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The
Big Drum Ritual of Carriacou
Praisesongs
in Rememory of Flight
by Lorna McDaniel
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this Book now
The Big Drum is the lively
ancient dance rite of the small island of Carriacou, Grenada.
This book introduces 120 of the ceremonial song texts and dances
that call and entertain the ancestors who are central to
Carriacou religious experience. Performed since the early 1700s,
the Big Drum dance reveals an African-Caribbean religion at its
inception as practiced by enslaved people and in its current
expression as a vital, living aspect of Carriacou society. No
other Caribbean ritual like it still exists.
Lorna McDaniel maintains that the nine coded rhythms of the boula
drums hold the history of the nine African "nations"
that inhabited early Carriacou, keeping alive their memories of
Africa and of family lineage. In discussion of the spiritual
bases of the Yoruba dances of Grenada, Trinidad, Cuba, and
Jamaica, McDaniel illustrates the connection between the
liturgical symbols of danced religions and the ancient myth of
"The Flying Africans."
McDaniel, who lived in Carriacou at the time of the 1983 invasion
of Grenada, frequently observed Big Drum dances and interviewed
many "old heads" (wise people) for this book. She
concludes it with an analysis of a single calypso that
memorializes the invasion and illustrates the history-keeping
function of the calypso and Big Drum. She uncovers a structural
relationship between ancient praisesongs and modern political
songs and suggests the continuing impact of music on the memory
of Caribbean people.
Lorna McDaniel is the founding editor of the
journal New Directions: Readings in African Diaspora Music.
She has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of
Nigeria, and Cheyney University and is the author of articles in The
Black Perspective in Music and Black Music Research
Journal.
1998. 216 pp. 6 X 9.
12 b&w photos, 7 line drawings, 29
musical scores with verses, 6 tables, appendix, glossary,
discography, notes, bibliography, index.
ISBN 0-8130-1607-X
Cloth, $55.00
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"[A] landmark study in the musical history of the African diaspora." --
Choice
"A model of interdisciplinary scholarship. . . . A welcome contribution to the study of traditional music and dance in the Caribbean and . . . highly recommended for all those interested in the African diaspora and Caribbean studies."--
Ethnomusicology
"This intensely
interdisciplinary study is rich in research, subtle in analysis
and humane in intent, a model of diasporic scholarship. A
brilliant achievement."—Sterling Stuckey,
Presidential Chair, University of California, Riverside
"The definitive work on the Nation Dance. . . . It will be
the critical book that every scholar and every other person
interested in the Caribbean, its culture and its religious
expressions, will have to read."--Donald Hill, State
University of New York, Oneonta, author of Calypso
Calaloo
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