Spoken Word Griots: African Oral Tradition in Caribbean Music (Third Part) - Calypso

Spoken Word Griots: African Oral Tradition in Caribbean Music (Third Part) - #Calypso
by K. Omodele

African traditions and customs are in the heartbeat of Caribbean culture; so, its not surprising that the African tradition of storytelling drums so deep within many forms Caribbean music, none more so than calypso. Matter of fact, whenever I think of calypso, I think first about lyrics - the buildup, the punch line and the reflection. Niceness. As a wordsmith, I marvel at the wordplay of the great calypso storytellers. Whether the lyrics be somber-social, political or commentary; or, whether they're witty and precocious slackness, or just straight, belly-bussing comedy, this Caribbean music with its roots planted in the African oral tradition is art, pure art, plain and simple.

A Short History of Calypso Music

Like many forms of Caribbean or West Indian music, Calypso's roots were dug up from Africa, then transported to the Caribbean on slave ships during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The slaves in Trinidad and Tobago weren't allowed to speak to one another while they slaved in the fields, so they sang to communicate. They kept the freestyle (improvisational), functional elements of West African kaiso as a form of covert communication (separate from the overt language of the slave massa). This early predecessor to calypso was rebellious chanting about their conditions and the status quo, i.e. plantation life. They were songs with clever lyrics about social conditions and often mocked slave masters or political leaders.

The French Influence: Carnival and Canboule 

Spain had first colonized Trinidad, but up to the 1770s the population was small, less than 3000, two-thirds of them Arawak. In 1770, a Frenchman made a proposal that would bring the French, their slaves and some free blacks from the French colonies/islands of Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, to heavily populate Trinidad, which would help develop the plantation economy. These French (and blacks from French islands) turned the slow, undeveloped, Spanish colony, into a culturally French dominated one. And they brought the carnival and canboulay festivities and traditions.

Kaisos were now performed by griots and/or chantwells (from the French word chantuelles) at canboulays (harvest festivals, from the French cannes brulées), which was the black alternative to carnival (which neither slaves nor free blacks could attend). As a result, Kaisos and canboulay music became the voice of the people and  were the music blacks performed and listened, under tents at canboulays. 

In the old West African ways, the chantwells  often told stories that challenged each other in competition, boasting and ridiculing, while also challenging the audience to "keep up" with witty wordplay and double meanings. Sometimes songs were quick to make fun of adversaries within the griot fraternity - like free styles battles and clashes today. In other cases, the stories would be didactic, or cleverly packed with sexual undertones, or just analytic or critical of the authority and power structure. These early calypsonians were skilled wordsmiths, slamming, slicing and nudging each other with sharp verbal skills.

 

Spoken Word and Storytelling 

When you check the various components that make up calypso, storytelling and commentary are functional. The calypsonian (the calypso singer) is most definitely a spoken word griot, a djele. He or she is a storyteller in the true sense, relaying his or her take on social and political issues of the society. That calypso derived from African oral tradition is obvious and undeniable when you consider this music's functionality.

"A Calypsonian is a poor man newspaper."

 "I consider the Kaisonian  as the old African storyteller..."

Dutty Boukman in Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman)

Dutty Boukman in Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caïman) 

It is told that on the steamy, Caribbean night of August 14th, back in 1791 a slave named Boukman  ignited the Haitian Revolution during a secret vodou ceremony in Bwa Kayiman (Kreyol meaning literally, Alligator or Caiman Woods: Bois Caiman in French) in Morne Rouge, which is in northern Haiti. Boukman was a hougan (priest) and along with mambo (female priest) Cecil Fatiman, officiated the meeting where they planned the insurrection and held religious, vodou ritual, in preparation for what would become the most successful revolt and the greatest, far-reaching event in Caribbean history - The Haitian Revolution.

Dutty Boukman

Boukman is said to have been a big, strapping, fierce man, and like many of the early leaders of the Haitian Revolution, he held a position of power on his plantation (he was a slave driver and eventual coachman). Many of the 200-300 attendees at the Bwa Kayiman ceremony held such positions, or were chosen leaders of their specific plantations. The meeting held both political and religious significance - it culminated months of insurrectionist planning and strategizing; and, it served as spiritual, inspirational rally for the impending revolution. At Bwa Kayiman, the beginning of the Haitian Revolution was set for one week later.

Much of the information about Boukman and Bwa Kayiman was written many years after the event, so it's difficult to separate fact from myth. Many say that he was a literate Jamaican slave, Bookman, who taught other slaves in Jamaica to read and so was sold to a plantation in Saint Domingue. Some staunch Haitian historians insist that he was pure Haitian, and suspect that foreign people of African descent are trying to high jack Haitian history to support their own agendas. Since the 1990's, there has been a mostly African-American movement (but which included former Haitian president Aristide) to "Islamasize" Bwa Kayiman and Boukman, claiming Bookman was a "man of the Book" (Koran) and that Bwa Kayiman was in fact Bwa Kay Iman ( the woods by the Iman's house).

To be continued

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Boukman's Prayer in Kreyol

"Bon Dje ki fè la tè. Ki fè soley ki klere nou enro. Bon Dje ki soulve  lanmè. Ki fè gronde loray. Bon Dje nou ki gen zorey pou tande. Ou ki  kache nan niaj. Kap gade nou kote ou ye la. Ou we tout sa blan fè nou sibi. Dje blan yo  mande krim. Bon Dje ki nan nou an vle byen fè. Bon Dje nou an ki si bon,  ki si jis, li ordone  vanjans. Se li kap kondui branou pou nou ranpote la viktwa. Se li kap ba  nou asistans. Nou tout fet pou nou jete potre dje Blan yo ki swaf dlo  lan zye. Koute vwa la libète kap chante lan kè nou."

Boukman's Prayers as translated by C.L.R. James 

"The god who created the sun which gives us light, who rouses the waves and rules the storm, though hidden in the clouds, he watches us. He sees all that the white man does. The god of the white man inspires him with the crime, but our god calls upon us to do good works. Our god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs. He will direct our arms and aid us. Throw away the symbol of the god of the whites who has so often caused us to weep, and listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of us all." 

Boukman's Prayer as translated by IBW21.org

"Good Lord who hath made the sun that shines above us, that riseth from the sea, who maketh the storm to roar; and governteth the thunders. The Lord is hidden in the heavens, and there He watcheth over us. The Lord seeth what the blanc (whites) have done. Their god commandeth crimes, ours givethe the blessings upon us. The Good Lord (Bondye) hath ordained vengeance. He will give strength to our arms and courage to our hearts. He shall sustain us. Cast down the image of the god of the blanc, because he maketh the tears to flow from our eye. Hearken unto Liberty that speaketh now in all your hearts."

Boukman's Prayer Translation by thelovertureproject.org

"The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light.The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder  roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men's god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that sings in all our hearts."

Cecile Fatiman

DUB POETRY: Coramantee Heart (The Revolt)

Abeng Dub Poetry: Coromantee Heart (The Revolt)

copyright 2013 K. Omodele

                    

Re-volt noun 

1 an act of rebelling. 2 a state of insurrection. 3 a sense of loathing. 4 a mood of protest or defiance

              

 Medsing* thru mind window beyond barred sills, pass the mill,

Lift mine eyes up to the hills from whence come Jah will,

I sight Boukman, Bwa Kaiman, Palmares in Brazil,

Feel like Djuka to de bush and go Maroon in the hills,

'cause teLIEvision, pure derision, images unreel,

Vanity innoculate me like snake under heel,

Meh Granny used to warn me "hard ears goin' feel"

From chopping cane in the field, now life behind steel.

The wicked carried we away in slave bangles and rope,

We leggo cutlass and hoe, now tote the corporate yoke,

But revolt deh in meh soul like gold in Guyana dirt,

Pull on me Kwamina** pants, button me Cuffy***-link shirt.

Sight, that great Zimbabwe Wall deh masoned by us

Lalibela stone churches carved from rock and such.

Pyramid and Jah Eye inked 'pon the dollar they trust.

Timbuktu we build that up outta sand and the dust.

Thru the Door of No Return herded to hell in a rush,

Plantation by ship, prison complex 'pon de bus,

Rather chuck miself overboard, "freedom is a musss"

With meh Coromantee heart and meh Black Carib**** gut.

Wicked carry we away in rusty shackles and chains

Tried strip we culture and we pride, give we heckles and pain,

Revolt run thru me like oil under Trinidad soil

Sharpen meh Coramantee thoughts with meh Ashanti file.

The wicked Cari we beyond Mama Africa breast,

Far from de River Niger, just niggas in de West,

But Revolt boil meh blood like the Caribeyon' Sun,

Meh heartbeat...Coromantee; Hands beat Congo drum.

             

* medsing- meditating

** also Quamina, Kwabena (in Twi). Referring to the slave leader of the Demerara Slave Revolt

*** also Kofi (in Twi). The leader of the 1763 Berbice Slave Revolt

**** In the Eastern Caribbean (St. Vincent), slaves escaped to the hills, joined Caribs and intermarried.  Their offspring became known as Black Caribs.