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The
Caribbean Area: Culture
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 Culture:
Music--Reggae, Calypso & Hip-Hop / Musical Examples /
Voodon & Santeria, Rastafarianism / Obeah, "Obeah Nights" and Christophine
Races
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| Culture |
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Music--Reggae,
Calypso & Hip-Hop
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 (Left) Bamboo musical instruments (《拉丁美洲》182).
(Above) Turning oil drums into musical instruments, which sounds like
zylophone (《拉丁美洲》187). |
| Calypso
(加力騷):
e.g. The Mighty Sparrow
a type of folk music that comes from the island of Trinidad in the
Caribbean. Calypso songs are in the 2/4 or 4/4 time, with a
strong beat similar to the rhythm of African songs. . . . Some
think [the word Calypso] comes from the African word Kai-so,
meaning bravo, used to praise a good singer.
The words of a calypso are more important
than than the music. Cleverness in choosing words and in making
up rhymes on the spot marks the champion calypso singer.
The lyrics may express a personal phylosophy or comment on local eents
and gossip. Calypso songs with nonsense verses are called bracket.
Songs about serious subjects are known as ballode.
Musical Instruments: Almost any
instrument may be used for calypso music. Early instruments
included bamboo pieces and rattles. Many calypso singers today
use drums, flutes, guitars, saxophones, and rattles for
accompaniment.
Development:
Calypso originated in the songs of African slaves who worked in the
plantation fields of Trinidad. They were forbidden to talk to
each other, and used calypso to communicate feelings and
information. To fool their masters, they sang in a French-creole
dialect called patois. Annual calypso singing
competitions were held at carnival time. AFter slavery was
abolished in the 1830's, these competitions became more popular and
attracted many visitors to Trinidad.
World
Book Vol 3: 61-62
"Calypso, which
satirizes current events and political personalities, has always
reflected the mood and social conscience of the people. But in recent
years, especially as the music has gained international attention,
critics say calypso has become nothing more than what's known here as "jump
up'' and "boom-boom'' music. Boom-boom refers to
the local slang for the part of the body upon which one sits." (Racy Calypso
Appeals to Wider Audience By SHELLEY EMLING 1997
Cox News Service )
Links:
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Reggae: e.g.
Bob Marley 
External Links:
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Bob Marley
(left) Boot, p. 120
(above)Boot, p. 162 . |
| Rap: e.g. WyClef Jeans and the Fugees
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Musical Examples
Caribbean Area:
I. Traditional folk music
- Abeng: The abeng
us an instrument made from the horn of a cow. It is played by
blowing through a side hole located near the tip; the thumb is
simultaneously used to change pitch by covering another hole at the
very tip. This instrument is derived from a West African design.
. .
The abeng is used primarily as a signalling device. During the
days when the Maroons were at war with the British this instrument
served as a vital means of communication. . . .By posting a
network of abeng-men as sentries around their settlements,
the rebels virtually ruled out the possibility of surprise
attack. [Today Abeng is used for various communication purposes,
not just warning.]
Abeng: This recording was made during the
Christmas holiday, the only time of the year that the abeng can be
freely blown. The player is here ushering in the holiday.
- Nyabingi:
A pan-African-Jamaican drumming style. Through its influence on
Jamaican popular music, from ska to reggae, it has had an international
impact.
The performance: These young Maroon men
are using the traditional accompanying Maroon drums to play the
Nyabingi style. . . . In this spontaneious performance, the
singers move through a medley of well-known Rastafarian chants.
- Revival
Shows the influence of the Afro-Protestant Revival churches.
The recording: "Fight for War": This
song, which admonishes listeners to fight for their cause, resonates
with both Revivalist themes and the militant Maroon past.
(The three songs above are from Maroon Music
from the Earliest Free Black Communities of Jamaica)
II. Calypso:
III. Reggae:
IV. Rap
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Voodon &
Santeria, Rastafarianism
"Santeria
... flourishes in the area, and has roots in Africa. It's a
nature religion based on stones, seashells, water and herbs.
Yoruba slaves brought their deities, called Orishas,
with them, and in the New World identified the orishas with Catholic
saints in order to preserve the tradition. It can "look" like
some branch of Catholicism, with saints' statues (for instance, a
statue of St. Peter stood for Oggun, the warrior god, St. Theresa stood
for Oya, the goddess of the winds and
cemeteries). This kept the whites off their backs. (This is
going through a mild vogue in New York City. Many Caribbean
immigrants have quietly practiced, and there have been Botanicas for
years--supply stores--but Madonna used some images in a video a few
years ago, and whither Madonna goes....)
"Voudon has similar roots, but without the
Christian influences. It also involved a lot more of the dark
side--sacrifice (traditionally chicken, but not always) and yes,
zombies, or calling back the dead to walk and do the priest's or
priestess's bidding."
(Dr. Marguerite Connor)
"Santeria is a syncretistic religion of Caribbean origin. It
incorporates the worship of the Orisha (literally "head guardian") and
beliefs of the Yoruba and Bantu people in Southern Nigeria, Senegal and
Guinea Coast. These are combined with elements of worship from Roman
Catholicism. " (source)
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Voodoo
ritual
 《拉丁美洲》191
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Rastafari--
The source of
Rastafari lies in a specific geographical area, the Nile Valley, a huge
region that includes Egypt in the North and Ethiopia in the south. . . .
In Jamaica, 1930's
was a period of social unrest and labour movement, It was a
perfect context for the rise of a band of islanders who divorced
themselves mentally from an oppressive social system. This cult,
Rastafarianism, thus became cast as a religion of the dispossessed among those who failed
to acknowledge the intellectual rigor of many practitioners (the depth
of Biblical and historical knowledge displayed at a Rastafarian
reasoning is intense).
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Links:
(external)
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Obeah, "Obeah
Nights" and Christophine
photos of Voodoo
rituals |
Obeah
as a part of Caribbean existence
a creolized practice of African religions and Christianity (memory of
Africa)
- both negative and
positive meanings
--negative: evil magic (esp.
for the white
colonizers)
--positive: as a source of rebellion against slavery (ex. Nanny and the
Maroons in Jamaican legends)
In WSS, Christophine is an obeah woman (a Nanny figure)
-- Antoinette's fear--imagining the occult objects hidden in the room (p.18)
-- black people's fear of her--Amele (p.61)
-- the love portion (p.82) and the sleep
medicine for Antoinette (p.91) |
| letter to
Francis Wyndham (4/14/1964)
textbook: p.138-9
Rhys's "writer's cramp" and the help from "Obeah Night" (p. 141-3)--a
poem written in the name of Edward Rochester or Raworth:
"I think there
were several Antoinettes and Mr Rochesters. Indeed I am sure. . .
. Mr R.'s name ought to be changed. . . . In the poem (if
it's that) Mr Rochester (or Raworth) consoles himself or justifies
himself by saying that his Antoinette runs away after the "Obeah
nights" and that the creature who comes back is not the one who
ran away. . . Antoinette herself comes back but so changed
that perhaps she was 'lost Antoinette'|." (p.140)--zombie
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humfra
altar |
Two major scenes
of Christophine in WWS
Christophine and Antoinette (p.64-71)
Christophine and Rochester (p.90-7)
Analyze the powerful presence of Christophine. How does Rhys
describe her appearance and her linguistic competence? What is
the significance of the fact that she disappears before the end of the
novel? Gayatri Spivak and Benita Parry have very different view
of Christophine. What is your stand in this argument and why?
| Two Quotes about
Christophine |
Spivak on imperialism:
!§Christophine is tangential to this narrative. She cannot be
contained by a novel which rewrites a canonical English text within the
European novelist tradition in the interest of the white Creole rather
than the native.!‥ (p.246)
Parry on Spivak: !§what Spivak!|s strategy of reading necessarily blots
out is Christophine!|s inscription as the native, female, individual
Self who defies the demands of the discriminatory discourses impinging
on her person.!‥ (p.248)
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| Races |
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cocoa plantation |
- Slave Trade: popular
from 1500 to 1860.
- Life in
plantation--
- Different forms of rebellion by the slaves in
plantations: riot, petit marronage (小走私) in francophone
islands-leaving home to meet girl friend, or a forbidden
church meeting.
Names: Nanny Grigg in Barbados; Daaga
in Trinidad, who lead the first West India Regiment.
Also: the slaves can rebel with music,
dance, religion, or simply their different way of living. They
can pretend sickness, steal, or even poison their masters.
- Racial
Composition in the Caribbean: besides white masters and black
slaves, there were also poor whites, criminals, exiles, social misfits
and people escaping from faminine, political and religious proscution
at home. The most special is the "gens de
couleur" or mulatto in the area.
- Racial conflicts
in Post-Emancipation period:
There were
also conflicts between different races, and between plantation owners
and small farmers, between the newly rich and the declining
aristocrats. While the whites were on the decrease,
mulatto not only increased in number, but also worked hard to earn
money, social status as well as political rights. On the one
hand, some newly rich used their money to imitate the whites ("black
skin, white mask"). They were, however, looked down upon by the
whites and blacks alike, seen as white cockroaches. (Cf. Wide
Sargasso Sea.) There were even laws
(Danish colonial statute book) preventing them from imitating whites
and enjoying their luxuries (e.g. jewlery, silk socks,
masquerade).
- In Trinidad, there have
also been conflicts between (East) Indians and West Indians (or
Francophone blacks).
- Among the island-nations
nowadays, there are also conflicts. For instance, Bajans are not
welcome in some Caribbean areas, and Jamaicans might also be targeted
in Toronto.
- Creolization: This
idea can be applied to both Europeans born in the Caribbean, mulatto
and to the mixture of English and African tribal languages into some
special kinds of native languages (Patois, such as
French Patois, Jamaican Patois). The English used in
Barbados is closest to standard English, whereas in the other islands,
there is often a "postcreole continuum" which parallels the social
hierarchy to some degrees (--those speaking in creole are looked down
upon).
- Creole
Language and its Subversive Power--a paper in Chinese by
Feng Pin-chia;
- Patois
Dictionary; Another Patois Dictionary (remote link)
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- Neocolonialism
"Caribbean
Basin Initative"-- the Reagan Administration's Caribbean
Basin Initative linked to neo-colonialism and the
collapse of the Jamaican economy in the 1980s. "The
entire CBI campaign had been a bribe to induce Jamaica and the rest of
the Caribbean to accredit the armed confrontation in Grenada. It
also provided a cover for $75 million in additional combat funding for
the war in El Salvador."
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