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The dawning of the drum
Published: Sunday | November 4, 2012
The drum has always been a very integral part of African music. It became a very powerful force in the lives of African slaves who were brought to the West Indies to work the sugar plantations during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was also regarded as the most feared instrument by white slave masters, who were irked by the ominous sound of the instrument and feared its power. As a consequence, some even banned it. The drum was, in fact, used by the slaves to communicate in ways whites could not understand. It meant slaves could go as far as to incite unrest and cause revolt. In fact, they did.
As the years went by and the bonds of bondage began to disappear, the chanting of the slaves and the beating of drums became a form of entertainment for themselves and listeners who sometimes happened to be whites. This music form was passed down through three centuries and by the late 1940s keteh drumming (named after the type of drum used), was extensively used in Jamaican mento recordings.
In particular, Harold Richardson and the Ticklers, whose lyrics in one of their recordings, Glamour Gal, picturesquely describe the glamour women of the day, was a group which seemed to have a penchant for the keteh drum.
Them place a black spot beside them nose,
and them call that the beauty pose,
and if them too black and it don't show,
them put on bleaching cream as you know.
That's the kind a gal them call the glamour gal.
Them have one something fi redden them lip,
and band them waist till them swing like whip,
and if them chest even looking flat,
new style brazier will take care of that.
Keteh drumming and a mento band in those days, when added to such descriptive lyrics, make for the quintessence of Jamaican Mento music.
TRADITIONAL DRUMS
In addition to the keteh, two other traditional Jamaican drum types with African origins were in use.
The fundeh is a cylindrical single-headed piece that functionally keeps the timing and carries the rythms, which is the essence of Nyabinghi music.
The bass drum is double-headed and is played with a padded stick, underpinning the music with steady regular strokes on the first and third beat.
Both the fundeh and keteh, also known as the repeater, are played with the hand. The latter, also single-sided and cylindrical, is the smallest of the three and the highest pitched.
According to veteran Jamaican keteh drummer Noel 'Skully' Simms, who did keteh drumming on several hit recordings for Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh, keteh drumming, more than any other type, has kept the African drum tradition alive in Jamaican music.
Played to a faster beat, it is phrased around the bass and fundeh drums. Skully and Lascelles Perkins, singing under the name Mellow Cats, for Coxson's All Stars label, may very well be numbered among the first set of singers associated with keteh drum-driven songs in Jamaican popular music, when they recorded Rock-A-Man Soul in 1959. The song has a story behind it, which Skully related to me.
"I was sitting with Planno one day in his yard while we chanted 'Rastaman soul is the bosom of Abraham'. But dem time deh, dem a beat Rasta, and I think the song wouldn't go far with that name. So when I go record it with Lascelles, we change 'Rastaman' to 'Rock-a-man'," he said.
Skully listed the accompanying musicians as Jackie Mittoo (piano), Count Ossie and the Wareikas, and himself on drum.
The recording sold well in England, and he had an equally successful follow-up duet with Bunny Robinson for Clement 'Coxson' Dodd with the same blend, titled Send Another Moses.
African drumming in Jamaican music reached unprecedented levels with the recording Oh Carolina in 1960. The song signalled a real 'turning point' in the course of Jamaican music, and was arguably the single most important record in the country's music history.
AFRICAN ROOTS
All previous Jamaican recordings, except for mento, was an attempt to copy the beat of American R&B songs. Oh Carolina did no such thing, and instead, displayed distinctive elements of African and Rastafarian culture, never before heard in a Jamaican recording.
With vocals by Mico, John, and Eric Folkes (Folkes Brothers), an inspiring piano introduction by Owen Grey, handclaps by Prince Buster, all backed by the thundering cross rhythms of the Rastafarians, Count Ossie and the Wareikas, the recording was another first, in terms of garnering respect for the Rastafarian movement.
Yet, apart from the beat, there was hardly anything in the song that would identify it with Rastafarian beliefs, as its unintimidating and unphilosophical lyrics, were miles away from such tenets.
Oh Carolina was to, once again, rise to prominence nearly 40 years later in 1994. While Shaggy did a remake that brought international popularity, a battle between Prince Buster and the Folkes Brothers concerning authorship ensued.
A London court ruled in 1994 that John Folkes was deserving of royalties for the song, which had, in 1993, become so popular, that there was much to earn.
Other notable Jamaican recordings down the years that have exhibited predominant African drumming include Bam Bam by Toots and the Maytals; Rasta Reggae and the Grounation album series by Count Ossie; and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, Good Time Rock (The Father's Time Is Coming Again) by Hugh Malcolm; Addis Ababa by Lloyd Knibbs and the Skatalites; Drum Song by The Soul Vendors; and the album Master Drummer by Bongo Herman.
The 1990s saw a series of such songs emerging: Kette Drum by Determine and Beenie Man (1995), Think You Got It All by Shabba Ranks (1995), Fly Away Home by Lukie D and Firehouse Crew (1995), and Any Old Season by Red Rose (1996, on the 'Redemption Song' rhythm), among others.
Present-day Jamaican popular music for the most part uses traditional Jamaican bass drums, together with American-style drum kits, and computerised drum machines.
African-derived drums and drumming have, however, retained their place and supremacy in the areas of folk music and traditional folk forms.
broyal_2008@yahoo.com
Published: Sunday | November 4, 2012
The drum has always been a very integral part of African music. It became a very powerful force in the lives of African slaves who were brought to the West Indies to work the sugar plantations during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was also regarded as the most feared instrument by white slave masters, who were irked by the ominous sound of the instrument and feared its power. As a consequence, some even banned it. The drum was, in fact, used by the slaves to communicate in ways whites could not understand. It meant slaves could go as far as to incite unrest and cause revolt. In fact, they did.
As the years went by and the bonds of bondage began to disappear, the chanting of the slaves and the beating of drums became a form of entertainment for themselves and listeners who sometimes happened to be whites. This music form was passed down through three centuries and by the late 1940s keteh drumming (named after the type of drum used), was extensively used in Jamaican mento recordings.
In particular, Harold Richardson and the Ticklers, whose lyrics in one of their recordings, Glamour Gal, picturesquely describe the glamour women of the day, was a group which seemed to have a penchant for the keteh drum.
Them place a black spot beside them nose,
and them call that the beauty pose,
and if them too black and it don't show,
them put on bleaching cream as you know.
That's the kind a gal them call the glamour gal.
Them have one something fi redden them lip,
and band them waist till them swing like whip,
and if them chest even looking flat,
new style brazier will take care of that.
Keteh drumming and a mento band in those days, when added to such descriptive lyrics, make for the quintessence of Jamaican Mento music.
TRADITIONAL DRUMS
In addition to the keteh, two other traditional Jamaican drum types with African origins were in use.
The fundeh is a cylindrical single-headed piece that functionally keeps the timing and carries the rythms, which is the essence of Nyabinghi music.
The bass drum is double-headed and is played with a padded stick, underpinning the music with steady regular strokes on the first and third beat.
Both the fundeh and keteh, also known as the repeater, are played with the hand. The latter, also single-sided and cylindrical, is the smallest of the three and the highest pitched.
According to veteran Jamaican keteh drummer Noel 'Skully' Simms, who did keteh drumming on several hit recordings for Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh, keteh drumming, more than any other type, has kept the African drum tradition alive in Jamaican music.
Played to a faster beat, it is phrased around the bass and fundeh drums. Skully and Lascelles Perkins, singing under the name Mellow Cats, for Coxson's All Stars label, may very well be numbered among the first set of singers associated with keteh drum-driven songs in Jamaican popular music, when they recorded Rock-A-Man Soul in 1959. The song has a story behind it, which Skully related to me.
"I was sitting with Planno one day in his yard while we chanted 'Rastaman soul is the bosom of Abraham'. But dem time deh, dem a beat Rasta, and I think the song wouldn't go far with that name. So when I go record it with Lascelles, we change 'Rastaman' to 'Rock-a-man'," he said.
Skully listed the accompanying musicians as Jackie Mittoo (piano), Count Ossie and the Wareikas, and himself on drum.
The recording sold well in England, and he had an equally successful follow-up duet with Bunny Robinson for Clement 'Coxson' Dodd with the same blend, titled Send Another Moses.
African drumming in Jamaican music reached unprecedented levels with the recording Oh Carolina in 1960. The song signalled a real 'turning point' in the course of Jamaican music, and was arguably the single most important record in the country's music history.
AFRICAN ROOTS
All previous Jamaican recordings, except for mento, was an attempt to copy the beat of American R&B songs. Oh Carolina did no such thing, and instead, displayed distinctive elements of African and Rastafarian culture, never before heard in a Jamaican recording.
With vocals by Mico, John, and Eric Folkes (Folkes Brothers), an inspiring piano introduction by Owen Grey, handclaps by Prince Buster, all backed by the thundering cross rhythms of the Rastafarians, Count Ossie and the Wareikas, the recording was another first, in terms of garnering respect for the Rastafarian movement.
Yet, apart from the beat, there was hardly anything in the song that would identify it with Rastafarian beliefs, as its unintimidating and unphilosophical lyrics, were miles away from such tenets.
Oh Carolina was to, once again, rise to prominence nearly 40 years later in 1994. While Shaggy did a remake that brought international popularity, a battle between Prince Buster and the Folkes Brothers concerning authorship ensued.
A London court ruled in 1994 that John Folkes was deserving of royalties for the song, which had, in 1993, become so popular, that there was much to earn.
Other notable Jamaican recordings down the years that have exhibited predominant African drumming include Bam Bam by Toots and the Maytals; Rasta Reggae and the Grounation album series by Count Ossie; and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, Good Time Rock (The Father's Time Is Coming Again) by Hugh Malcolm; Addis Ababa by Lloyd Knibbs and the Skatalites; Drum Song by The Soul Vendors; and the album Master Drummer by Bongo Herman.
The 1990s saw a series of such songs emerging: Kette Drum by Determine and Beenie Man (1995), Think You Got It All by Shabba Ranks (1995), Fly Away Home by Lukie D and Firehouse Crew (1995), and Any Old Season by Red Rose (1996, on the 'Redemption Song' rhythm), among others.
Present-day Jamaican popular music for the most part uses traditional Jamaican bass drums, together with American-style drum kits, and computerised drum machines.
African-derived drums and drumming have, however, retained their place and supremacy in the areas of folk music and traditional folk forms.
broyal_2008@yahoo.com
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