Corrections – Traditional Bahamian Song and Social Organization

The traditional song “Gal, you want to go back to Scambo” represents the more basic Bahamian musical culture. The social organization of the song is limited by the economic status of musical culture in the Bahamas during the 1950′s. The Fresh Creek Dance Band sang and played the instruments in this song. It was recorded live because a dance pavilion owner needed entertainment for the August Monday Celebrations and asked H. Brown, the lead singer, to put together a show (Charters, 1959). This was the making of the Fresh Creek Dance Band.   The simple way the band was put together and how fast the song was accepted, show how the Bahamian people are willing to hear music and connect with it.  The band’s name came from the combination of location, the Fresh Creek Settlement, Andros Bahamas and the dance celebration (Charters, 1959). The band includes, H. Brown, lead singer and maracas player, Prince Forbes, guitar, Alfred Gay, goat skin drum, James Clair, saw, and local children playing sticks (Charters, 1959).

The chosen instruments were very traditional and included the maracas, the goat skin drum, saw, sticks, and a guitar.  These are typical island instruments, which inevitably were influenced by the slave populations from West Africa (Gale Cengage Learning (pub.), 152). The island, today, is made up of more than 85% African descendents (Gale Cengage Learning (pub), 152). The chosen instruments are ones that can be made in the home or are readily available items which happen to make music, i.e. the saw and sticks.  The saw and sticks are also common to rake n’ scrape music of the Bahamas, from which this song does have some influences (VanderCook College of Music, 2009). While using the saw, sticks and goat skin drum may be traditional, their use also shows a limited economy surrounding musical culture.  Interestingly, the word choice of the song includes a Bahamian word “Scambo,” which refers to any far off place (Charters, 1959).  Also the use of “Gal” is another reminder of the song’s traditional components.

It is hard to determine the training of the band members however, they are all popular in the Bahamas, as was the song. This leads me to believe that they are all skilled in their instrument use. We do know that the well-known guitar player, Prince Forbes and the lead singer H. Brown, were professionals at the time (Charters, 1959). In contrast though, the children taking part in the stick playing would not have been trained before playing the song. The only training they may have received is a little instruction on how to play the sticks in the song prior to playing with the band live. Since this band was put together specifically for the August Monday celebrations the festival audience would be the people who listen to the music and take part in such celebrations. In 1958 this was a very popular song on the Bahama Islands (Charters, 1959). The pavilion owner was the key in originally bringing this band together (Charters, 1959). At that time he was somewhat of a manager and producer of the song. The audience propelled the song into popularity and acted as advertisement by spreading this song and supporting it (word of mouth). In this song’s creation, money was not a key factor to developing “Gal, you want to go back to Scambo.” It was the rich traditional value of music and the festival culture that brought it all together ().

References

Bahamas Gateway. 2000. McDaniel College Library. 16 Sept. 2009 <http://www.bahamasgateway.co/bahamas_art_dance_and_music.htm>

Boultbee, Paul G. World Bibliographical Series: The Bahamas. Vol. 108. Oxford: Clio Press Ltd., 1989.

Charters, S. B. Music of the Bahamas, Vol. 3: Instrumental Music from the Bahamas Islands. Folkways Records and Service Corp, 1959.

Crowley, Daniel J. “Toward A Definition of Calypso, Part 2″. Ethnomusicology. Vol. 3, no. 3. University Press.

Gale Cengage Leanring (pub.). “Background: The Bahamas.” Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 2010. Vol. 1. Sept. 2008: 150-153.

Lightbourn, Kent. Tools for Survival: A Review of Bahamian Culture. Diss. Western Maryland College, 1995.

Marshall, Wayne. “Dub Island.” FADER Apr. 2008, Issue 53: 142. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. McDaniel College. 16 Sept. 2009 .

Music of the Bahamas. 2004. VanderCook College of Music. 16 Sept. 2009 .

Porter, Darwin, and Danforth Prince. Frommer’s Bahamas. 2010 ed. New Jersey: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2009.

Rommen, Timothy. “Home Sweet Home: Junkanoo as National Discourse in the Bahamas.” Black Music Research Journal. 19.1 (1999): 71. Academic OneFile. EBSCO. McDaniel College. 21 Sept. 2009 http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/printdoc.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&docType=IAC

The Fresh Creek Dance Band. Gal, You Want to go Back to Scambo? Folkways Records, 1959.

Williams, Colleen Madonna Flood. The Bahamas. Philadelphia: Mason Crest Publishers, 2004.