In addition to the pitch created by blowing into the bamboo tube, a high pitched rhythm was created by a single stick on the side of the bamboo. In those countries that banned drums, bamboo was often a viable substitute. One tradition that grew up among several Caribbean cultures is “Tamboo Bamboo.” Just as drums of different pitches create a collective rhythm in the drumming ensemble, bamboo of differing lengths can create a array of pitches that can be joined into a collective rhythm. Musicians were often left with the only option of adapting their musical traditions to the materials and musical styles of their captors to avoid punishment. Each island had a different experience with this prohibition on African music, but suffice it to say that drumming ensembles were largely seen as a threat to colonial order. ![]() When West Africans were brought to the Caribbean to work as slaves, most colonial governments banned the playing of music from back home. They connected me to some musicians from that area that have been preserving a musical tradition that goes a long way back to other Caribbean nations and also to West Africa. ![]() Just heard from some of my friends in Cap Haitian on the north coast of Haiti.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |