestors and Heroes, as well as with the forces of Nature at
levels which the outsider only very rarely is allowed to observe. This handful
of observers knows better than to divulge any part of the secret rites with the
knowledge of which they have been entrusted. This obviously means that
music of this type is not yet available for study or publication. Ceremonial
Music is laid bare to the public, but often what one sees is not what is
happening. This has led to a lot of confusion and misinformation from
well-meaning scholars. At this level, spiritual and temporal leaders are often
working to re-establish or re-activate the psychic links which connect human
beings with forces that control the destiny of their group. Social Songs refer

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18 / 1971 YEARBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

to life stages: birth, puberty, marriage, death and activities concerned with
the day-to-day life of the group. They include songs of censure and advice -
songs that show the social and moral standards of the group, its attitudes to
problems. Here in Jamaica, they are full of topicalities, substitutions and a
characteristic type of humour.
As far as songs about life stages are concerned, perhaps it is significant that
here the bulk of them are associated with death. The life span of the slave was
short. Death was always with him - Death through separation, and Death
through dying. It was a welcome relief from physical hardships and a chance
to live again and to live better. There are several variations in the form of
death celebrations, depending on the location, the economic status, and the
declared religion of the family concerned; but there are threads of uniformity
which seem to run through them. For instance, it is the Spirit that is reality,
and human life on earth is but one stage. When a person dies, it is important
to find out what the fate of the soul will be, for on this too, depends the
form and content of the ceremony. There may be songs to comfort,.songs to
raise a laugh, songs to censure the host, songs of joy, mournful songs. The
singing is contemplative or, more often, strident and full-throated.

Very slow DEATH CHANT

All dem de one dead an' gone, All dem de one dead an' gone, All dem

de one dead an' gone, All dem de one dead an gone. Nev- er to seem a-gain.

Mourn
Mourn oh _mourn
oh-m ournoh
ohMourn
Moumba-da.
bo-damourn
mourncinan
yoyou
u nev -er totosee~m
nev-er a -gain
seIma-gain

Movements are at times gentle, at others quite abandoned. There are even
times when two different groups gather at the home of deceased. One group
to cheer and comfort and keep watch, the other to give frank and often
irreverent comments and warnings.
It is not possible to determine how the slaves used their music, but it is
safe to say that they did. It was one manifestation of basic philosophies,
attitudes and a vital link with the past from which they were so rudely
uprooted - a link with the Cosmos, the need of which they felt, probably
more deeply in their new setting - a means of relieving pent-up emotions,
which could and did destroy lesser people. It is likely that it was ritual,
ceremonial and social music that were most used by them, and it still carries
greater cultural weight. It is worth noting that slavery did not allow the use of

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LEWIN JAMAICA'S FOLK MUSIC / 19

drums as they had been in the cultures f

uprooted. This resulted in the slaves being
of expression and communication. Still i
this deep-seated, almost instinctive, behav
an integral part of our music traditions on
Functional Music came on the scene early
to communicate. They were not allowed
would have been almost all their waking
could exchange news and messages, even
without attracting the unfavourable atten

Solo WORK SONG Workgang Chorus

Wo - man oh me say wo- man to - ry long. Wo - man oh

Solo

wo - man to - ry long Mid - die o' de day when me

Work gang Chorus

wan' me caw - fy tea. Wo-man oh wo-man to - ry long

These Chants took on the rhythm of the task to which they were atta
helped to lighten their labour and make the work go better. This type
music has lived till today, though it is of course dying in the face of gro
industrialization and mechanization. Most of the songs have been used
agricultural labour, and are antiphonal, with the leader often improvis
topical words which the work gang replies with a chorus, which may
short as two words; but there are also extented songs of great beauty in
category.
Our early forefathers could hardly have used much purely Recreational
Music, though we know that celebrations like Jonkunnu and Set Dancing
started during slavery. At Christmas the slaves were given three days by law to
celebrate and, although after the holiday, life would always return to the old
privations and humiliations. On the whole, the slaves seemed determined to
make the most of their short respite. There were processions with drums and
fifes, masked dancers and prancing crowds. The influences were at first
predominately African and French (from French Carnival Sets), but by the
mid 19th century, elements of English Morris dancing and Mummery had
been absorbed, and the overall style had been moulded into something
Jamaican. (Masked dancing called "Iancunti" found in Spanish influenced
Indian cultures of Central America).

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20 / 1971 YEARBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

Slow JONKUNNU FIFE TUNE

v 1" 11- J ', , ,

-I I I_ ad[F. I fri'jfW I
lrll~
k.. ~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ bad II
~ ~ ~ ~ b~m~ iI fLI 'I ' II .f .., W
IENI I I l! II I!

When slavery was abolished, Jonkunnu wa

celebration. Brukins, also came into being for t
songs mention Queen Victoria by name with gr
Jamaican Folk Music, its repertoire has stood s
being made. When our forefathers arrived in J
inducement for them to grow away from their
of slavery, we have almost been taught to look
that might associate us with our African herita
be persuaded to do so have clung to our traditi
ritualistic and some ceremonial aspects behind
separates our society.
Jamaican Folk Music had been genuinely affec
of the European society - slave owners and their
indentured workers - but during the period
influences were over emphasized. The mor
sounded, the less taboo would it be. Quadrille,
adaptations of Christian hymns and choruse
exciting and brilliant improvisatory folk style
to give way to a more learned style imported
shorn of our innate syncopation and inherent ha
tidied and made respectable, thus completely
emotional content, ruining the harmony betw
Even so, the bulk of our folk music was consid
that it was not even investigated or subjected
and American folksongs, West Indian Calyps
obviously so, were accepted without murm
completely inoffensive local songs could not eve
Mento, an indigenous song dance style had be
own, thanks to the clever treatment given it by
entertainers. It seemed to be set for a long and
could later stand up to the competition fro
American Pop Music. At all levels of societ
cultured but less culturally fertile, over fed, bu
for us, there had always been a few people of v

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LEWIN JAMAICA'S FOLK MUSIC / 21

and made efforts to preserve what m

Independence in 1962 came a gradual aw
desire to look at our past; a need to find
our future. Musically, the lead was taken
draw inspiration from the local scene; to
themselves, Rhythms that were actually
dance; words were topical, and at times b
One of our greatest blessings has been a
with deep understanding of and active i
had field experience, and so understa
aspirations. He plans with vision and
continued support to projects designed to
of our cultural heritage. One brain-child
Arts inaugurated in 1962, our Year o
afforded opportunities for musicians of
each other. It has proved to be a wond
ourselves, kindling interest in little know
have been exposed on its stages. It has en
use as inspiration for educational mate
concert performances.
Perhaps the most significant contributi
understanding of our heritage has be
Research Project, at a national level, in 19
on behind the scenes, as music and in
collected from far and near in Jamaica, a
friends got together to learn the less fa
people. This organization has developed
Jamaican public and Jamaica's authentic
concerts, free performances in schools, c
and television, entertainments in hotels
made people aware of Jamaica's rich her
experience the music at its source. Pride
in our churches, which one might have co
years ago. It is now possible to presen
authentic folk activities on commercial stations without fear of adverse
criticism. That would have been impossible even two years ago.
Our Pop musicians have played no small part in the steady development of
a truly Jamaican music. They have been criticised for the repetitions and
noisy style of playing and singing. But this is in keeping with the current
world's attitude. One must remember that after three hundred years of
suppressing the improvised and richly embellished folk style of playing the
picturesque language of Mento and other recreational folksongs, these can
hardly be expected to reappear suddenly and in full bloom. At this time,
serious musicians with professional training are also being drawn to Jamaican
folkmusic. Songs are arranged in sophisticated styles, which strive to preserve

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22 / 1971 YEARBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL

the essence and indigenous aspects of Jamaican character; harmonies are

dictated by those found in the field; melodies are no longer 'corrected';
rhythms are preserved and singers even aim at using the vocal timbre
associated with the particular type of song; guitars, piccolos and drums are
appearing, where a few years ago the piano would have reigned supreme.
These instruments touch Jamaicans at all levels, and are truly from our past.
Guitars grew out of our old merrywangs, and piccolos have evolved from our
bamboo fifes.
Jamaican folkmusic has not grown horizontally and in easily recognized
compartments of past and present, but rather like a tree with vigorous roots
spreading wide and deep into the soil of Africa. The branches may for a time
have appeared to grow unruly and confused, but under the not too
characteristic bark, the life giving sap has been flowing all the time. The tree
is in good health. Everyday new shoots, new discoveries, new possibilities
seem to appear. We cannot know what tomorrow will bring, but our hopes
are high that in the not too distant future Jamaica will make a notable
contribution to the world's music.

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