|
The slaves that were shipped from Africa to the New World, to serve as workers
on plantations, took their (musical) culture with them, if only in their minds.
In their new homelands they recreated their secular and religious music and
dance, which for them were essential forms of expression to enable them to
forget their sorrows, to help create social solidarity, and to make contact with
their gods. The tambú of Curaçao (Dutch Antilles) is an example of this cultural
continuity. The use of percussion instruments, such as the drum and iron
idiophones, antiphony, polyrhythm, the pentatonic scale, and the poly- movement
of the dance, are all African in origin.
The Tambú
The tambú was not just a dance for the Afro-Curaçao people, as the colonial
authorities, well-to-do whites, and Roman Catholic missionaries concluded. Nor
was it merely ’simple public entertainment for relaxation and amusement’, as
labelled by the colonial legislator. It was a way of life. Tambú was one
expression of the folk belief of the black Curaçao slaves and also of the
Afro-Curaçao workers and farm labourers of the lowest social class after the
abolition of slavery in 1863. Tambú was an element of the complex of
inter-related historical and religious Afro-American cults which grew up
everywhere they were taken as a result of the massive forced emigration of
Africans in the days of slavery and the slave trade. Comparable folk
manifestations include the calinda of Trinidad, the winti of
Surinam, the
palo monte of Cuba, and the
candomblé and macumba of Brazil. The music of the tambú was
originally made on only two instruments: a single-skinned drum, the tambú , and
an iron idiophone, the heru. Hand clapping (brasa) and stamping
the heels are essential elements of tambú music. The drum is the central
instrument. For so long as anyone can remember the drummer has been a man, while
the singer has been a woman. Singing is regarded as one of the most important
aspects of the tambú .
The Origin of the Curaçao Slaves
The origins of the Afro-Curaçao people lie in the slave trade and slavery which
came to the colony of Curaçao in the seventeenth century. The Dutch introduced a
plantation economy after they took over the island in 1634. This involved
small-scale agricultural production – basically the growing of food for the
island’s own population, not intended for export. The Dutch colonists, however,
built the island into an important slave market and depot.(1) In this sense in
analogy to a plantation economy we can speak of a Curaçao slave economy. This
consisted of importing and breeding slaves, mainly for export to plantations
elsewhere in the Caribbean region. The African origins of the majority of the
present-day Curaçao population is somatically recognizable though it is
extremely difficult to trace the precise ethnic origins. These were certainly
West African, but that term is too general.
Judging by the existing oral
traditions and literature, religious customs, habits and language, the origins
should be sought in the regions around the former Congo and the Gold Coast
(Ghana). It was from these regions that most of the Africans came who were
brought to Curaçao. One consequence of Curaçao ’s status as a slave market and
slave depot was that a complete hotchpotch was created of mixed cultures. The
fact that there was a great deal of contact with neighboring countries and
islands from the moment the island was inhabited because of its geographical
location is also of importance. Because of this there was undoubtedly some
influence from surrounding slave colonies during the period of slavery.
|
|
|
