For more than one reason, the "kalimba" intrigues as an instrument. Its beautiful, "serene", yet playful sounds seem to have a mind-easing effect, - a "zen" effect - and can hardly sound otherwise than pleasant, unless an unskilled, a-musical player still manages to ruin that.
Many people, even if themselves no musicians, know vaguely that such a "kalimba" is African in origin, perhaps only due to the name. Others with somewhat more knowledge might know about the Mbira in Africa (Zimbabwe a.a.) too, or heard about it.
The kalimba, with characteristic - often ovally round or rectangular - gourd, wooden, or even coconut shell (I have one with coconut shell) and metal tines, with the longest, lowest sounding in the middle, and the higher, shorter ones to the sides. Between 17 or 8 tines (representing notes), depending on level. The hole in the middle helps resonate. It is known in the Western world, among the common public, and associated with "World music" and Africa.
Well, the irony is, is that it is typically African, yet not entirely African. The kalimba as we know it, that is. This was, after all, an adapted version of an authentic African instrument, the Mbira, created in the 1950s by English ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey. He adapted in the 1950s the actual traditional and authentic, but more complex, Mbira from the Shona people in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, to a simpler form to be learned more easily in other cultures, such as Western countries, applying also Western musical terms (Alt, octave). The Kalimba has an African name, but is thus a Westernized version of the Shona/Zimbabwean Mbira lamellophone: plucked by thumbs in the same way, but the original Mbira has more notes/tines, and layers of notes (between 22 and 28 tines, being a standard).
SHONA
Among the Shona people in Zimbabwe, the Mbira is a very important in their culture and even religion. It is considered a sacred instrument. Very interesting, as are its present uses, and connections with popular music artists like Thomas Mapfumo. Much of this information, however, can be found easily on Wikipedia, YouTube or elsewhere, so there is not much use repeating it all here on this post.
WIDER
This is however still a limited approach to this instrument. Hugh Tracey resided in South Africa, and studied as ethnomusicologist mainly in Southern Africa, such as Zimbabwe. Ethnomusicologists point out, however, that comparable "thumb pianos" and lamellophones as such, have been and are common throughout other parts of Africa too, in different shapes and forms. It is said to go back 3000 years, starting with wooden and bamboo tines, first found in the Cameroonian region..
I noticed that already at a museum exhibition in Amsterdam, Netherlands, I went years ago. This well documented exhibition at the anthropological Tropenmuseum (Tropics museum), showed many of these "types of kalimbas" or lamellophones throughout Africa (historically), These were different types, sizes and forms, and of different materials, small/big, few tines (some just 4, f.i.), many tines (over 20), but all sharing musical principles.
It was also pointed out that such "kalimba-like" lamellophones are quite unique to Africa. And of course its diaspora, as the bass Marímbula in Afro-Cuban music, is in fact a bigger, bass version of a kalimba/mbira. It had that function in traditional, acoustic Afro-Cuban music, such as Eastern Cuban Son and Changui, and still in part.
There were also lamellophones in part of Africa, the said exhibition showed, with also nonmetallic, but bamboo tines, earlier in history than the Shona/Zimbabwean Mbira. Original creations by Africans, without a white ethnomusicologist involved in them. This shows the long tradition in Africa, and the influence on music. They have different names in different parts of Africa for them, Ikembe, Sanza, Chisanji, Eleke, among them.
Parts of Africa, and cultures that had such lamellophones traditionally, include of course the Mbira of Zimbabwe and similar ones in neighouring countries (Mozambique, Malawi), but also in what is now DR Congo, Cameroun, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries.
Interestingly, in Ghana they have the large "bass" lamellophone called Prempensua, similar to the Marimbula used in Cuba and other Caribbean islands, such as in the old Jamaican folk genre Mento (still played by some, such as the band the Jolly Boys).
Among the Yoruba in Nigeria/Benin there is also a large lamelophone used, called Agidigbo, with mostly 5 larger tines, having a bass and synchronizing function with e.g. talking drums. It has a deep, sonorous sound.
This seems a distinctively African instrument type, expressing perhaps a sense of "Africanness" , though in Siberia a "plucked" lamellophone-type instrument is also found, and in a few other places outside of Africa.
Plucking just by thumb is in that sense overall quite unique to African culture, leaving for the other fingers a mere "holding" function, and the thumb therefore more creative and active. Also, in the West African (Mande area) Ngoni lute, the thumb is in a sense singled out to pluck the chords, but along with the index finger.
LACUNAE
Though there is somewhat documented academically about the Mbira among the Shona, and how Hugh Tracey based the globalized and Westernized Kalimba on it, there are still some knowledge lacunae, it seems, regarding the African lamellophones. At least what is readily aviable on the Internet, noticeable also on the Wikipedia page on lamellophones. That can after all only base itself on academic sources and studies, though lack of interest may play a role too.
I personally was specifically interested in bamboo-tines lamellophones, since I own one, and used it in several of my compositions (percussion instrumentals). You can safely say that this rectangular bamboo-tined "kalimba", "sanza" - how you want to call it - acompanied me during my life, having it for over 20 years now.
I do not even remember well where I bought it, I only have a strong "hunch". Some scenes I remember well, for some "magical" reason - such as standing in a Fair Trade shop, with many non-Western products, including small instruments. I vaguely remember seeing such lamellophones there. I do not even remember where in the Netherlands this Fair Trade shop was, because I went to some in Amsterdam and Leyden in that period.
I somehow sensed it was African, and maybe it was written when I bought it, but I do not remember that.
QUEST
Interestingly, since then a quite latent but recurring "quest" began, regarding the origins of this lamellophone I own and play. I saw in a book or online a similar bamboo-tined sanza from Cameroon, assuming that mine must be too, but it was not identical, only similar. In the said Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, the Cameroon-origin thesis seemed confirmed, as in the collection of lamellophones this museum exhibited, the ones that ressembled mine most, were indeed from Cameroun.
The Wikipedia article, and other sources, further explained that two separate inventions of the lamellophone/thumb piano took place historically: of bamboo- or wooden tines in West Africa - specifically the Cameroon area! -, and of metal tines in the Zambezi region, Southern Africa, the latter resulting in the well-known Mbira. These metal-tined lamellophones then spread throughout the whole continent.
Did the older, bamboo-tined branch got largely replaced by this, or just disregarded? I only found the bamboo-tined ones in musea (a former colonial one, at that), suggesting its present use seems limited. In folk music (probably), let alone regarding translations to pop music, where at least the metal-tined ones got some attention (e.g. Earth Wind & Fire, Taj Mahal, Thomas Mapfumo).
It is a pity because I have learned to love the sound of my bamboo-tined lamellophone. Bamboo tines have and interesting difference with metal sounds. A study in itself. As I use other bamboo instruments too - such as a self-made "bambulafon" - I noticed that hitting - or "plucking" as with lamellophones - bamboo, results in a far-reaching sound.. Not "long" but far-reaching. The sound itself is short and sharp. Its resonance is nonetheless mysteriously wider that it seems. Bamboo is a type of grass, so that might make it that "earthy".
Metal tines - of course - have a longer resonating, "warmer" and deeper, as well as more malleable, sound . This makes them for some preferable. Yet, the bamboo tines have an own feel with their sound, more "earthy" and, indeed, "grassy". It sounds more like nature itself. The metal tines - that I also like - sound more like "humans in harmony with nature" (reflection on it), which is also nice.
The two types of lamellophones and their sounds could combine well, but seldom are, because of cultural differences, in traditional contexts. Some modern composers - like myself - might do that experimentally, and so I did.
CAMEROON
So, from what I could find, without total certainty, my bamboo-tined lamellophone/"sanza" is originally African, and probably from the Cameroun area. Simply because all lamellophones that I saw that were similar to mine, were described as from Cameroon. Bordering areas (Efik area, SE Nigeria), also had quite similar ones (with bamboo tines).
I still lack "hard evidence", but it has a high probability. My next question is then: are these bamboo-tined sanzas still used in folk music in Cameroon, or elsewhere?
Some sources seemed to point at NW Cameroon, other ones to similar lamellophones as mine also among the Bamana in Mali.
My quest still continues..
Meanwhile, the different types of lamellophones/mbira's throughout Africa, have still wide and varied musical and cultural roles: time-passing for travellers as known in the Congo region, entertainment, also inciting rain in some cultures, talking with the ancestors in several ones, and other spiritual uses, just like the Mbira has for the Shona in Zimbabwe.
It has an important role in African culture, and its specific sounds, rhythms and patterns have influenced later African (pop) genres, such as in Zimbabwe, Soukous in the Congo region where the guitar riffs seem modelled after sansa/"kalimba" playing..
MARIMBULA
With the African diaspora, following the slave trade, the relative of these African lamellophone was developed first in Eastern Cuba, based on African models. This was the Marímbula, a big lamellophone, with a bass function.
In that part of Cuba, a large percentage of enslaved Africans brought there between the 16th and 19th c. were from the Congo region, relatively many, although there were Africans from other regions too (Yoruba, Calabar/Efik, Rara/Ewe) in Eastern Cuba too. So both the (precursor?) to the Yoruba, also large and "bass" Agidigbo lamellophone might have been a model, as well as the several sansas/mbiras in the Congo region and Central Africa.
Anyway, from Eastern Cuba, it would spread over time to the whole Caribbean and Latin America, up to Argentina, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and nearby Caribbean islands. With that, this Afro-Cuban Marimbula has been the most widely spread and best known "Mbira" like instrument, after the Mbira itself, and of course the Kalimba.
The Marimbula's function is however simplified in the Americas: a bass function, and with fewer tines also. Less melodies, or in complex polyrhythms, as with the Mbira and other lamellophones in Africa, but simpler and bass-like in function. In Cuban Son (Changui) music (also from Eastern Cuba), the marimbula is still used in traditional contexts, but in later Son groups, mostly replaced by standing (acoustic) or electric bass guitars. Especially in Salsa music - for about 70% based on Son - the electric bass guitar became more common.
When I went to Cuba several times in the period 2001-2006, I visited many musical performances, and saw both bass guitars (one time an electric one, more often acoustic ones), and a few times musicians still brought Marimbulas, in more acoustic settings.
I have now a part coconut/wooden, metal-tined ("standard") kalimba too, with 7 metal tines, which is less "authentic" (I believe it is produced in SE Asia), but sounds nice too.
My already mentioned other one - that like I said, I do not even remember well buying - is especially precious to me, because I have a longer history with it, also musically.
ORIGINAL
Fittingly, with its bamboo tines, and traditional design, it comes close to the old, original, "very first" lamellophones in Africa... with bamboo tines, before metal took over across Africa. This original, bamboo-tineed one is the oldest invented one in Africa, they say in the Cameroon area. This makes this sansa quite special.
BB King named one of his guitars Lucille. Maybe I should give my sanza/lamellophone a nice Cameroonian personal name, haha
De wereld van fysieke boeken. "Ouderwetse" papieren boeken.
In dit digitale tijdperk is het op de achtergrond geraakt, sterk beperkt, maar nooit verdwenen. Het bestaan ervan is bedreigd geweest, maar dat was vooral theoretisch.
De technische ontwikkelingen gingen niet zo snel, en handzame e-books of e-readers bleken eigenlijk toch niet zo handzaam. Ook wenden onze ogen maar niet aan het beeldscherm; teveel "prikkels" bij zoiets sobers als "het lezen", mogelijk voor film geschikt, niet voor lezen van lange teksten.
De "vervanging" vond wel degelijk plaats, en de meeste gedrukte teksten werden uiteindelijk gedigitaliseerd. Papieren boeken verloren daarmee hun unieke, primaire informatiewaarde. Althans voor de meest bekende werken.
Los van deze praktische, haast zakelijke "content" focus, zitten er echter ook andere kanten aan het lezen. Eentje stipte ik reeds aan. Lezen "als activiteit" of "tijdverdrijf", de meditatieve overgave welke de concentratie stuurt, wonen in taal en opgeroepen beelden. Om een of andere reden lukt dat vaak beter met een stapel papier, hoe oud ook, dan van een kille technologische laptop of e-reader. De tekst kan hetzelfde zijn, de beleving anders.
HISTORISCH EN SOCIOLOGISCH
Mag de informatiedrager dan deels een trivialiteit te noemen zijn - goede teksten blijven goede teksten, ongeacht de vorm -, er zitten ook andere kanten aan papieren boeken en tijdschriften die meer cultureel zijn, en historisch. Papieren werken als slechts "ouderwetse" informatiedragers, vertegenwoordigen echter ook een wereld van culturele en maatschappelijke uitingen, maatschappelijke voorkeuren, en uitgeverskeuzen, sinds pre-digitale tijden. Daarmee geeft het historisch inzicht.
Dat is een terrein dat interessanter is dan het lijkt. Het gaat namelijk essentieel om de vraag: welke kennis wordt verspreidt, welke informatie, en wie bereiken die teksten in de samenlevingen? Daarmee wordt het ook sociologisch interessant.
MINIBIEBS
Een fenomeen waar dit uitstekend te bestuderen is, is het fenomeen "minibieb", zoals ik dat ken in mijn woonplaats Amsterdam. Het gaat hierbij om kasten met papieren boeken en tijdschriften te vinden op straat, in verschillende delen van de stad, veelal op de stoep tegen buitenmuren van woonhuizen. Deze "straatbiebs" zijn vrij, waarbij de term "bieb"/bibliotheek wat flexibel is geïnterpreteerd. Veelal wordt het begrepen als "gratis boeken", dan wel plek waar boeken achter gelaten kunnen worden, ook "te geef". Soms staat er een tekst bij dat het de bedoeling is dat je de boeken terugbrengt, bij anderen expliciet dat ze te geef zijn.
Sinds ik ze aantrof her en der in de stad, vond ik die minibiebs wel leuk. Het bracht mij mentaal terug naar de "boekenwurm" periodes in mijn leven, toen ik graag in de openbare bibliotheek kwam, toen wonend in een dorp. Een dorp saai qua uitgaansleven, en ik vluchtte in muziek (reggae e.a.), maar ook boeken, in dat nog pre-digitale tijdperk. Ik las toen ook wat meer literaire werken, naast nonfictie, ook buiten wat van school moest. Ook keek ik toen in kasten met goedkope (bijvoorbeeld "afgeschreven") boeken.
STUDEREN
De interesse bleef: later, rond 1996, ging ik ook de Informatiedienstverlening en -Management opleiding op HBO-niveau volgen, aan de Hogeschool van Amsterdam: de opvolger van de bibliotheek-academie. De omslag van papier naar digitaal was toen al vergevorderd, hoewel verre van absoluut. Stageplekken die ik verkoos (in de nonprofit sector) hadden vaak nog eigen bibliotheken met veel papieren boeken, terwijl andere studenten liever "snelle" commerciele bedrijven als stageplek kozen, met alle documenten zoveel mogelijk gedigitaliseerd, e-libraries, een gelaagd "intranet", etcetera.
Een teken van de tijd. Alles -ons hele leven - is sindsdien (vanaf 2000) steeds digitaler geworden, met e-readers, tablets etcetera, hoewel sommigen nog steeds papieren boeken prefereren.
OUDER
Die minibiebs op straat in Amsterdam staan derhalve voor een oudere wereld. Maar ook een rustiger wereld. Een wereld met minder haast, minder opgejaagd zijn door geld- en sensatiezucht. Eenvoudigweg de tijd nemen voor een boek, meegenomen worden in het verhaal ervan, overgave van je concentratie, nog zonder gedachten aan "praktisch nut" of zelfs kloktijd.
De vraag is echter wat de minibiebs concreter vertegenwoordigen in dit tijdsgewricht. Mensen laten die papieren boeken (soms ook tijdschriften en andere dragers als dvd's of vinyl platen) daar immers achter: ze hoeven het niet meer zelf te hebben, in huis, blijkbaar. Die specifieke boeken vielen tegen, of zijn mensen die die boeken daar "dumpten", helemaal "gone digital", en lezen ze nauwelijks nog wat van papier?
We weten het niet, en dat is ergens ook het leuke ervan. Die minibiebs zijn openbaar, op straat, vrij, en volstrekt anoniem. Van iedereen, voor iedereen. Dat is een mooi iets.
Het heeft een beetje de "vibe" van de vrijheidszoekende jaren 60 en 70 van de 20ste eeuw, de "hippie tijd" en vlak erna, die ook in Amsterdam veel invloed had. Dat maakt de minibiebs vergelijkbaar met het "witte fietsenplan" van Provo: het alternatieve "vrij beschikbare fietsen" plan in een fietsstad bij uitstek die Amsterdam is. Vrij, van iedereen, voor iedereen. Een idee dat helaas snel verlaten werd. Fietsen, boeken: vrij voor iedereen: in zo'n wereld is het beter toeven.
Ik zag bij toeval al veel van die straatkasten met boeken in delen van Amsterdam - tijdens werktijd en in mijn vrije tijd -, ook omdat ik al jaren lang veel fiets door de stad.
Het meeste keek ik in de kasten met boeken in de Van Limburg Stirumstraat (Staatsliedenbuurt, Westerpark), niet al te ver van dat deel van Amsterdam waar ik woon. Af en toe een interessant boek over Afrika, of vegetarisch voedsel, trof ik daar.
STRAATBIBLIOTHECARIS
Het was daar dat ik op een gegeven moment een man aantrof, terwijl ik weer even wilde kijken. Hij was druk bezig, en gezien het tijdstip (rond middernacht) vond ik het onverwacht te moeten wachten, hoewel ik geen haast had. Ik keek eerst naar boeken waar die man niet bezig was.
Zo zie je maar: de stadsneurose van mensen alleen zien als "hinderlijk in de weg", dan wel "opjagend", kan voorbarig zijn. De man sprak mij aan, en wat volgde was een eigenlijk prettig en interessant gesprek. De man, ik schat in de 50, bleek al die "minibiebs" in Amsterdam bij te houden, en verwees mij naar een website - met een officieus "bit.ly" adres -, met een kaart van Amsterdam met alle aangetroffen straatbiebs/minibiebs, met wat beschrijvingen (omvang). Adres: http://bit.ly/minibieb020. Interessant. Over de inhoud van de boeken stond op die website niets, maar de man was evenwel bezig orde aan te brengen in de boeken: kinderboeken bij elkaar, literaire werken bij elkaar op een paar planken, nonfictie op andere plank, kookboeken bij elkaar, etcetera.
Klinkt dit allemaal spannend en spectaculair? Misschien niet echt. Toch snapte ik de man. Ik heb immers ook wat ooit de bibliotheekopleiding gevolg, en kwam en kom altijd graag in bibliotheken. Boeken deelde ik in in categoriën - ik moest vaak wel -, en gaf trefwoorden. Dat werk doen zogenaamde "documentalisten", en dat was lang ook mijn "job title", zogezegd: documentalist. Zo heb ik als "documentalist" lang in/voor een wetenschappelijke bibliotheek gewerkt.
Ik lees de laatste jaren wat minder dikkere boeken, maar doe het nog steeds graag, en heb een brede culturele interesse.
Ik heb die avond - of eigenlijk vroege nacht - dus ook geleerd dat er zoiets als "straatbibliothecarissen" of "straatdocumentalisten" bestaan.
Ik was die man dankbaar voor dat webadres, want daarmee had ik een redelijk volledig overzicht van minibiebs in heel Amsterdam. Hij zei ook dat ik informatie kon mailen voor de website, een nog niet genoemde of verdwenen kast met boeken. "Mee doen" met andere woorden.
Doordat de samenleving in dit jaar 2020 werd plat gelegd voor een relatief nieuw griepvirus, en mijn vrienden opzoeken in de horeca niet meer mocht van de autoriteiten, en ook mijn belangrijkste hobby: musiceren met mensen, was beperkt door "wicked Babylon" - had ik wat meer tijd. Ik fiets graag door de hele stad Amsterdam, als een soort sport en fitness, zelfs naar de andere kant van de stad.
De Van Limburg Stirumstraat "straatbieb" - in Westerpark - was toevallig wat dichter bij waar ik woon, maar ik fietste nu meer grote delen van Amsterdam door: Oud-West, Bos en Lommer, Baarsjes, maar nog verder: de Jordaan, Centrum, Oost, De Pijp, Nieuw-Zuid, of Nieuw-West. Zo zie ik nog eens wat van de stad. Nu dus met specifiek adressen (straat met huisnummer) van deze minibiebs/straatbiebs, vermeld op voornoemde bit.ly website, nl. http://bit.ly/minibieb020.
INHOUD
De vraag dringt zich op, de "elephant in the room". Wat voor boeken trof ik aan, inhoudelijk? Vond ik het wel interessant, sloot het aan bij mijn interesses? Kwamen bepaalde soorten boeken vaker terug?
Ik heb een brede interesse. Ik ben meer een Alfa en Gamma, dan een Beta, dat wel. Boeken over technische zaken trekken mij wat minder aan dan, bijvoorbeeld, boeken over psychologie, sociale geschiedenis, of geografie.
Na wat heen en weer fietsen en minibiebs in verschillende delen van de stad gecheckt te hebben kan ik - na deze steekproef - wel wat voorzichtige conclusies trekken.
De kasten met aantallen boeken kunnen verschillen in omvang van ruim tegen de 100 boeken tot zo'n 10 boeken. Meestal is het iets ertussen in: zo'n 40 boeken en wat tijdschriften bijvoorbeeld in veel van die straatkasten. De kasten verschillen ook qua grootte, en van uiterlijk.
Over de inhoud: literaire werken kwamen relatief vaak voor. Vooral de wat grotere straatbiebs hadden wat meer nonfictie werken, maar bij de wat kleinere vond ik soms vooral enkele tientallen literaire werken, en vier of 5 nonfictie of studieboeken. Soms ook "populair-wetenschappelijke" werken.
Er zaten aardig wat (literaire) boekenweekgeschenken tussen van Nederlandse auteurs, maar het is desalniettemin flauw en onterecht om de straatbiebs als "dumpplek" te zien. Er waren bij die boekenweekgeschenken ook interessante, lezenswaardige teksten.
Even vaak, daarnaast, waren er ook kwalitatief goede werken bij van gerenommeerde auteurs als Isabel Allende (relatief vaak) en Maya Angelou, en zelfs bekende romans die literatuurprijzen hebben gewonnen, of klassiekers, met name Nederlandstalige: van W.F. Hermans, Harry Mulisch, van Arnon Grunberg, A F Th van der Heijden, Adriaan van Dis, Jan Wolkers, Kees van Kooten, Herman Koch, Anja Meulenbelt, en van latere schrijvers als Abdelkader Benali, Kluun, Joost Zwagerman, e.a. Bekende werken ook. Ook minder "high brow" werken, als van Mart Smeets waren te vinden.
Relatief vaak - om een of andere reden - Engelstalige boeken van het literaire echtpaar Nicci French. In meerdere kasten trof ik het bekende "30 shades of Grey" boek aan, en de even populaire In De Ban Van De Ring cyclus.
Soms trof ik ook interessante werken - wat directer aansluitend op mijn persoonlijke interesses - over muziek, Afrika, andere landen, kunst(enaars), psychologie, en soms ook studieboeken horend bij een opleiding, maar ook genoeg leuke "populair-wetenschappelijke" werken. Ook aardig wat boeken over flora and fauna, zoals een boek over "olifanten", en eetbare gewassen, om maar wat te noemen.
Ik trof ook in alle stadsdelen relatief veel kookboeken. Ik ben vegetariër, maar ook voor mij waren er leuke boeken bij, hoewel ik soms bij koekboeken toch heb: die gerechten kan ik zelf ook wel bedenken, maar leuke tips zijn altijd welkom. Boeken over vitaminen en voedingswaarde zijn ook wel nuttig in deze tijd. En in elke tijd, eigenlijk.
Qua talen vooral Nederlands, maar heel wat ook in het Engels (w.o. literaire werken), en in sommige straatbiebs ook in het Frans, het Spaans, of Duits.
Al met al, al die mini straatbiebs bij elkaar, boden best wel wat variatie, en voor veel mensen die graag lezen en ergens wat over willen weten, voor velen wat wils, bovendien ook verschillend in omvang.
INTERNET
We leven nu in een tijd van Internet en Google. Sommige van de meer "informative boeken" zijn gedekt door zoeken op Internet, maar lang niet allemaal. De "hap-snap" kennis van informatie op Internet, en zelfs een Wikipedia artikel - hoe correct ook -, zal niet alles kunnen vertellen wat in een dik studieboek over cognitieve psychologie staat, of een "psychologische encyclopedie", zoals ik die in een kast zag.
Verder zijn de vele romans en literaire werken die ik er trof, vaak helemaal niet op Internet te lezen: dat zijn immers formeel kunstwerken, geen informatiebronnen als zodanig.
Daarnaast zie je hier een interessante wisselwerking tussen teksten waaruit blijkt dat het om "teksten" gaat en niet de dragers. Het boek over olifanten waar ik even in bladerde bij een van die straatbieb kasten, bracht mij op ideeën, omdat er iets in stond wat ik nog niet wist. Dat ging ik vervolgens op Internet opzoeken. Via via, door toevallig dat boek daar te zien liggen. Dat deed me denken aan een rustiger tijd, "pre-Internet", toen ik als kind door de OB liep.. Onbevangen, niet gericht en zakelijk op zoek, maar je laten betoveren... of niet.. maar vrij en open. Je las iets, en dat bracht je op ideeën om ook andere dingen te lezen. Pure, onbevangen nieuwsgierigheid. Met rust en overgave. Voordat het systeem opdrong dat je een vak en carrière moest kiezen.
Het kan ook op Internet: van Wikipedia artikel naar Wikipedia artikel, via interne links, maar dan toch met minder vrijblijvendheid.
In verschillende delen van Amsterdam zag ik vergelijkbare tendensen: veel (Nederlandstalige) romans, brede nonfictie. De Jordaan had een aantal leuke - één in een voormalige telefooncel -, waaronder grappige spirituele linksgerichte boeken van iemand die blijkbaar actief mee deed in de jaren 70 en hippie-tijd (maar dat boek niet meer hoefte te hebben).
Wat meer Spaanstalige boeken in een paar straatbiebs in Westerpark, maar dat kan toeval zijn. Het is zoals gezegd allemaal anoniem, afhankelijk van mensen die al dan niet tijdelijk toevallig wonen in die omgeving.
Minder toevallig waren er in de minibieb bij de Protestantse kerk Eltheto (Molukse buurt, Amsterdam-Oost) voor een deel Christelijke boeken, maar niet alleen.
Voor de liefhebber van literaire werken zijn de minibiebs/straatbiebs zeker aan te raden, maar ook voor anderen, want de thematiek is breed, ook wat betreft nonfictie, en soort literatuur. Ik vond er wel wat interessants tussen. Het is denk ik niet alleen voor "hardcore" bibliofielen.
DEZE TIJD
Daarnaast moeten we toch in deze rare lockdowntijd voor een relatief nieuw griepvirus, dat volgens alle wetenschappelijke en objectieve cijfers die ik kan vinden niet eens zo dodelijk is, en sinds Juni van 2020 niet eens meer zo problematisch is voor ziekenhuizen.
Als Mussolini van het balkon commandeerde het kabinet dat - om het aantal besmettingen omlaag te brengen - de horeca dicht moet (sinds oktober 2020), maar winkels niet. Dit terwijl er relatief minder "besmettingen" plaats vonden in horeca, dan op het werk of thuis.
Een paar weken later commandeerden dezelfde Mussolini's dat andere publiek plekken als musea, bibliotheken, en theaters ook maar een tijd dicht moesten. Boeken moet je maar kopen, niet lenen, want vreemd genoeg bleven boekwinkels open, ook die waar mensen dichtbij elkaar moesten zijn.
Sommigen durfden het echter aan om het even gezellig te maken in de bibliotheken, even een ontspannen uitje of praatje, en in het coronabeleid geldt: "gezelligheid ist verboten!". Inconsequent en absurd. Om ons zoveel mogelijk thuis te houden. Vanwege wat: het meer testen met ondeugdelijke PCR-tests, die volgens experts niet genoeg zeggen over echte besmetting of infectie?
Intussen werd Amsterdam sinds Oktober 2020 een spookstad, wat ik vooral merkte vanaf later op de avond, ook in het weekend. Af en toe wat bussen en taxi's, meer politie-auto's, enkele fietsers en wandelaars die zich meestal keurig aan het samenscholingsverbod hielden (ze moesten wel), wat criminelen, soms wat thuisbezorgbedrijfsfietsers, maar geen lichten van de horeca, slechts woonhuizen met mensen hun privé-leven. Een soort Purmerend aan de Amstel, met wat grotere en vaak oudere gebouwen. Verder zo saai als een streng-gereformeerd dorp.
Het coronavirus is nu niet dodelijker of ernstiger dan de griep die we al kenden. Waarom alles in de samenleving, inclusief alle bronnen van plezier en geluk, plat leggen? Waarom mogen gezonde mensen niet gewoon het leven leiden dat ze hiervoor deden, en hun natuurlijke behoefte aan gezellig samen zijn voldoen? Is het niet zinniger en wellevender om kwetsbare groepen wat meer en directer te beschermen?
Ik hang geen theorieën over complotten van overheden aan die (nog?) niet bewezen kunnen worden. Het heeft ook geen zin. Ik weet gewoon niet waar deze autoriteiten - internationaal! - mee bezig zijn. Waar, zoals de Rastas zeggen "Babylon" mee bezig is: New World Order?, nieuw kapitalisme door een rijke elite?, contant geld stoppen?, 5G?, totalitaire volksmanipulatie? Zou best kunnen allemaal (als je zoals ik de geschiedenis hebt bestudeerd), of minstens deels.
De cijfers en kille feiten rechtvaardigen dit beleid in ieder geval van geen kant, dat is wat ik zeker weet. Daar heb ik ook al meer dan genoeg over gehoord, maar ook gelezen. En nog meer gelezen, en nog meer gelezen.. Ik ben geen beta, en werd virologie op den duur ook een beetje zat. Ik deed het ook nog bovenop, immers, de massa-hysterie en overmatige media-aandacht aan het nieuwe griepvirus Covid 19.
Dan lees ik maar liever ook wat over olifanten in Afrika, een meeslepende roman, of een biografie van een artiest. Even weg van deze echte maar verwarrende wereld vol machtsmisbruik, minachting van vrijheid, en angst.. Even weg van al die onzin..
Nu de bibliotheken - hopelijk niet te lang - dicht zijn, als gevolg van een onprettige (en onnodige, want niet-werkende) lockdown, zijn de minibiebs een beetje een alternatief. Tenzij daar ook vervelende, extra beperkingen komen als het te gezellig wordt bij die minibiebs, en bijvoorbeeld meer dan twee buurtbewoners er een praatje durven te maken.. Dat gaat in tegen het samenscholingsverbod..
"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world" ~ Voltaire.
"Partner dances (or couple dances)" is a field I have not concentrated on very much, I admit. I love dancing, and soon in my life I concluded that moving your body rhythmically to music, "dancing" was natural and in fact required to enjoy much music. You had "listening" music and "dance" music, but to dance music and "in-between" (danceable and content) music, I tended to dance. At home, alone in my room and later house, and in time at concerts and in clubs too. Whereas some people I knew preferred to sit on the venue's balconies, I preferred the floor in front of the stage: I wanted to dance.
I danced, however, alone, in my own space. I saw and see it as a personal and, well, spiritual connection to the music. I developed my sense of rhythm, soon feeding into my musical activities, as I played more and more percussion instruments. This was a personal trajectory.
Dancing, thus, had no "mating" or "social" function for me. Not primarily anyway. To be honest, I considered it unnatural when I "had" to dance in pairs, even if with a nice lady. I could see the joy of that (when in love?), but when I took some Salsa lessons in Cuba (good place to learn it, that is true), I liked it a bit on the one hand, but found the "stylized" rules and proscribed steps too "rigid" and conservative. Added to this were old-fashioned gender roles of a "leading man", of course as a form of theatre, but still.. I preferred my own free, rythmical dancing.
JAMAICAN DANCE
As a Reggae fan since my early teens, my dancing became loosely based on Jamaican dancehall dances since the Rocksteady era. it was with Rocksteady and Reggae that staying on one spot ("rent-a-tile" was an expression in Jamaican dances), and moving your whole body while on that same spot, frontways and/or sideways, became more socially accepted. A bit more theatrical but natural dances were at times popular in Jamaica (1970s and 1980s), like "water pumpee" or "cool and deadly", and these had a few (loose) "rules". A more moderate, but similar individual "skanking" variant became a norm at Reggae dances, both with Roots Reggae and Early Dancehall.
On more "dynamic" later, also digital Dancehall in Jamaica, becoming more influential since the late 1980s, some "sensual" partner dances were more common, including "whining" , "dutty whine", and "daggering". All dances that leave little to guess about eventual sexual meanings. Actual sexual attraction (or arrousal) might change my attitude, but under normal circumstances I neither liked these dances very much. I preferred to dance in my own way - and alone - if I liked the Dancehall songs- , just following the rhythm.
Yet, also in modern Danchehall era in Jamaica, a lot of new individual dances - fitting specific songs and their lyrics - appeared, and became commonly practised, sometimes temporarily, in the dancehalls in Jamaica and abroad.
OTHER DANCES
Some Jamaican (Reggae) dances I know a bit (Water Pumpee a.o.), I even like some of those new Dancehall ones (Bogle Move a.o.). I am intrigued further by some (solitary) folk/spiritual dances in parts of Africa I saw, and also by elements of other dances like Break Dance. I like moves in some forms of Flamenco and Spanish folk dances. Mostly, though, I just move loosely and freely to the music, following the rhythm, in my own way, albeit thus influenced.
I also wonder, despite all this, that there might be more interesting aspects of "partner dances" that I do not know. Partner/couple dances that maybe even inspires a solitary dancer like me.
Being interested in African and Afro-American cultures, the cultural dimension of dances can be interesting. Some of the globally best-known, almost cliché, partner dances developed in Latin America: the Tango, the Salsa, the Rumba, while other known ones were originally (largely) European, such as the "ballroom dances" the Waltz, the Foxtrot, the Quadrille, Paso Doble, Flamenco, etcetera. Names many people know, or what it looks like, but do not really know how to dance themselves..
The waltz has the most "stiff" image, and is indeed regulated and proscribed, while the loose improvisational Flamenco and Bolero from South Spain have a different, a bit more African "vibe", even if danced with partner. Some of these European dances seem to confirm the idea that in European/"white" dances more often are independent from the actual music heard. Flamenco, and some other folk dances in Europe, being exceptions (music-dance interaction).
Dances in the Caribbean and South America, though, while influenced by these European models from their colonizers, added interesting African and native aspects to the cultural mix, in cases even dominantly African ones.
I like Salsa music - and its roots in Cuban Son - better than the dance of the same name: nice to try, but too rigid and limiting for my taste. The same applies to Cuban Salsa-derived dances, elsewhere (Merengue, Bachata). I have seen the Tango, and found it a bit more appealing, though not so convincing or life-changing to take me away from my "good old" solitary dancing.
LAMBADA
The same applies to Lambada. I have seen that Brazilian, sensual dance through the media and the well-known world hit(s) by Kaoma (1989) - like many people- and a few times in real life by experienced dancers. Kaoma actually had two relative "hits": one simply titled Lambada, but melodically based on a Peruvian folk song (Llorando Se Fue), translated to Portuguese, and one called "Dançando Lambada", also helping to internationalize the Lambada craze.
I could understand the appeal of the Lambada dance a bit. Mainly because of the "hip swaying" which was a bit less present in Salsa, and almost absent in the stiff European dances like the Waltz..
That hip movement could work nicely when the dance partner was "in sync", I imagined. Of course, the macho "male leader" role also here, but this "gender division" is best to be taken playful, with humour. As are the sensual aspects of it, making Lambada being called "the forbidden dance", earlier in Brazilian history. Others speak of a unique "flowing wave" motion, the Lambada dancers' reproduce, that even I - as couple dance sceptic - find intriguing.
Lambada originated in part in the northern Brazilian state of Pará (with many mixed/Amerindian influences), and spread eastwards to the strongly Afro-Brazilian state of Bahia, adding influences from the Forró genre..
It went accompanied by an own music genre, that I found quite groovy and lively. Music that was quite rhythmical, showing African and some slight Amerindian influences. It - the music form that is - faded in popularity over time in Brazil, however.
ZOUK
Lambada as music genre became less common or mainstream by the 1990s, and other music genres became more popular in its place in Brazil, even foreign ones. Notably Zouk music from the French Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe) - with the band Kassav' being its best known representative - reached the north of Brazil and dances there. Kassav' might be what Bob Marley is to Reggae: the best known name.
Zouk itself developed in the Caribbean from a combination of influences, including the Gwo Ka and Biguine from Martinique and Guadeloupe, Haitian Compa, and Calypso. I discussed Haitian music in another blog post by me, and its influence on smaller French Caribbean islands Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Like Compa, Zouk has a distinct rhythm or groove that I would like to call "swaying", characterzining its relatively fluid, gentle nature. This differs from other rhythmic Afro-Caribbean, more "metronomic", "staccato" or "pumping" music genres, such as in Cuba. An interesting difference that might relate to different colonizers or to specific African origins of the enslaved population in the French Caribbean. Or both.
Relevant to this post. I think that "partner dances" fit better with such "fluid" and "swaying" music than with "straight up, groovy" music of whatever character (James Brown's Funk, much Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady, Dancehall, Salsa). Relatively "slower" music too, but it is - I think - not just in the tempo, but rather the type of rhythmic flow. The Lambada's flowing "hip swaying" could be nice with a partner and not just alone, as an interesting symbiosis/synthesis, even if not deeply in love with that person, which would make it even nicer and more magical. That is what I felt: sensual swaying.
In other genres it is just my own body and the rhythm/drum, that is satisfying and inspiring enough for me.
BRAZILIAN ZOUK DANCE
The interesting thing is that while the more dominant music genre in Northern Brazil changed to Zouk and Zouk-like rhythms, the way that people danced to them remained strongly influenced by the preceding Lambada dance, the moves and hip swaying, and flowing.
This was helped by the fact that there were some similarities between Lambada as music, and Zouk as music, although also differences. Lambada - while distinct - also had some musical similarities with Colombian Cumbia, by the way (which has a quite different dance). Of course, there is a shared African heritage, but besides this, there are similarities in "rhythmic flow". The Lambada as dance thus could be easily adapted to Zouk rhythms.
Thus developed in the 1990s what was called Brazilian Zouk, a partner/couple dance. Some find that the Brazilian Zouk seems even more sensual than its precursor the Lambada.
Where in Salsa, hands are used to lead the dance and moves of it, in Brazilian Zouk this is done (also) be other body parts, notably the hips. It includes a lot of "swirls", especialy by the woman. Some see this dance as more sensual - since it is a partner dance - , but it also can be seen as "fuller" (physically). This fuller, whole-body approach to dancing is what I like, seeming to me more complete and loose than hands-led partner/couple dances like the Waltz, Foxtrot, or the Salsa.
SENSUAL?
The phenomenon of "partner dance" seems by its very nature sensual. The historical male-female partners in the older dances represented or referred to hetrosexual intimate relationships. they were not just good friends (as portrayed in the dance). Of course it is theatre, performance, and over time dancers began to only pretend to be lovers with the partner for the dance.
RUMBA
One variant of Afro-Cuban Rumba music and dance, Guaguancó, offers another dimension. In Guaguancó in the dance a "pursuing battle" - or nicer: flirtatious game -is performed/danced between a man and a woman. The woman keeps refusing his advances while both dance: she dances away from him, but also keeps flirting to attract him. Dancers follow the basic rhythm pattern of guaguancó, mostly conga- and clave-led. I studied that nice pattern as a percussionist - for congas. A bit later saw the link with the "suspenseful" drum/rhythm pattern of guaguancó: a man pursues, a woman resists, playfully.
Again, conservative gender roles are confirmed, as in other (European and African) partner dances, but of course it is playful theatre, and, well, some men argue that men are indeed more desparately pursing women, as women get men more easily and do not need to. In that sense, the Rumba Guaguancó is somewhat realistic. Moreoever, guaguancó represents a flirting game, with the willingness of also the woman implied. In reality, it can be seen as a "fertility ritual", known historically in several cultures.
It has similarities with the Salsa, and is in fact a Cuban precursor to it. The Salsa dance as such is based on Cuban models, just like the music genre of the same name, Salsa, is based mostly on Afro-Cuban music. Both developed outside of Cuba though, in the New York area, among many Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and others, besides Cubans.
Rumba Guaguancó now is a precursor dance to Salsa (feeding into it historically), along with another Rumba style, the Yambu (also mostly for couples). Interestingly, the other, faster style of Rumba, called Columbia, is meant for a solo male dancer.
Actual moves and patterns of Guaguancó are consequently echoed in later salsa dance, including hip movements, and steps.
Crucially, the dancers in Guaguancó do not or hardly touch each other, and some authors such as Robert Farris Thompson and Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr., regard this a heritage of African dances from the Congo region. Hamilton Crowell discusses this in his article 'What is Congolese in Caribbean dance' in the collective volume ' Caribbean dance from Abakuá to Zouk' (2002), edited by Susanna Sloat. Hamilton Crowell also mentions in it a recent dance arising in Angola, Africa, called Kizomba, as related though more original to Zouk and other dances.. He also points out in the article how " hip rolling and hip swinging (that) distinguishes Congolese dance".
This can be found to differing degrees in several dances, including partner/couple ones throughout the Americas, Salsa, Rumba, Zouk, Samba, Cumbia, and others.
Indeed, among the enslaved Africans in Cuba, relatively many were from the Congo (Bantu) region in Central Africa. Estimates say about 40% of the Africans in Cuba, with a similar percentage of Congo/Angola origins of Africans in Brazil, by the way. The secular Bantu dance called Yuká is seen as a precursor to Rumba. This influence is there, with even stronger Congo influences in Eastern parts of Cuba, around Santiago de Cuba (where Son originated).
Allow me a small digression, to return later to the theme.
CORONA CRISIS
As I write this in October 2020, the world is quite dominated by what is deemed a pandemic of a coronavirus/covid 19. this started in march 2020 and led to continuous "lockdown" policies on national levels, with differing degrees of intensity, to stop the infection spread of the new coronavirus/covid 19, first described as a "lung virus", with further similarities with the influenza, but - some asserted - worse.
This general lockdown - all over the world - including of healthy people, to limit infection and spread seemed to point at an unprecedented danger and risk, requiring such draconian measures. Public and social life was shot down during weeks, then partially opened, depending on supposed infections ("supposed", because testing for infection is not secure with current pcr-tests)..
Meanwhile more facts came out about this new "lung virus" Covid 19, and it became clear even from official sources that the mortality rate did not rise much above the (severe) flu levels of earlier years.
PROTESTS
People started then wondering: worthy of attention, yes, like influenza before, but national and regional "lockdowns"? Isn't that disproportionate (in light of data and figures), especially as it hurts the economy, limits cultural life, complicates normal human gatherings and events? Even worse: it increased the inequality and poverty in the world, including hunger, due to distribution stops.
These questions and objections are in my opinion legitimate, and some intellectuals and activists made this protest manifest openly in several countries. Large demonstrations followed in several cities: Berlin, London, Madrid, and lockdown-related riots also occurred (in Mexico and elsewhere).
The response by political leaders, and the uncritical media, was in my opinion odd and troubling. Forms of ridicule and even censorship that should have no place in a democracy returned. The danger of corona/covid 19 was absurdly emphasized and exaggerated by media, thus increasing fear, while figures pointed in another direction. This was almost "Goebbelsian" (repeating lies until people start believing them) in dimension. With the virtual "ignoring" of mass demonstrations (including one in Berlin, visited by a known US politician Robert Kennedy jr.), and the trend toward more strictness among international politicians, referring to a "second wave" of the virus.
This is based on more PCR-tests, which - as I said - do not even give secure results (to know for sure if someone is infected with Covid 19 several tests are needed), and an error margin of about 30 %. Dubious, to say the least.
UNDEMOCRATIC
On top of it, some governments attacked or by-passed democratic structures, thereby effectively acting as dictator in formal democracies. De Spoedwet/Noodwet in the Netherlands (Emergency Law) was proposed last Month this year. This would authorize ministers or prime-ministers to by-pass the chosen parliament. Undemocratic in essence, but after negotiations made - let's say - a bit more democratic, with added required parliamentary input.
Still absurd, and relating to the global hysteria we are in - that it could have been proposed and - at first - accepted by most politicians and citizens. This is especially troublesome, because of the similarity - especially in its first concept - to the Law passed in 1933 by the Nazi's in Germany, making Hitler effectively dictator.
The same fear and hysteria (put) in people's heads made it acceptable - to many people at least - that Spanish prime-minister Pedro Sánchez in Early September 2020 ignored a legal decision forbidding a new lockdown of parts of Madrid (in this case poorer parts) for various reasons, yet ordered it nonetheless, overruling law. This is against the Trias Politica, and simply undemocratic and dictatorial. A relatively "young" democracy like Spain should have known better.
Since the virus seemed not that mortal/severe and the "pressure" on health systems could be handled well, more anti-lockdown spokespersons stood up to oppose the strict measures.
SPOKESPERSONS
Even more, anti-corona policy spokespersons gained prominence, despite mass media censorship efforts. They objected against the damage of lockdowns on poor people world wide,and specifically businesses, cultural organizations, musicians, bars, and on wider economy, as well as to the social "behavioural" change this whole crisis apparently had to include: keeping 1,5 meter (6 feet) distance between people, obligatory masks, forbidding free gatherings, number of people together, etcetera,.. not showing nice, happy times ahead. In addition, they trample personal rights of free movement, choice, and even physical integrity.
I agree with most of these objections at this point, because I know the real figures of Covid 19, and find these policies disproportionate. Better to protect and (humanely) isolate vulnerable groups (like older people) to this virus, than to shut down whole countries, which is as absurd as it sounds.
This post is not really about that, but this digression has a point to it, however. It is not just an "off-topic rant", haha.
The reason why I bring it up here, is that one of those anti-corona policy activists/spokesperson here in the Netherlands is Willem Engel. He studied Biochemistry, so has relevant knowledge, seemingly knows how to organize and find experts (legally and otherwise), so he seemed a good spokesperson for that cause. I personally like his relaxed, humourous approach too. Some see his focus on "love" and compassion as soft, or hippy-like, but he talks little or no nonsense, in my opinion, and mostly factual.
DANCE TEACHER
This Willem Engel, often criticized in the Dutch pro-corona measures-mainstream media, became - after his time in biochemistry and science - a Rotterdam-based dance teacher, mainly specialized in Brazilian Zouk, knowing some other Latin American dances too.
In these absurd, difficult times, this has a symbolic appeal: a "dance teacher" against a threatening Covid 19-based "dictatorship", or at least undemocratic political repression of human rights and freedoms- with a sanitary excuse. I opine that these harken in aspects even back to Fascist times, forgotten in current normalized "democracies" in Europe, like the Netherlands, and Spain since 1975.. Suddenly, the political elite speaks of a "new normal" (why is that needed?).
Conspiracy theories abound, but besides people with still just "well worked-out speculations", there are some with more information and plain facts. Still.. the existential fact remains that "evil" or immoral intents are hidden, even from conspiracy investigations. If there is a wicked plot behind it, it is hard to find out, let alone prove. This is however not needed to be against this policy, just the current, unbiased facts are immoral and wrong enough. Of course, this is my opinion, based on neutral facts I found. Others may not care about these, or have other more alarming facts and figures, that seem so difficult to find.
All that is known, and mistrusted by many, is that a "vaccine" is promoted as only secure answer (and end) to the lockdowns. A gloomy perspective of a changed, colder, "soul- and cultureless", and restricted world. If not, no concerts, parties, closeness, hugging... Too absurd for words, what is happening now, almost impossible - I find - to conceive all at once.
A man promoting this - his - vaccine/vaccination is Bill Gates: not an elected politician, but a wealthy merchant, but also "philantropical". Promoting his vaccine, unashamedly, apparently having struck a deal with many governments world wide. This whole crisis to sell those vaccines for profit? In light of the proven influence of the pharmaceutical industry on science (not just a conspiracy theory), this is one of those conspiracy theories that might end up being true.
Willem Engel, a now dance (Zouk) teacher, former biochemical scientist, is an activist in the Netherlands against this whole policy: it has a nice poetic, even humourous touch to it, so welcome in these worrying times.
Engel teaches and dances a dance with certainly some African characteristics - the Brazilian Zouk -, like the Lambada with important hip movements, but with overall "sensual" yet playful dimensions, with room for artistic improvisation. I saw it performed a few times, and liked it at least aesthetically, and the couple in question seemed to have some sense of rhythm, so followed the music well enough. Also images of Willem Engel when dancing on YouTube show this.
VACUNAO
Quite sensual, and with body touching, with hip on side or belly a.o.., on mostly mellow, swaying music (Brazilian Zouk dance). That is the difference with the Rumba Guaguancó, I mentioned before, showing mostly Congo African influences, but with similarly important hip movements and swirling and likewise a partner dance, but without the touching, though the man tries to do this. The woman - flirtatiously/playfully - refuses his efforts while dancing. That is the game.
The accompanying music, including conga drums, other drums, shakers (chequere's), clave sticks (beating the characteristic Rumba 2-3 pattern), blocks, and often vocals, similarly shows retentions from the Congo region, as of some other parts of Africa (Yorubaland, Efik/Calabar area, a.o.), as musicologists noted.
An added move performed in the Guaguancó dance is a kind of "victory" moment for the man, when the man imitates a "penetration" motion toward the woman, and succeeds in "conquering" the woman in the end. This is a "touching" that the woman dancing before kept both attracting and refusing, as part of the playful "flirting game".
Again conservative gender roles, with the "macho" man dominating the woman with his penetration of her, thus conquering her, making her his. All symbolic, of course.
Well now, this (theatrical/metaphorical) penetration move within the Guaguancó dance by the male dancer "conquering" the first refusing woman, is called in Cuba el "vacunao", Spanish for "vaccine" or "vaccinated". Done mostly via the upper leg.
Some even go so far to replace the name of the dance Guaguancó with the less correct term "Vacunao" dance.. Not me..
Can we see the Guaguancó dance as an allusion to this corona crisis now?
Some differences: this is real, and by rich white men. Another difference: the woman in Guaguancó, is in reality willing but "plays around": people of this world are made afraid of hyped-up Covid 19, but not really willing (I would say: confused).
The similarity with the (inevitable?) vaccine is there, at least metaphorically in the case of Guaguancó: and all to real with this crisis.
So one could say, that this corona crisis is like a cynical, fake, "white-man" Guaguancó dance. The man representing the powers that be (or "Babylon" as Rasta people say), and the woman the common citizens of the world: pursued.
Other main - and depressing! - differences are the the actual leaders/elite forces in this crisis: they cannot dance, have no rhythm, they include no good music, unlike with Guaguancó, and they are not playful.. Plus: the other party they do not seduce/convince, but intimidate.. No rhythm, no music, no "soul", no love.. Toward a loveless "vacunao"?
CONCLUSION
I can conclude from all this, that there is quite a variety among the so-called "partner dances", looking only at some examples, as here. Salsa I knew already, so I looked at other dances here more in detail (Lambada, Zouk, and Guaguancó). Some are seduction/flirting games without initial touching, others are perhaps a "lovey dovey" stage further, when the flirting has gone over into an intimate, sensual relationship, embraces and touching. I liked some of the moves, and the magical "flowing" of bodies, when good in the rhythm and music.
I myself am hesitant, though, of too much mixture of sexual relationships and music, seeing music as a valuable art form of itself. Using it for one's own sexual needs seems to me egotistical and, well, degrading and downplaying the art that is music. Even sacrilege and corruptive, in some cases.
On the other hand, I am neither too tight or prudish about this, knowing very well it is part of life and natural human relations. Such "fertility" dances moreover have existed in many cultures. I can enjoy it on occasion too. I just personally prefer, overall, individual, free dancing to the music and rhythm.
Anyway, in whatever form: more music and dance is what the world needs now, along with love, understanding, and humble curiosity. Not the sinister and "cold" world of 6 feet/1,5 meter distance from other humans. They call this "social distancing", which is a misnomer: it is "physical distancing".
Added to this were dictatorial "orders" ("emergency" laws) impeding too much people gathering. Closing down bars/clubs, and even "befehlen" (orders) to "stay home", many out of fear even accepted. Locking (mostly free and healthy) own citizens up in their own home, basically.
When concerts or gatherings were hesitantly allowed, here in the Netherlands, the authorities even had oddly specific mandates, with instructions to remain seated and not dance (let that sink in..), personnel in clubs/venues ordered to control whether visitors stayed seated. In some strict places, one standing up and dancing by him/herself (on one spot) - not approaching other persons - was even forbidden. In the Netherlands in 2020! To adult, free, and healthy persons!
I am not making this up. I see no link with a virus, of such absurd rules, perhaps only explained by a very "White"/ European interpretation of "dancing". People who know how to dance with their body need not move about. Moreover, in African and other cultures there is an intricate relationship between music and dancing, these obvious "white man" laws, ignore and restrict.
The governments clearly interfer with our privacy, rights, and freedoms, and attack our physical integrity. In an absurd way, with a sanitary excuse. Only accepted because they exaggerated ("hyped up") the danger of the Covid 19-virus, even after more facts came out.
Irrational belief in its extreme danger and mortality -against all known facts - took such forms, and was so massive, that I sometimes feel I ended up in a "twilight zone", an absurd reality or dystopia. A "bad horror film", I called it a few months ago, especially after I saw so many signs with photos of the virus throughout Amsterdam.. Absurd.
Instead of this, let us go to world of love, dancing, music, releasing stress, partying, gathering: all healthy for our immune systems, and yes: also hugging and touching when wanted by all parties. That is natural and human, and always have been. Just as natural and human as wanting to help the weak, when infected and a weakened immune system, when necessary.
We do not need to change our natural humanity and natural social behaviour for that.
Unless you want to control and oppress people, make the rich richer, and sell your vaccines. Or the virus is man-made, etcetera etcetera..
Yet - like I said before - this corona crisis in 2020 is so wrong and absurd, affecting the already poor disproportionately, that it does not even need (hard to prove) "conspiracy theories", however plausible or realistic, to oppose it. The facts are enough. Still many don't rebel, and just go along..
"Fear is a state of nervousness fit for children and not men. When man fears a creature like himself he offends God, in whose image and likeness he is created. Man being created equal fears not man but God. To fear is to lose control of one's nerves; one's will, to flutter, like a dying fowl, losing consciousness, yet alive". ~ Marcus Garvey
How people got to be reggae music lovers or fans has always fascinated me. Maybe partly because reggae still is off/outside the mainstream, also in the Netherlands. It is not found that easily, let’s just say. It requires (to a degree) an extraordinary life path: that is, different from copying the masses, or simply following what’s commonly on television or the radio.
Reggae has of course since decades gone international and widened its fan base, but I have known individually quite different reggae fans within the Netherlands. Black and white (and Asian, or mixed etc.). Males and females. Old and young. Some with little education, some highly educated. Of different class backgrounds. Some combine liking reggae quite equally with other genres (e.g.: some with African, funk, soul, some with hip-hop, some even with non-black music genres), while others on the other hand adhere almost “strictly” to reggae music, and do not get into much else. Some like roots reggae more than dancehall or vice versa. There are even reggae fans – believe it or not - who do not smoke the “ganja herb”.
Furthermore, some have an interest or sympathy for the related subject of Rastafari, some do not, or even despise it. The latter, despise, I find somewhat odd since Rastafari is not the same as reggae, but is nonetheless connected to it.
These differences (and similarities) between and among reggae fans/lovers intrigue me, also in relation to personal backgrounds. That’s the reason why I would like to interview specific individuals who love reggae.
Before this I have interviewed 8 persons – reggae lovers I know, “breddas” (meaning “brothers”, or "friends" in Jamaican parlance) of mine – here in the Netherlands.
I started the series on this blog with a post of June 2012, when I interviewed Abenet. In April of 2013 I interviewed Bill. After this I interviewed Manjah Fyah, in May 2014. For my blog post of August 2015, I interviewed, somewhat more extensively, (DJ) Rowstone (Rowald). In August 2016, then, I interviewed Vega Selecta. In October 2017 I interviewed DJ Ewa. Then, for my post of September 2018, I interviewed for the first time a woman, namely Empress Messenjah or Empress Donna Lee.In August 2019 I interviewed another woman, namely Sound Cista.
SELECTRESS AUR'EL
This time, early september 2020, I interview another “sista” of mine, whom I met in the Amsterdam reggae scene, first as Reggae "selectress" (deejay). Her selectress name is Selectress Aur'El (spelled like this), the name simply coming from her first name Aurélie. She is actually French, though having visited before regularly the Netherlands. She is from Strasbourg.
I remember having seen her play as selectress/dj at several Reggae parties in Amsterdam since around 2016 (Paradiso, Vrankrijk a.o.), sometimes with her female co-selectress Maaike Waves or the Zen Rockers. I those times liked her old-school selection, also as a welcome break from UK Steppers some of the other selecta's favoured. Rather, she played old Jamaican Roots.
I myself (as vinyl selecta) for the first time played with her at a vinyl reggae party in former squatter club OT301 in Amsterdam, in June, 2018. I enjoyed her selection at that occasion again, harkening back mostly to Old and Classic 1970s Roots Reggae, and later Roots Reggae in that beautiful tradition. She played - again! -strictly vinyl. She also selected relatively often Studio One records, including from the Rocksteady era.
I specialize broadly too as selecta, but focus regarding Roots Reggae perhaps a bit more on a later period: e.g. the Later 1970s and Early 1980s ("Channel One" or "Rockers" era), though also selectively on Studio One artists I like. I enjoy Rocksteady more than Ska, like seemingly Aur'El as well. All in all, thus, Aurélie's tastes in Reggae music seemed similar and partly "overlapping" with mine, but still with own accents.
These "own accents" in Reggae tastes makes for an interesting article and interview, but of course also her whole person(ality). She talked openly and intelligently (and pleasantly) with me, so I got to know already a bit more about her, just "hanging" with her. We over time kept meeting, up to today, also at Reggae-minded events (e.g. King Shiloh sessions), and in bars and clubs (e.g. Café Belgique and OT301 in Amsterdam), and communicated online and in person..
Over time, I saw her also play more as selectress several times, and invited her to select/play with me at Café the Zen in Amsterdam - crucial vinyl Roots Reggae sessions! - in Amsterdam a few times, in 2019.
We further spoke about a lot, even a bit her personal past, and I told something too. Her English was probably better than my French (though it could be worse, due to my "Latin" background haha), so we largely communicated in English.
Still, there are I think more things I find interesting to know about her personality and Reggae choices.. Finishing the "jigsaw puzzle" with remaining pieces, as a Dutch saying goes..
Not just for me, but I think the readers of this post may find, in general, Aur'El's story and perspective interesting, as a longtime, now Netherlands-based, French female Reggae deejay (selectress), and Reggae connaisseur and lover. Something of a more "international" view, one might say. Therefore and henceforth, this interview with her.
Underneath the photo you’ll see my questions and her answers.
Where were you born and did you grow up?
I was born in a small city in the East side of France, grew up in the countryside, and lived in Strasbourg for 20 years.
Since when (age) do you listen Reggae music?
As a child I already listened and loved a few of the most “mainstream” reggae tunes that were played on radio/TV, but didn't know much about this music. When I was like 17/18 years old, my friends bought tickets to attend Burning Spear's concert, and this has really been a big musical (and spiritual) revelation to me.
What attracted you to it, then?
Did I feel attracted? Most def., but it feels a bit like I didn't even choose myself...More like reggae chose me. I almost became an organizer and selectress "by accident", but always had this certitude that I'd found my “tribe”. I don't know how to express it, but Reggae was always in my way. It was like a call ...I just listened to it ;)
What other music genres did you listen to?
Oh, to a lot of different things like Rock, Grunge, Rap, Hip Hop, Soul, R&B and even more.. We were a bit dependent on radio and TV or on friends' tapes that we were lending to each others. I was not living in a big city (no records shop), and there was no internet back in the times...I was also searching out my dad's records' collection sometimes, and I think that my very first musical crush was for Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue”. I'm still listening to a lot of different music genres, but the number 1 will always remain Reggae.
Has there been a change in your musical preferences since then?
Back in the days, my ears were still able to take a tiny little bit of French reggae, but today I can almost not stand it anymore. My preferences have not changed though. I loved Roots Reggae the most, and it's still the case today.
Do you have any preferences within the broad Reggae genre? Does, e.g., Digital Dancehall appeal to you as much as Roots Reggae?
As I said, Roots Reggae is truly my “thing”. I don't mind Early Digital and I'm even collecting tunes, but Dancehall is a big No-No, especially if it's slackness and has sexist lyrics. I'm only listening to uplifting music and I usually prefer edutainment to entertainment.
What about Mento, Ska, and Rocksteady?
I absolutely love these music genres... My former crew and I used to have a show on a French alternative online radio. My part was called “Jamaican Musical History”, and we started from Mento which I love. Without these genres, Reggae wouldn't exist, plus most of the legends of reggae have been part of Ska or Rocksteady band/groups.
Maybe this love I have for Jamaican oldies, has its roots in some nice childhood memories, as my dad was of course owning a few Harry Belafonte tunes. It was falsely labeled as "Calypso" to sell better, but in reality, it was Jamaican Mento.
American classics were also being played in my parent's house (on Sundays as well), and as Rocksteady is a lot about covers of those old beautiful songs, it certainly made me more receptive, plus it's a real “feel good” music, because it appeared just after independence, and Jamaicans were so full of hope for better times to come...
On Jah Music Mansion (webradio station), we are playing these beautiful tunes every week in our “Rice & Peas Sunday Vibes Sessions”. I had a slot too that day, and my mixcloud is full of recordings of these Sunday Oldies Sets. My collection of ska/rocksteady records is quite big too...
Really "rough and tough" to say, further, whether I like Ska more or Rocksteady more, but I think Rocksteady, because of the slower tempo..and is easier to dance to..
Since when are you a Reggae selectress/dee-jay?
Since forever! ...as I have always been kind of a playlist bully, tape collector, or a daddy's records digger...
I started with Reggae Events organization first (in 2000, if I'm right) but I Ifficially became a selectress around 2007/2008.
Any special experiences or encounters over the years (e.g. with producers or artists)?
I'm grateful because I had a lot, but let's talk about my Top 2...
The most memorable one was my encounter with Lloyd “Bullwackies” Barnes at Moodies records HQ in the Bronx/New York City (Big Up Everytime to Earl Moodie who made it possible!). I shared this great moment with Selecta Roastbreadfruit, who is one of my Best Friend in this world (and kind of my musical twin). By the way, I highly recommend to tune in to his Weekend Radio Sessions on JahMusicMansion.com, our online reggae radio. He is an amazing Selecta and Human!
Another very cool memory was when I've been asked to keep company to Living Legend Stranger Cole.
The band and crew members had stuff to do after we had finished recording dubplates, and I was the only English speaking person available to stay at the studio with him. We spent hours talking about Jamaican music... and this man is a REAL History Book! He told me so many great stories and anecdotes (it's really a pity I didn't record all of them!), and of course, we listened to a lot of reggae and rocksteady...
How do you consider the gender (male-female) balance among Reggae deejay’s/selecta’s in Amsterdam/the Netherlands? Compared to other countries, like France?
Same as everywhere else...It's no secret that there is still a lot of work to do in “general” to improve our rights, recognition, or the credit that is being given to us for whatever we are doing. The Reggae scene is no exception. It's indeed a much more masculine “milieu”, and I also encountered a bit of sexism, but in my case it's also mainly men who supported and pushed me the most to play music and express myself, so...
Maybe some women don't even realize they could be part of such things, and I even witnessed some “sabotaging” themselves. I have hope, though, to see more Selectresses playing at events, and more gender balance/"mixity" in a close future...
I think our most famous and settled “all male” soundsystems (the big names), should set an example...Usually females are only good to sing or play a few notes on a melodica for “just a tune”, TY very much and basta...I rarely see them invite a female selecta to play a few hours, highlight them, or just share the deck.
What are, more in general, the differences between the Reggae scenes in France and the Netherlands, would you say?
I'm not sure to have enough knowledge about the NL scene to answer this question...I'm still discovering and observing. It doesn't look like there are major differences. France is a bigger country which makes our reggae community also much bigger, with a lot of different musical families. I made good friends in the local Amsterdam reggae scene though (Big Up to the Zen Rockers Family'!).
I also really love the work of singers like Black Omolo, Lyrical Benjie, or Rapha Pico, or/and what is coming out from the Earth Works Studios ...In Amsterdam there are indeed a bit more female selectas than in my former city, and I especially rate Mystic Tammy and Sound Cista, because they are talented, proactive, and never giving up!
Are you active in other ways within the Reggae scene as well? E.g. radio, organizing events, design, or otherwise?
When I was still living in France, I was doing a lot of graphic designs for music related projects, organized a lot of events, and I'm part of a webradio called Jah Music Mansion. Even if I'm still playing my records then and when, I'm way less active since I'm living in the Netherlands, as I had a lot of different challenges to face and less time. Of course, it's temporary and I will get back to it very soon.
I attended a lot more venues here, though, than when I was in France... when that was still possible! I still try to feed my mixcloud account, however..
Do you play any musical instruments?
I did, a long time ago, but still play drums, though.. a few rhythms..
Do you have a preference for Vinyl or Digital/CD? As listener, and as selecta/selectress?
I'm just gonna quote Macka B here:
“[...]Well I'm not saying, that you should be playing
The 7 inch 45 only
But if you are able, go buy a turntable
You can also get dem with di USB
It's alright to play laptops, alright to play CDs
It's alright to play your MP3's
But don't leave out di vinyl, cah you can use dem side by side
With the modern technology, Lord ! [...]”
Why the selectress name Aur'El?
Blame it on laziness or on a lack of inspiration...I think I was maybe just not feeling comfortable to choose a DJ alias. A lot of female reggae singers I love just kept their real names as well. I just did the same and turned the “Selecta” part into “Selectress”, as a lot of pple were expecting a man when reading my name on a flyer...
Does the Rastafari message in much of Reggae appeal to you? How does this relate to your own background, or beliefs?
Yes of course it does, since I'm mainly playing Roots Reggae/Social commentary tunes. I built some kind of knowledge about Rasta through the years, and I'm only owning tunes and listening to lyrics which are matching my mindset. I love and “need” the Spiritual aspect in Roots Reggae.
In a way, I think it even saved my life. Also, to grasp a better overstanding of what I was listening, I studied and made a lot of researches about African and Caribbean Culture & History, because I was pretty ignorant and - as everyone in Europe - got indoctrinated at school with an Eurocentrist kind of knowledge...What an enlightment it has been for me!
What kind of music (reggae) do you prefer to listen to now – at this moment -, what specific artists? Any new “discoveries” you would like to mention?
I'm mainly listening to oldies/classic Reggae tunes and Dub also. My fave singers are people like Horace Andy, Cornell Campbell, Slim Smith, The Heptones and so many more...To give you an idea, my #1 labels are Gay Feet, Studio 1, Bunny Lee, Bullwackies, SipaCup...
I also really like the Virgin Islands Roots Reggae scene, and I respect a lot the hard and nice work of the younger generation of Jamaican artists (Jah 9, Chronixx, Protoje, Kabaka, and so on).
Lately, I had a crush on an upcoming young reggae singer called Mortimer.
REFLECTION AND COMPARISON
Well, I can safely say that Aur'El's answers provided some more "pieces of the puzzle", and some very interesting information. This relates both to Aurélie as person, as well as her connection to international Reggae movements.
Teenage years
The "teen years" seem recurringly to be decisive in securing the musical love and tastes. I myself got into Reggae around my 12th year, while around her 17th year, Aurélie went to an inspiring concert, proving to be "life-changing" (in the good sense, not in the "Babylon" sense of crises, war, poverty, etc.), a concert that strengthened her love for Reggae. When I was that age, 17, I had started to listen to Burning Spear too ('Man In The Hills' being the first album), but only when I was about 24 (in the later 1990s), I first saw Burning Spear live (in Paradiso, Amsterdam), and a few times after that (Paradiso, Amsterdam, some festivals).. all great shows..
The "mainstream Reggae", Aurélie mentioned, I do not remember encountering much as a child: maybe in the Netherlands this was even less popular than in France, those days.. Before Reggae, I was in to some Stevie Wonder and James Brown songs (and some Latin American and Spanish music), but I liked Bob Marley immediately when I heard an album of him, around my 12th year.
The teenage years were indeed also crucial in shaping the musical taste toward Reggae, likewise of the other people I interviewed before, on this blog. Psychologically interesting: between childhood and aduthood.. Selectress Aur'El interestingly also described it as that Reggae found her, instead of the other way around..
Within Reggae
I had some ideas about her preferences within Reggae - having heard her "selections", live and online - which were partly confirmed, or rather explained. Like my previous interviewee, Sound Cista (Carol), also a selectress, Aur'El did not like modern Dancehall, especially that with slackness and sexist lyrics. This is in line with her interest in Rastafari, Black history. "conscious" lyrics, and spirituality.
Aur'El's focus is mostly on Old Jamaican Roots, around the 1970s, with some attention to New Roots too.
Every person has of course one's own tastes and preferences, within the broad Reggae genre, and there seem to be some similarities as well as differences with my own tastes. "Chacun à son (or: sa?) goût", to say it in French.. Aur'El's interest, like mine, is quite broad. She however focusses more than me (also as selectress) on older folk genres like Mento and Rocksteady, as well as on Reggae artists I know and listen too (songs I like), but less than her. Leroy Smart, Cornell Campbell, Knowledge, and Earl Sixteen are examples, but there are so much artists in Jamaica, that each fan can't help but choose, haha. We both like Hugh Mundell, Burning Spear, and the Wailing Souls equally, on the other hand, so still nuff similarities. Like I already said, she focusses a bit more on "Studio One Reggae" than me, though I tend to like it too.
Horace Andy is one of Aur'El's favourite artists, and indeed has a unique voice and style. Horace might be in my Top 10 of singers too, but perhaps below or competing with people like Tabby Shaw, Alton Ellis, Ijahman, Junior Delgado, Bushman, and others..
I also prefer Roots Reggae over (modern) Dancehall, like her, but I think that, in comparison, I am more open to some "groovy" Dancehall - when rhythmically strong and varied -, that is musically; yet, humourless, boastful "slack" lyrics put me off at times too. Like Aur'El, I prefer "message" and "conscious" lyrics..
Aur'El is further of the "vinyl" school of Reggae selecta's/dj's (like me, partly), procuring some authenticity, as well as connections to the Netherlands-based (Polish-French) Zen Rockers selecta's, Loddy Culture, Dub Nico, and King Shiloh - and others -, also preferring to play from vinyl.
Gender balance
There is an interesting thread with my 2 previous interviewees: Empress Donna Lee, known as the first female Reggae selecta/selectress (deejay) in the Netherlands, active as such already since 1983 (!), and the also Amsterdam area-based Sound Cista (Carol), starting as selectress much more recently, in 2016. The latter stated she still noticed a male dominance in Reggae selecta/dj world numerically, but mostly worked well with men.
Aur'El -starting as selectress earlier, around 2007 - is somewhat more critical, though also positive about male selecta's having supported her aims. She noted (a bit) more female selecta's and dj's in the Netherlands when compared to France, which is positive. On the other hand, she pointed at still some occurring sexism and "sabotaging" in this also male-dominated scene, calling for the "big name" all-male (Reggae) sound systems (King Shiloh a.o.) to give the good example, by including more women, in a structural sense. So, there is still some improvement and equality needed.
Knowledgeable
Indeed, I noticed in Aur'El's "selecting" of Reggae (live and online), that she is skilled and experienced enough, as selectress/dj, with good transitions (between songs) and choices, according to her taste, but overall "real" music, "authentic" (older) Roots Reggae. This interview confirms also that she is quite knowledgeable about Jamaican music as a whole, thus able to present nice songs that some listeners perhaps did not know yet..
Her style seems "sober", as the music comes first. Though she speaks a bit between songs (some selecta's say nothing), it is proportionate, and neither does she seem to be of the excessive "sirene-sound" (as special sound effect) school, like other selecta's. Just good music..
A perhaps less widely known aspect of the Black Lives Matter movement - arising in the USA - is their call for reparations for slavery, formulated as such in 2020. This was an actual concrete, tangible - and centralized - advise and guideline aimed at the US government.
One might say that it got drowned in the recent upsurge of attention for the movement, as worldwide protests were organized against racism in, mainly, the form of police violence. This became the main focus, also of the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd's death. That movement was essentially decentralized in character, and therefore uncoordinated, but some centralized aspects, including repatriation proposals became part of it, as said in 2020.
Of course, this is not a new theme: reparations for trans-Atlantic slavery of Africans and their decendants, knowing several national variants. The Rastafari movement in Jamaica proposed it in 2004, having calculated a sum of 129 billion dollars to be paid to African descendants in Jamaica, especially by Britain, with as more specific goals also financing with it the resettlement of 500.000 (Jamaican) Rastafarians in Africa.
This 2004 initiative was a shared initiative by all six Rastafari "houses" (sub-organizations) in Jamaica.
DEBATES AND RECOGNITION
Since then it remained an ongoing debate in Jamaica and the United Kingdom.
Yet not just there. I used to work in a scholarly library, with a large Caribbean collection in university town Leiden,in the Netherlands. Mostly, though not exclusively, focussed on former Dutch colonies in the broader Caribbean region (Suriname, Netherlands Antilles). Less known is that also what is now Guyana was for a period a Dutch colony, later taken over by Britain.
The institute was historically focussed, and was largely aimed at, historian scholars, as well as Caribbeanist (other social science) scholars. Of course, many books in the collection dealt with the history of slavery in the Caribbean (Dutch colonies or not). I worked with these books, having catalogized and described many. I even made summaries of them.
Personally, I learned a lot from all this historical knowledge about slavery and colonialism - naturally -, but I recall also from that period that the institute (KITLV) got involved in public debates about slavery, recognition of the Netherlands' slavery past, and also reparations. The particular institute - for more information, see http://www.kitlv.nl - was seen by many Afro-Surinamese activists and commentators as too White and conservative. Understandable, since it was old, and founded when slavery was actually still going on in former Dutch colony Suriname (1840s).
Historians working at the institute, including those I eventually worked under, claimed they were professional and ethical, just neutral "researchers", without public political stances on the issues they study.
This is hard to ensure, however. Corruption, biased choices,and conflicts of interests, slipped in there too, though maybe not as intensive as in the medical and health sciences, now almost under a pharmaceutical hold.
More relevant for this specific post, I remember from the debates the arguments put forth in favour or against reparations by these scientists and scholars in the Dutch context. As elsewhere the predictable argument: the descendants or directly affected are no longer alive, was used as argument against Dutch reparations for slavery.
I recall also how excuses for the Dutch slavery past also became a debate issue, as during my time there, the "slavery monument" in Amsterdam's Oosterpark was unveiled, a ceremony involving speeches, and surrounded by wider media attention. This was in 2002, and on 1 July, the date when slavery was formally abolished in Dutch colonies in 1863 (1 August, 1834/38 in British colonies).
Unfortunately, this whole ceremony was tainted, as for the "official" part only official delegates, including the Queen of the Netherlands, were admitted, while the rest of the audience and public were barred off, including many actual Surinamese and other descendants of slaves. This led to some tensions. Still a nice gesture and monument (by the meanwhile deceased artist Erwin de Vries), but it started off somewhat tense, let's say..
Anyway, I found out in that period that words by (the Netherlands') heads of state, and prime-ministers were chosen carefully for legal reasons. "Excuses" for the Dutch slavery past were never given as such, but rather "recognition" of the "regrettable" period ("spijtbetuiging" in Dutch) was the farthest politicians went. Anything closer to formal excuses would open the legal door for, well, reparations. The same - no "formal" apologies by politicians - applied to other European countries (Britain, France a.o.).
Again, this shows that the reparations for slavery are "under debate" and problematic in several countries. The 2004 proposal by the Rastafari movement (and others) in Jamaica for the mentioned sum of 129 billion dollars for African-Jamaicans, and resettlement of Jamaican Rastafari-adherents in Africa, also never materialized.
Also in the Netherlands, some proposals have been made, to no avail.
The same applies to colonies of other countries involved in the slave trade and slavery, like France, the already mentioned USA, Portugal,and other countries.
I think it will be of little use to describe here all those separate, international "initiatives by organizations and spokespersons for reparations for slavery" in detail (these can be found elsewhere), but I find it more interesting to - upon acknowledging their existence (and recent reappraisal as part of the internationalized Black Lives Matter) - to reflect upon whether this reparations claim is sensible.
Personally, I consider myself part of the Rastafari movement. I am also in favour of reparations, but after careful deliberation. I once joked with an acquiantance when discussing this theme informally that "I'm a Rastaman so I have to be in favour of those reparations for slavery". That was simplified, and I knew it, but still not totally untrue. A serious joke. Not only in light of the already mentioned 2004 proposal by the Jamaican Rastafari movement, but also seeing the history and origins of the Rastafari movement.
MARCUS GARVEY
The main prophet of the Rastafari movement, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, founded an organization called the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Most of his thinking, organizing and activities were aimed at just that: improvement of the position of African and Black people worldwide. Not just culturally and mentally, but including material and political aspects.
The difference with some reparations proponents elsewhere, and especially later, was his focus of liberating the African continent from colonial rule. Naming himself the provisional president of Africa, Garvey even tried during his lifetime to negotiate with European powers on an equal level to take control over parts of Africa, such as those abandoned by the Germans after losing World War I. Respectably ambitious, but as could be predicted, he and his envoys were ignored by European delegates, wanting to keep colonial control over Africa. Former German colonies in Africa went mostly to Britain, France, and Belgium.
This points at some wider problems with this reparations for slavery demand: unequal power structures in this world. The historical trajectory is crucial to consider too. When Britain and France started to abolish slavery in the 1830s and 1840s they already started to colonize most of the African continent. Africans thus remained dependent on Europe on a global scale.
COLONIZING AFRICA
The cynical truth was thus, that people with origins in Africa saw since then their original homeland and motherland being taking over by the same Europeans once enslaving them. The ambition and dream of repatriating to the motherland, certainly lived on and was cultivated in the African diaspora in the West - to differing degrees -, and Marcus Garvey worked that out most. The Rastafari movement kept and keeps that vision going, and Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie - another important person for Rastafari-adherents - set some land apart for Rastafari wanting to repatriate to Africa, specifically Shasamane in central Ethiopia, in the 1960s.
African Americans also repatriated over time in part to Liberia and Sierra Leone, taking even the role of elite over indigenous ethnic groups, while also - more haphazardly - a number of Afro-Brazilians and Afro-Cubans (of Yoruba descent) were able to repatriate to countries like Nigeria, though more "blending in".
IN FAVOUR OF REPARATIONS
Arguments in favour of reparations seem in reality quite obvious to me. Slaves could not save money to give on to next generations (unlike free white, European settlers in colonies). This caused a severe and lasting economic disadvantage among Black people in the West, continuing in the present.
European countries and the US without a doubt benefitted strongly from slavery gains. This has been documented enough.
A distinction must be made maybe between the ways it enriched European countries: creating wealthy families as concentrated wealth (Spain, Portugal), or more long-term and effectively "invested" in industry (Britain, Netherlands, France).. In fact the Industrial Revolution in Britain had a worldwide impact and was largely funded by colonial and slave trade and slavery gains of the British in the Caribbean. Birmingham in England was the world's first "industrial city" as such, largely financed by colonial and slavery profits. This is not even very known widely, world wide, I think. Trinidadian scholar (and later politician) Eric Eustace Williams studied this history for his 1980 work 'Capitalism and slavery'.
In Spain, only in more industrialized Catalonia a similar industry-stimulating effect took place, as relatively many (wealthy, industrialist) Catalans invested in slavery in the Spanish Caribbean (especially Cuba) as slavery increased in Cuba in the mid-19th c., for a period. Catalonia is still one of the most wealthy and industrialized parts of Spain. The same "blood money" ended up in earlier stages more in mainly luxury spending and palaces in Portugal and Spain by early colonizers that went with Columbus, and probably even as sudden wealth of early English pirates/enslavers as John Hawkins. Eventually, though, it stimulated the wealth and economic prosperity in several European countries.
It is okay to focus on and "shame" certain banks and other companies in Western countries that were once involved in slavery, but the economic effects were much broader for Europe and the US. More and more the actual slave-owners and their families and descendants are also known, and it is even recorded well now how much and which slaves they owned. Some inhabit now - ironically - the same European cities (London, Amsterdam, Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona) as descendants of these very slaves.
The long-term, cross-generational effects of the trans-Atlantic slave trade are thus evident, and the argument that " the slaves are no longer alive" thus invalid.
MONEY AND POWER
Unfortunately, in this world we live in, you need money and power to get things done. Power and money mutually enforce each other. Also, political craftiness and privileged positions play a role. Japan and Germany up to recently are still paying reparations to several (citizens of) European and Asian countries, for the damage and deaths during World War II. Germany also paid reparations to Jews, and others affected and (decsendants of those) killed by the Nazi regime.
In light of the interrelation between trans-Atlantic slavery, European colonialism, and European dominance over Africa for so long, I think a global approach to these reparations is needed, more than in national cases of reparations (former national dictatorships or human rights abuses), or even wars between some nations.
The degrading and dehumanization of Africans has been global and worldwide for over 500 years now, pepetrated mainly by Europeans, but also Arabs, and and in the wider Islamic world. This resulted over time in an unequal power relation, and much higher poverty rates of African(-descended) people, and a disadvantage of both Africa as continent and the African Diaspora vis-a-vis Europe. History teaches us that this is no coincidence.
This inequality needs "repairing" both culturally/mentally, and materially. Garvey's focus on Africa has not become the mainstream of the Black Power movement, time has shown. The Nation of Islam chose to focus on (sepatration from Whites within) the USA, and became over time much more influential than Garveyism, or its offshoot the Rastafari movement. Other movements, including the Black Lives Matter one, are also mostly locally, nationally oriented.
BLACK
Even the normalized term "Black" for African-descended people shows that. I have mixed feelings about that term Black as replacement of African (originated), especially since the cultural connection got somewhat ignored in it, due to a lost connection - largely - with the African origins. Furthermore, it simply does not seem terribly intelligent to name a people or supposed culture after something visual and superficial.
Very relevant with all this, is that Africa has moreover never become a superpower (like now China, US, EU, and Russia) the world has to consider as equal and respect, as Marcus Garvey once envisioned and worked for. In the present, certainly not. Instead Black people in the African Diaspora try to integrate for better and worse in White-dominated countries.
I know, the culturally genocidal loss of languages and last names of Africans that came with trans-Atlantic slavery, makes that these Africans are not so much to blame for this, and make an integration and equality aim in "white man countries" to a degree understandable. Unlike Chinese in e.g. California they learn no languages of their motherland at home with their parents, and neither know their original families surnames. Unlike other migrants, even semi-forced ones like contract labourers, the Africans transported to the Americas, after all even lost their family names, and their languages. These African-descended people instead grew up with (partly Africanized variants of) European languages, some (mixed) retentions of African cultures, and formalized European slave names (Johnson, Williams, Condé, De Souza, Ferrer, Ronde, Seedorf, etcetera, etcetera).
This still shows the global power inequality Africa as continent, and its children, continue to suffer in the present.
With this massive, structural global inequality, reparations are therefore needed all the more, but also, and with a sad irony, harder to achieve.
Varied. Related to my interests (including reggae, Rastafari, society, international relations, culture a.o.), this blog can contain essays, reviews, travel accounts, commentaries, don't know yet...
I aim to comment on and discuss several topics and phenomena I'm interested or specialized in (see underneath for more information). Languages I use will probably be variably English and Dutch.
