My Burro conga pattern and its wider context

When learning to play Afro-Cuban drums like the Bongó (the double, attached smaller drums), and the Conga, I also had some formal lessons from an experienced percussionist, who even had schooling when residing in Cuba, though he was from Curaçao. This was in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and this teacher I had then (back in 2014) was Vernon Chatlein. He became quite well-known in the “percussion world” in the Netherlands, Curaçao, and beyond. More on him here: https://vernonchatlein.com/, or in Dutch https://musicmeeting.nl/nl/artiest/vernon-chatlein.

It would be unnecessary - and perhaps unwise - to share all he taught me, being after all a personal and gradual learning process, internalized and put in practice. Later on I went to jam sessions playing percussion (so after some lessons and self-education) with other people, and composing instrumentals.

That’s the bigger picture, that is not very specific or special. Many people learn to play an instrument, either through formal lessons by teachers or in a school setting (or nowadays online), while others more or less teach themselves, through books or the Internet in modern times.

Drummers (trap/kit) and percussionists play of course no “chord” instruments, so the mathematical “basic knowledge” that implies is not needed. Of course there are examples of great “chord instrument” musicians who could not even read music and did all “by ear” or “feeling”, but nowadays in the Western world some formal theory seems to be the starting point for aspiring instrumentalists.

Also in other cultures, young learners are for a period apprentices with more experienced musicians, as in e.g. Africa, where there are also specific “castes”/social classes of musicians (griots/jeli) within societies, preserving knowledge.

TECHNICAL AND CREATIVE

“Formal” lessons should however be a guiding point, not a “blueprint”, especially if you know yourself to be the “creative type”.

In the music world you roughly have the “technical type”, who do what the rules say, and people like me of the “creative type”. As also in the Western world, males are more active as instrumentalists, so a certain technical/exact sciences bias is there, to some annoyance. The latter especially when they advice more creative musicians, from a “rule” focus, even instruments they do not play.

Be all that as it may, and those fools aside, I took some lessons by others – with a proven record of quality and knowledge - teaching me some useful patterns, and giving me useful advice.

This includes drum/conga patterns. I will specifically focus on one of them, for their wider connotations, beyond the technical.

CABALLO

First I focus on the Caballo, or A Caballo, pattern, which means Horse (or By Horse) in Spanish, and refers to a Conga pattern, said to come from the “Son” musical complex from Eastern Cuba. In time this would feed into what we know as Salsa (largely based on Afro-Cuban music, like Son).

The Tumbao pattern is most known of all Cuban conga patterns, I think, and is also known from Salsa, as are the patterns from the Rumba complex, like Guaguancó (also other parts of Cuba: Havana/Matanzas).

Even people who do not know what the name Tumbao and Guaguancó (a Conga pattern) refer to, might have heard these rhythms in Latin and Salsa music.

The (A) Caballo pattern is a bit less-known, though known in percussion and Latin circles. As the name suggests it imitates the walking – or galloping – sound of a horse, being the joke of it, you might say. This can be fitted well in different rhythms.

I learned this Caballo (horse) pattern, and later tried them out on other music genres, also during live jam sessions in Amsterdam and around. More swing- and shuffle-based genres (Blues, Jazz, etc.) as well, and also on Funk, Rock, or Reggae. Even on Country-like music – not very rich in percussion, usually – it seemed to fit well.

In Cuban music, songs by the Buena Vista Social Club, - like Chan Chan - usually are cited as containing examples of that A Caballo rhythmic pattern, though you have to listen well (listening and “feeling”), and it is often mixed with other older Son/Afro-Cuban patterns.. It certainly has a tradition, and somehow relates to rural areas of eastern Cuba, where horses are known since colonial times.

Horses arrived in the Americas with European colonialism, yet prehistoric antecedents of the wild horses actually originate from present-day America, crossing to Eurasia. We’re talking about around a million years ago, and in America they became extinct, later reintroduced by Spanish and later colonizers.

The modern horse - however - we know today was domesticated around 2200 BC in Eastern Europe, making the modern horse European, albeit with extinct American antecedents.

BURRO?

After having played this “caballo” pattern on conga’s (and other drums, like the bongo), also during jams, both the curious/intellectual as the “creative” sides of me were awakened, apparently. Donkeys are also used in rural areas, in fact more common among poorer rural people than “elite” horses. I have seen donkeys in Cuba, as well. The question then came naturally to me: how would a “donkey pattern” on conga(s) sound? How do donkeys walk?

From this questioning, I came up with the Donkey pattern – played on conga drums - , calling it El Burro (the Donkey in Spanish), as it arose in response to the Cuban “caballo” patterns.

These are wider connotations beyond “technical musical” skills, which run the risk – like all numbers-based “exact” sciences – to become cold and boring, even if (eventually) turning out “groovy” in a musical mix. Rhythm is not just “counting”, but also “soul”, in my view. Also “imagination” and knowledge giving it substance.

THE ANIMAL

I started to wonder how donkeys – also in the horse family, after all – differ from horses, as animals. My mother grew up in rural SW Spain, and told me she had donkey’s, horses, and mules around her (along with goats, sheep, cows, bulls: the Mediterranean picture), but I did not.

I only saw real donkeys in what in the Netherlands are called “kinderboerderijen”, model-farms for children, housing farm animals for educational purposes, aimed at children, mainly: goats, peacocks, sheep, rabbits, geese, pigs, and donkeys.. usually also a bit “rarer” animals, as cows still had an economic use on the Dutch countryside , and were seen more often. Donkeys, however, were held mainly at those kinderboerderijen/model farms, for novelty purposes. I later learned that donkeys – even if held at real farms, stayed inside, as their fur do not protect against rain, and donkeys dislike water.

In the Netherlands, there are quite some manèges - horse riding schools - which kept horses, and I saw people riding horses regularly, sometimes in fields. Donkeys I saw less, though there were a few times.

To make a long story short: I had to search actual donkeys, and further studied through (less-real) online/Internet sources, or nature documentaries. Just to get the sound of them walking, or galloping, which my mother knew from her youth, as other people from rural areas.

As I thus heard about donkeys as common in rural Spain at that time, I began to question if maybe they were more common in Spain – and wider Mediterranean areas – than in a Northern European country like the Netherlands.

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS

Further study about the origins and current spread of donkeys led to interesting information, of some things I did not know. The origin of the donkeys is traced to Eastern Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Nubia), in drier climates. They were first – interestingly – domesticated in Nubia, around what is now Sudan and around. So originally African. This domestication by pastoral people in Eastern Africa (following those of oxen, etc.) took already place around 7000 BC, so much earlier than the mentioned one of horses in Europe.

The drier and less hospitable (desert-like, arid) climate must have shaped the genetic makeup of the donkey: indeed it is known as resilient, and as “stubborn”, even in popular sayings. Its characteristics were shaped by surviving in deserts, unlike the horses (from wetter grasslands), hence its resilience, endurance, eating patterns, but also e.g. bigger, rotating ears – and good hearing - , loud noises (yee-haw), and a more independent nature, even after domestication. They are quite strong (relative to body weight, stronger than horses), and are known for good memories, e.g. in remembering long routes exactly. They are also known as “prudent”, avoiding dangers calmly.

Other interesting differences with horses and other equines I learned about in some interesting documentaries I saw. Donkeys tend to be “hydrophobic” (eschewing water), due to their desert origins, see mostly canides (dogs, wolves) as main enemies, and also, as said in a documentary, “are the only equines that never flea from danger”. They are thus much less fearful than e.g. horses, and also when encountering problems or dangers, stay calmer than other animals – or even humans. Donkeys always keep their cool. Kind of like the Shaft (“..the ‘cat’ who won’t cop out when there’s danger all about”, as sung in the Shaft theme song), of the equines.

CULTURAL IMAGE

In Western history, some stereotypes of donkeys as somehow “dumb”, “nitwits” or slow, arose, as well as insults based on this.

In Greek culture and myths (around their god Apollo) this image of “dumb” or “stupid” was already there. In one story, Midas (the expression Midas Touch come from this Greek myth), a king who wished he could turn everything he wanted in gold, had his ears turned into those of a donkey, as punishment for judging music wrongly. He favoured someone he knew over Apollo’s, who was known as vane but played good. Those Greek myths are sometimes strange, with more hidden symbolism and morality. A difference with the Bible stories, where the moral intent and symbols tend to be clearer. Punished with donkey ears, while donkeys actually have exquisite hearing (better than other animals, and better than humans).. Ironic…

William Shakespeare, the famous British writer, was in fact very negative about the donkeys, deeming them stupid, and inventing in his works even “new” words for the English dictionary, as “donkey insults” (like jackass, and all words with “jack” or “ass”, “you know jackshit” means you don’t know anything, etc.). This became normalized within Britain and the English language. This in time also in sharp contrast to the almost “adored” status of the other equine, horses, in British culture.

The work of Shakespeare’s contemporary (a bit earlier) counterpart in Spain, who wrote Don Quijote, Miguel de Cervantes, was more positive. The protagonist, the idealist knight Don Quijote rode a horse he named Rosinante -, but his steady helper (and "sidekick" avant-la-lettre) was the more down-to-earth Sancho Panza, who in turn rode a donkey (then common in Spain) alongside him. This donkey is in the Don Quijote novel described quite affectionately, as a loyal companion, on their journeys in this famous story.

Yet, after Ancient Greece, Rome, and England, also in Spain, and other parts of Europe (Germany, Netherlands, France) donkeys were described as dumb, used as insults for humans considered unintelligent or stupid/dumb-witted. The Spanish “rumba flamenco” pop hit Borriquito (1972) – even an international hit – used it as such, the lyrics going: “you are just a stupid little donkey (also “borrico” in Spanish), I know more than you”, as a kind of jokingly out-bragging. I heard the song through my family contexts. Singer Peret comes from a Catalonia-based Roma family.

I personally liked the other 1970s international Spanish flamenco pop hit I heard likewise through Spanish family, “Poromopompero” (Manolo Escobar), better, but that’s my taste. Borriquito was a very simple song, but sometimes those big international hits don’t have much substance, lyrically or musically, as we all know, haha, just a catchy, careless flow, sometimes.

In other continents, the donkey does not always have a better image, and their dumb or stupid image unfortunately also recurs in parts of Asia and Africa, or as “simple” and “slow”, “A donkey that goes to Mecca is still a donkey”, is an unflattering saying in the Islamic world, while in some languages of Ethiopia (with quite some donkeys still) the stereotype in sayings is not so much about the donkey’s stupidity, as more about coarse, simple manners, and irresponsibility. At least there are some positive sayings in some Ethiopian languages (Amhara, Oromo) referring to donkeys too, besides negative ones. Some include also the hyena: the natural enemy of the donkey in African contexts. This explains that “canides” outside of Africa (dogs, wolves) became also the biggest enemies of donkeys. Hyenas after all belong to the canide family too.

In Jamaica, donkeys were long commonly used by peasants and small farmers, horses being considered for richer or white (British) people, as a Jamaican friend of mine told me from his youth. Despite the same (British-inherited?) “dumb image” of donkeys, they are more seen in practical terms, as needed - or even respected - part of country life.

The same applies in rural Cuba, where a “fun” Son song (El Burro De La Loma) even describes how the Burro (donkey) parties and dances along with the music. US singer (R&B) Chuck Berry also has such a theme (donkey dancing to its rider’s music) on the 1961 song The Man and the Donkey.

In old and new Jamaican Reggae and Dancehall, in Cuban Son, but also in music from Colombia or Mexico, or Dominican bachata, donkeys mostly appear in lyrics as part of rural stories, not always negatively.

In some, more lewd Reggae or Dancehall songs from Jamaica the “donkey rod” refers to a (supposed) “well hung” (big penissed) man, for that reason preferred by women. Like horses, donkeys are known for that (relative big penis).

Despite these widespread and international, often negative stereotypes of stupidity, the donkey’s remarkable natural qualities were used by men after domestication, for beasts of burden or other heavy work in agricultural and other areas (carrying goods – pack animals - , cultivation, plowing, sheep herding, even hiking nowadays). Humans make use of their endurance, strength, lack of fear, and good memories for terrains. Also their way of walking (crossing legs while walking) is quite unique, allowing passing through narrower spaces. In the same vein, donkeys move better through uneven, mountainous areas than horses. The “stupid” image is thus not even based in truth.

Despite this domestication, the donkeys remained more independent than horses. It was said in a documentary that they can be “educated, but not trained” – unlike other animals (dogs, horses), reminding of “cat-like” features. One Spanish saying therefore warns that a donkey should be in front, else it escapes. Like in Ethiopia, Spanish sayings about donkeys can be good, bad, and neutral.

All these “supposed” traits sound - in fact - like cool characteristics!

NUMBERS WORLDWIDE

According to recent sources, there are a total of about 45 million donkeys at present worldwide. Less than I thought, actually.

Recent numbers show that some African countries (Ethiopia, followed by Sudan) have relatively most donkeys, while also e.g. Pakistan, Mexico, and now also China (many imported recently), have relatively many. Ethiopia has about 19 % of the whole global donkey population.

In Europe, Portugal, Greece, and Spain have relatively most, but there has strongly diminished over time (industrialization, agricultural modernization). Sources suggest that around the Spanish Civil War (1936) there were still around a million (!) donkeys in Spain alone, with even distinct subspecies. Modernization and urbanization since then diminished this strongly to now only about 30.000, some sources state. Still more than in more northern parts of Europe, but a strong decrease, nonetheless, and now endangered in parts of Spain. That there were a lot in Spain, explains why my mother encountered them often in rural Spain in her youth. I hardly (very rarely) saw them growing up in (and travelling through) the Netherlands, from the 1970s to now. Recent numbers estimate the total number of donkeys in the Netherlands (as of 2023) at around 9000 (to compare: horses about 450.000!).

While not particularly known as having “vegetarian” cultures, in both Spain and Portugal, donkeys were seldom eaten, seeming to be eschewed there for meat, unlike other beasts of burden like goats. In countries like Ethiopia and Somalia in Africa, this (eating donkey or horse) is even more a taboo. In other parts of the world, though, like China, donkey flesh is eaten, and in Italy too. So differing even within continents.

This eating of donkey flesh and supposed medical benefits of hides in some regions (as China) diminished the donkey numbers too, besides urbanization. Especially, the high demand for donkey hides for the popular Chinese e-jiao “medical” products, led sadly many donkeys to the slaughter for commercial gain in Africa (sent to China) and later in India (also for the Chinese market), thereby also depriving poor rural people of their working aid. Recently, though, most African countries banned this donkey hide export to China.

In the Americas, predictably, donkeys came first with Spanish colonizers, it is said already on Columbus’ second voyage, and became over time more common in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico, Colombia, but also islands like Cuba and Jamaica).

SENSE

So besides for having special and cool characteristics as animal – and I think an unjust image of dumbness -, my conga pattern imitating the donkey trot/galloping, in response to the Afro-Cuban caballo/horse pattern, also makes sense historically. Plus – as an African animal -, also with a connection to Africa, as much of Caribbean music. The pattern thus makes symbolic sense.

A different animal (even if of the equine family), the donkey walks and gallops different from the horse, so the pattern I invented is also different: the Burro pattern on congas “keeps its cool”, is prudent yet steady, fearless, adjusts to “rougher” environments, and works dedicated/loyally, yet independent. Indeed like the animal.

The pattern I created, emphasizes more the lower (“hembra”) drum, with only “one” higher “slap” on the higher (“macho”) drum – to compare: the A Caballo/horse pattern has two high slap sounds -, and the Burro further has in-between triple soft/ghost notes. Prudent and “cooler”, this Burro pattern, than the Caballo one, like the donkey is also known as "humbler" than horses. Ha!

Herein this video I explain/describe my Burro conga pattern in more detail, also in relation to the existing Cuban Caballo pattern:

My “burro” conga/percussion pattern - like the overall flexible donkey - also can be fitted – I found out - in many grooves and music genres. Straight-rhythm and/or swing-based. I only have not tried it out so much on Country: I listen and play less on Country, but the few times I did, I chose the Caballo/Horse pattern: a Cuban feel, while referring to cowboy life, haha. That while there exist Country songs about donkeys (Little Gray Donkey by Johnny Cash, a Christian song), but more about horses.

Besides that, I could fit the Burro pattern rhythmically on very different music genres, with some skilful adaptations, which is I think also nice for other conga or percussion players to try out (Blues, Rock, Reggae, Funk, Pop, Latin, you name it). Perhaps even Ethiopian music.. Fun – and appropriate - to start with songs with “donkey” in the title, like some already mentioned in this post, from different genres (search further on Youtube: this post has just some examples). Drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie’s ‘Funky Donkey’ I can e.g. recommend: groovy to play it on! Originally from 1968, this groove is said to inspire also the Jamaican Reggae riddim Death In The Arena..

Bredda (and Sista!) Bee

“Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.”

From poem 'Last Night As I Was Sleeping' (translated from Spanish), by Antonio Machado (about Antonio Machado)

Growing up in the Netherlands, and reading relatively much since young, I encountered the folk figure “Broer Konijn”, Dutch translation of “Br’er Rabbit”. This was in a comic series ‘Donald Duck’, from Walt Disney, sold in several stores (Dutch-language version) . I read this quite regularly, I remember, from between my 5th and 10th age.

I recall I always seemed to partly get the illustrated stories of different figures in that “Donald Duck” comic weekly. I found it overall entertaining, but with some stories even more intriguing, while not always getting all symbolic or contextual nuances, at that young age. The fictional town in the magazine was called “Duckstad” in Dutch, “Duck town”, with nonetheless heavy car traffic: humanized ducks behind the wheels. I did not always get main intentions of centralized figures, in these Disney comic strips: Mickey Mouse, the seemingly more socially clumsy Donald Duck, both with female version of the same animal. Then, there was a big rabbit walking with a bag-on-stick on his shoulder, doing something among other people (or animals, better said): Broer Konijn (Brother Rabbit).

Having done some studying since then, I found out the historical and cultural context of Brother Rabbit or Br’er Rabbit. It is a figure in folk stories in the US South, originated among African Americans, with African origins. The rabbit or “hare” is in those stories mostly a trickster figure, outsmarting competing animals. This historical folk figure was in time more or less incorporated by the Disney company.

ANANSI

Relatedly, I found out about traditional Anansi (or: Anancy) tales in the Caribbean, also of African origin, with the spider being here the protagonist trickster animal. These are usually stories to tell children. The difference in animal stems from the different parts of Africa the stories originate from, related to where slaves ending up in the West came from. Anansi, the trickster spider comes from the Ghana region, whereas the hare (or rabbit) as trickster is found more in Central Africa (Congo) and Southern Africa. In certain parts of the US South there came indeed quite some slaves from the Congo region. The Anansi stories are found in mainly Jamaica, Suriname, and Curaçao, with relatively higher percentages of slaves from the Ghana region.

Having learned more in time, some aspects of it still puzzle me a bit. I guess you can say: left me with mixed (positive and negative) feelings. First of all: why should animals be tricksters?: animals tend to be straight-forward: they just want to eat, play, and rest. I kind of like that about them. Perhaps they need to invent tricks to get the food? I don’t know.. It is understandably related to the past of slavery; some slaves needed to be a trickster to outsmart the oppression and the master during slavery.

Anyway, being a trickster suggests a mental craftiness or “wickedness” not really characteristic of animals, as Haile Selassie I , Emperor of Ethiopia, once said: “It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked.”

Another “humanizing” aspect of the Brer Rabbit stories is the addition of Brer, from Brother. This could be a linguistic trait, but just as well a cultural one. Maybe in societies more in balance with nature and animals – such as in Africa historically - , animals are earlier seen as “family” in some sense: a related and biologically connected being, a brother or sister.

Indeed, in many Reggae lyrics (from Jamaica) – and in the Jamaican Creole language in general – “Brother” (as Bredda) is often placed before animals, also outside of animal-based folk stories like Anansi. There are several examples in Reggae, but one is in the Israel Vibration song Vultures, using animals in interesting symbolic metaphors. One must know, though, that the word “bredda” is often also used among Jamaicans in the broader meaning of “friend” or “mate”. But still..

This all came to influence me, as I at times – mostly half-joking – now for some years refer to animals as such, adding Brother, Bredda (or the Dutch “Broer”) to the animal, as in: ”bredda bee on my book”, or “bredda cat (not my own) in my garden”, as happened sometimes when stray cats visited several home gardens in a row.

There is a gender issue, so at times I thought: or Sista Bee, Bredda or Sista Bird?

BEES

Recently I paid more attention to the bee, loving in fact that breddas (or sistas?) bee sensed a free haven in my semi-wild garden.

The bee is after all endangered, and therefore we are endangered. That consciousness has begun to grow in recent times, as the importance of bees for pollination of fruits, plants, and vegetables is emphasized. Without the bees, our diet would have to change for 80%.. if we survive at all. If bees would truly disappear, the birds would be the first to follow in extinction, part of a general decline of our natural environment.

It is a cause for worry. Likewise it is simply part of the gradual man-made environmental destruction taking place since agriculture and industrialization.

QUEEN OF THE SUN

I knew this more or less: the threatened bees and its consequences for the natural world and human kind. I must admit, though, that this knowledge remained mostly quite superficial. A documentary I saw recently (the 23rd of May, 2018), 'Queen Of The Sun : what are the bees telling us?' (from 2009 already), dedicated to the threatened bee, therefore turned out to be quite informative for me. The kind of documentary that answers questions I wanted to be answered, without me being even aware that I had these questions.

A beekeeper working for an organic food store cooperation, Odin, in the Netherlands introduced the documentary film, and told about his beekeeping, and answered questions.

HONEY?

While there are objections from vegan activists and environmentalists regarding beekeeping for honey extraction and sale – after all disturbing the bees’ natural order, especially when the honey is not expensive – this beekeeper said honey profits were not his end goal, but rather bee preservation.

I have some vegan people in my circle, and I heard them say that the only way honey could not disturb the bees is when it was very pricey, as not to impact bee activities too much. Usually, however, the need for cheaper honey is such, that honey is taken away, replaced with sugar water for bees to consume, thereby disturbing more the natural order.

Though I thought I felt a “vegan vibe” among some of the people present to see the film (as often surrounding “organic food stores”), this honey production problematic was not touched so much in the said documentary Queen Of The Sun, but rather the general decline of and threat to the bee population, due to broader agricultural and economic developments, especially in the Western world.

MONOCULTURE AGRICULTURE

The focus of the documentary was on the US, but broadened occasionally to the global situation. One main interviewee was a German activist farmer who went to live in the US, also to stimulate better bee environments (wilder vegetation, certain plants, variation), as part of general farming. This instead of the dominant large scale “mono-culture”, with only one type of crop, tree or plant. They gave the example of almond monocultures in California: bees don’t thrive there, because there is only one type of tree, no variation. As a consequence, they starve out, and become endangered. The German farmer in turn included a special bee haven part with varied, natural vegetation to have a good environment for bees, so necessary for the pollination of whatever crops grows on the rest of that farmland.

In the case of the Californian mass almond monoculture, bees are massively flown in from the entire US and even abroad – to pollinate the almond trees. Figures are staggering: something like 70% of all bees in the US are transported to there for almond production! A mass industrial operation. After that they disappear. Hardly a natural order, and of course disturbing.

Several beekeepers – some inevitably a bit too self-congratulatory – in different countries, US, France, New Zealand, Britain, Italy, talked about their activities with and/or for bees.

VARROA MITE

Also adding to bee disappearance is the issue of the varroa mite, an external parasitic mite that specializes in bees, using bees to reproduce. This parasitic mite has infested and diminished bee populations over time. Once only found in Asian bees, it spread to other bees when Asian bees were introduced on other continents – human interference with nature again! – causing problems.

One argument in the documentary was that this problem was confronted by the industries with chemical pesticide measures, hoping to get rid of the varroa mite. In the documentary was explained – however – that instead the varroa mite became resistant to the “miticide” chemicals, becoming even more resilient in the process. Again, letting nature follow its course: letting the bee endure and over time fight off the mite organically, would be more beneficial for the bees themselves, in the long run. The man-made chemicals only made it worse.

DRONES

I learned more things, such as regarding bee biology. I thought that the honey bees were male, while the leading, large queen bee was their leader. It turns out that those worker bees are females, as also the beekeepers in the film referred to them. So Bredda AND Sista bee, I really should call them. In fact, the leading queen bee goes out the hive on “mating trips”, to mate with several male drones. These are the male bees. She is certainly polygamous, collecting sperm from several drones for laying eggs of new male and female bees. I did not know that in English these sperm-delivering male bees are called “drones”. This gives me a strange feeling about the other airplane-camera-like things, called after all “drones” too. The bee drones’ function is anyway to mate and fertilize. This is what I mean with nature being straight-forward, haha.

Come to think of it, another use of the word “drone” I encountered is as musical one, as sustained sound or note. This goes back to an older linguistic, Germanic and English word meaning “to hum”. The airplane called drone is however named after the male bees (also just for the humming sound.. or so they say).

Most sources seem to separate this fertilizing/mating function from actually “working” as the female bees (outside the queen bee) do. Some may be of the opinion that it is work too. The queen bee tends to test the skill of the drones, anyway, during mating, such as by flying higher, thus selecting the best seed. So, it’s not all fun, haha (I am joking, sorry).

Maybe some humans get sexually aroused by this whole imagery, who knows, haha, but this is not my intention.

Further, in one of the featured cities, New York, there was a female beekeeper active, on a rooftop, pointing out that beekeeping was then (before 2009) outlawed in New York city. This prohibition was however lifted after protests. In London, also a “rooftop beekeeper” was interviewed.

Content-wise, this was more or less the core of the Queen of the Sun documentary, one that I would certainly recommend.

Q & A

Almost equally interesting, though, was the Q and A afterward with the Dutch beekeeper, who was not from Amsterdam, having his bees in another part of the Netherlands (near Tiel).

He worked for the organic food store cooperation Odin, having shops all over the Netherlands, though certainly less than well-known EkoPlaza, for instance: its biggest (organic) competitor store in the Netherlands.

He had some interesting things to tell, giving also useful tips and advice for those wanting to help bees even while in the city Amsterdam, such as by adding certain flora attracting bees to balconies and gardens. He pointed at the extreme natural sensibility of the bees, affected for instance even by explosions on the sun – far from the earth -, triggering their migrations.

The same sensibility applies to the human presence, notably the mobile phones and signals these involve, also crossing nature. This affects bees negatively, reason why the beekeeper keeps the mobile phone off or away from the place where he keeps the bee. These rays of mobile phone communication, by the way, have been proven to affect all nature and beings – not just bees -, including humans, to differing degrees negatively.

He also elaborated on the difficulty in outlawing internationally the chemical means – miticide - to fight the said parasitic varroa mite. This is hindered by certain powerful states (China, US) and big companies, with vested economic interests in either the chemicals or certain crops or honey. Sad and enraging, in some sense.

MENTALITY

In introducing the documentary, the beekeeper – while highlighting the indeed beautiful poem opening the documentary, by Spanish poet Antonio Machado (actually part of a larger poem) – he also pointed out that one of the points made in it, such as by the said German farmer in the US, that a “change of mentality” toward the bees and nature among humans is what is ultimately most important.

Our relationship with animals and the natural environment is what is the issue, here. How to stop further environmental destruction. One might argue that in the Western, industrialized world, the balance with nature has been long lost, gradually since agricultural and industrial expansion, diminished forests and variation in ecosystems, all affecting negatively the bees, being so crucial in our food chain.

The mentioned Brother Anancy/Anansi, or Br’er Rabbit stories, from Afro-American folk culture in that sense seem to point at a more balanced state between man and nature once in Africa, attributing after all kinship to animals, especially by adding “brother”. Animal stories are historically also found in other cultures, such as Europe and Asia, of course, often likewise “humanizing” animals.

FROM QUASHIE AND ANANCY TO RASTAFARI

The “trickster”, cunning figure of the Anancy spider is viewed more critically also within the same culture, such as among the Rastafari adherents in Jamaica.

This is described in the interesting 1998 article: ‘The epistemological significance of ”I-an-I” as a response to Quashie and Anancyism in Jamaican culture’, by Adrian Anthony McFarlane. This article was part of the academic collective volume ‘Chanting Down Babylon : the Rastafari reader’ (Temple University press, 1998), wherein several authors discuss different historical and cultural aspects of the Rastafari movement, that first arose in Jamaica in the 1930s. The Rastafari movement originated among poor Black people, and has a pro-Africa focus, a theological and spiritual nucleus in Ethiopia and Haile Selassie, further combined with a certain “nature-based” practical and spiritual world view, distancing itself thus from the Western system, enslaving them in the first place.

Aiming at emancipation and redemption through Africa, a righteous living, and a moral stance, many Rastas began to object against the Anancy “role model” within Jamaica, known for confusion and cunning. While this tries to escape the system, it neither is a clear, majestic moral stance against this Western, oppressive “Babylon” system, as Rastas call it. They prefer – animal-wise – the majestic African lion as a more moral and prouder model, rather than the trickster spider.

The trickster as hero, in addition, meets also objections among Rastas because of its inherent divisiveness. This trickery and fooling does not stop with actual powerful oppressors (White and Black, including the sell-out Quashies), but causes also internal strive. As also heard in many Reggae lyrics by Rastas, the “false” or “fake” Rastas within the Rastafari movement (often similarly wearing long dreadlocks), are a persistent problem, being not only too ignorant, but often even intruders with evil, selfish intentions against the Rastafari goals, from within.

I AND I

The Rasta expression “I and I” - listeners of Reggae hear this expression a lot - relates to their world view. It is a type of heightened consciousness beyond the trickery of Anancysim, or even more beyond what came before it, the “Quashie” figure in Jamaican folk stories, having lost its African, human soul in the West, and being a mere puppet. This is the line of argumentation in McFarlane’s said article: rising from Quashie, through Anancy, to the Rastafari’s I and I, and eventually heightened consciousness and pride.

This I-an-I philosophy among the Rastafari is actually relevant for this post. The I relates to other I’s (beings), pointing at a communal world view, between all humans, but also other living beings in nature. It is in that sense also an expressed preference of balance with nature, flora and fauna. Including of course the bees, having a crucial pollinating role. This also concerns the fruits, and other natural, vegetable foods from the earth the strictest of Rastas have as diet. Vegetarian and vegan, but really a step beyond it, many Rastas prefer also unprocessed, natural food, called Ital food. The bees are crucial in this, and relatively undisturbed contribute to it.

Rastafari principles and the earlier Rastafari example, I therefore argue, simply help provide directions for a change of mentality beneficial for bee survival, the documentary Queens of the Sun called for, in response to the increased awareness and deploration – also in the Western world - of the threatened bees as part of general environmental destruction.

SYMBOLS?

Since we are dealing with symbols now, one could discern certain symbolism in the documentary Queens of the Sun too, in relation to all I said till now. The already discussed varroa mite belongs to the family of spiders (like Anansi/Anancy!). This inevitable parasitic mite is something the bee has to endure to prosper. Just like Rastas want to move beyond Anancyism. At the very least an interesting symbolic parallel.

Also suggested in the documentary is how certain wasps seem to give bees a bad name, by somehow being among them – looking a bit like them – but with more aggressive, negative behavior among them, and toward humans or other creatures. These can be somehow compared to the mentioned “false Rastas” as wolves in sheep clothing, for bad intentions (jealousy, own gain etc.).

On the other hand, in my experience - getting more of that since I am getting older of course - one must be cautious with “symbolism”: it can seem in your favour, but also later turn against you. This applies to all linguistic issues (as symbols are), after all manipulable and corruptible by self-interested humans.

The truth remains the same, however, and that – unpleasant - truth is that in this time the bees are as a species endangered, threatening humans and the environment.

The documentary Queens of the Sun explained this well and quite factual/educational and convincing, already in 2009. It also increased recently my knowledge of certain aspects, having seen it not long ago.

Animal references

“It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked.”

~ Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia

It is a common question I encounter regularly, at least in the Netherlands, where I live. “What do you like more: dogs or cats?”. This very question reflects the two main “pet animals” common in the Netherlands, but of course also in many other Western and other countries.

I have tried to answer this question for myself, and I have concluded that I am more a cat person than a dog person. Admittedly, for the basic, quite superficial reason that I find cats prettier to look at, and more pleasant to touch or have near. Perhaps there is even a reason beyond this: I find their behaviour more funny, and at the same time more “trustworthy” in some way. All this is subjective, and others may prefer dogs or other animals they know better.

In any case, I think it is interesting to focus a bit more on animals for me: from my perspective. This follows on a period that I increased my interest and focus on natural life in a more detailed sense. Although I might have been an “early adapter” to the environmental consciousness movement earlier in my life, and always loved healthy, natural landscapes.. it stayed somewhat abstract, detached, if you will, from actual animals – large and small – on the ground and in natural environments. Yet, those living beings keep nature going: think for instance of the important function of bees and their pollination in maintaining natural balance.

PETS

I was in this regard probably partly influenced by my upbringing. Like more cultures in the world, the cultures where my parents came from – Italy and Spain – were up to the 1990s not very “pet-minded”. Many of our Dutch neighbours had dogs, some cats, and some for some reason even hamsters. We only had little birdies – parakeets – in a cage for a time. Cats sometimes entered our backyard.

Like in for instance Caribbean and Latin American cultures, there were in Spain and Italy – especially in rural areas or outer parts of towns – dogs or cats that somehow were owned by people and loosely connected to particular houses, but they were rarely allowed inside the house, unless for purely functional reasons: cats to chase bothersome mice and rats for instance. Hugging pets too long, or even having pets “chilling” or “hanging” with you on the couch, or on your bed – common in e.g. Britain, the US, or the Netherlands - was in more Southern Europe long unheard of. This began to change – I understood - by the 1990s, when pets became more common as house-mates in South Europe. In some parts of Spain, having small pet dogs was for a time a trend, or distinctive custom, among particularly gay men (don’t ask me why), but it became more widespread among heterosexuals as well.

Likewise, elsewhere in the world, in e.g. Africa and the Caribbean animals were – even if connected to a household – long seen as especially functional, and only in a later instance affectionately. This is similar throughout parts of Europe – like I just explained – as well as most of Asia, Oceania, Latin America, Africa, and other parts. The “house pet” in the Western, domestic sense is in that sense rather exceptionally confined to North West Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world. At least, it was for a long time.

Photo: a stray goat in the town of Falmouth in Jamaica. I took this photo in 2008.

Yoruba proverb:

Àìrí èyàn, la ńpe ajá ní àwé. / It's the absence of anyone around that one calls a dog a friend.

[In the absence of the preferred, the available becomes a choice]

All this – of course – does not exclude affection between humans with certain animals, also in those non-pet minded cultures. There are enough historical examples of this, such as from Ancient Egypt. An affectionate bond between a person and a particular cat, dog, or in Africa of humans with a strong bond with particular lions, zebras, monkeys, antelopes etcetera. It is all known and recorded throughout history.

SYMBOLISM

In virtually all human cultures, symbolic meanings have been attached to animals. On a metaphorical level, so to speak. Animals are in most world cultures compared to humans, as model or “archetypical”, to teach philosophical lessons to human beings. Here is for instance an interesting article on the traditional meanings attached to animals in traditional Yoruba (Nigeria and around) culture.

http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol30/olusala.pdf

Relatedly of course, the Yoruba have many sayings/proverbs figuring elephants, lions, snakes, ants, and other animals common in Yorubaland and Africa, and - as known – proverbs are meant to convey philosophical or moral lessons to humans.

Yoruba proverb:

Kékéré àjànàkú kì í ṣe ẹgbẹ́ ẹkùn. / A diminutive elephant is no peer to a leopard.

[Appearance can be deceptive]

Further, in the Akan culture of Ghana there is the oral fable tradition around the “trickster” Anansi spider: a spider outsmarting other animals through his wit, and with human characteristics. This also has a symbolic function, teaching young humans about life. To be expected: the Akan, like the Yoruba and other African peoples, also have many proverbs with animal references, such as these ones.

“The rain wets the leopard's spots but does not wash them off.” (meaning: a person’s nature is not changed by circumstances)

“The tsetse-fly is perched on the tortoise's back in vain.” (about something being futile).

REGGAE AND RASTAFARI

It is on this symbolic and metaphorical meaning of and reference to animals that I will mainly focus on from now on. I do this, however, connecting it with two of my main interests: reggae music and Rastafari.

I can focus on reggae lyrics – and I will -, and I have already some songs I like in my mind referencing certain animals.

Reggae is in part influenced by the Rastafari movement, like reggae originated in the Caribbean island of Jamaica. The lion is an important symbol within Rastafari, as is more widely known. Moreover, there is also the idea of “natural livity”, the balance of humans with nature, that is a very important notion within the Rastafari movement and worldview, alongside the focus on Black empowerment and Africa (and of course Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie). How does this “natural livity” - and the fact that many Rastas are vegetarian as well – relate to actual symbolic references made to animals? I find this an interesting topic.

Not just the focus on nature and Livity, but also the Africa-centricity of Rastafari is interesting in relation to this. The fauna in Jamaica is mostly different from that in the African motherland, where the Jamaicans’ foreparents were stolen from: African animals as elephants, lions, antelopes, giraffes, zebras etcetera are not indigenous to the Caribbean, and can maybe only be seen for real in zoos. Other animal species are spread throughout different continents, of course: monkeys, alligators, birds, ants, by now dogs (also common in Africa now), cats, goats, chicken, crabs etcetera.

Analysing reggae lyrics by Rastafari-adhering artists is one way to get insight on Rastas’ reference to different types of animals, and their meaning.

LIONS AND WOLVES

The lion as an important symbol in the Rastafari movement can be related to one of the names Haile Selassie took on with his coronation as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930: Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. That the lion is the national symbol of Ethiopia, and is known as an African animal, perhaps further stimulated this symbolic use amongst the Rastas.

What might have stimulated it as well is the historical use of the lion as symbol of strength and ferociousness. It also is known as the “king” of the animal kingdom. Oddly enough this strength symbol of lions was adopted soon by many European nations as well. It is quite strange, when one thinks about it, why this (mainly) African animal became that important as national symbol for several European nations, even far up north (Scandinavia). Whereas eagles, bears, or wolves were more common and indigenous to Europe – and were also used as symbols in Europe - they became partly replaced by the lion as forceful symbol of a nation. That the bear had once this symbolic function as well in Europe can be deduced from the etymology of e.g. the place names Berlin or Bern.. both from the word for bear. Historians also say that the Spanish common surname García is originally Basque, and derives from a Basque (North-Spain and South West-France) word for “bear”, (as in “strong guy”). The word “garçon” for “boy/young man” in French – borrowed in English to mean "waiter" - has a related, Aquitanian/Basque origin.

The following list from Wikipedia is instructive: some “national animals” were chosen to be so because they are indigenous and typical within a country, others not (see e.g. Netherlands, the English ones, Luxembourg, Belgium, with regard to the “lion”).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_animals

Anyhow, the lion as Rastas use it has this reference to strength, but at the same time to Africa, and to Haile Selassie, giving it a wider, historical meaning, also for recuperating “identity” after historical oppression. It is used by Rastas at times to refer to oneself as a strong African, but also to refer to fellow Rastas, male or female (lions, lionesses), as terms of endearment so to speak.

This lion as a symbol replaced – some say – the Anansi (fable spider) figure, an Akan heritage also found in Jamaican folklore. Anansi is a trickster spider that through his cunning was benefited or got out of situations. While in some sense rebellious, Anansi represented at the same time an amoral model: selfish, and fooling already poor, downtrodden figures/animals as well when he wanted to or benefited from this, and not just mightier parties. The lion by contrast represented a “regal”, and more moral model – as well as a stronger and more independent image - that Rastas preferred over the trickster spider known in Jamaican folklore.

In a more negative way “wolves” recur also quite often in Rasta symbolic vocabulary. Though also strong and ferocious as animals, for which an unarmed human is no match, this is not regarded in a sense of dignity or pride. Wolves are discussed as mere predators: rapacious, murderous, treacherous, and opportunistic. The most common use in Rasta speech of “wolves” is therefore of “fake Rastas”, or other conmen, adding to wolves ..”in sheep’s clothing”, from the known saying. Devouring and preying on the symbolic “sheep” representing true Rastas and “Jah children”.

Beyond the lion-wolf-sheep contradictory trio, many more animals are recurringly mentioned in reggae lyrics.

OTHER ANIMALS

Ask any Caribbean person who went to live in Britain or the Netherlands – or whose parents had - , and most probably you’ll hear the same: they did not have the pet culture in the Caribbean, and were once somewhat surprised by the intimate in-house bonds of some native Dutch or British persons with their dogs or other pets. Animals as such were of course there however in the Caribbean, and seen as a part of life, especially in rural areas.

Many reggae artists hail from rural areas or know the country, or have known animals in some urban parts. While reggae developed in urban Kingston ghettos such as Trench Town, these ghettos were inhabited by migrants from rural areas. So, many reggae artists were born Kingstonians – city slickers, you might say - , but just as many of them had rural family or personal ties. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, the Itals, Ijahman Levi, just to name some, as well as later artists Bushman, Anthony B, Fantan Mojah, Luciano a.o., all were born or grew up in part on the country. Besides this, many Kingstonians gave more attention to the rural and natural living – and self-sufficient farming - after “sighting” Rastafari (becoming Rastafari adherent): the already mentioned natural Livity idea.

JAMAICAN PROVERBS (IN PATOIS/CREOLE)

This is relevant, I think, because these artists write lyrics from their own life experiences. This includes often poor ghetto living, but also rural settings. Though large-scale cultivation reminds of the slavery days and sugar plantations, small-scale or self-sufficient farming is mostly discussed positively by many reggae (and Rasta) artists. Many proverbs with animals in Jamaica seem to stem from the older popular peasantry tradition: “chicken merry..hawk deh near” is such a proverb, also found in reggae lyrics. It means: the chicken is merry, but does not know the hawk to slaughter it is nearby: meaning: not seeing things coming, being unaware of the situation..

In the Jamaican Creole language (also known as ‘Patois’) there are overall quite some proverbs involving animals. Some are comparable to ones found in English, or are derived from these, but there are many “own” sayings and proverbs as well. Like I mentioned before, the fauna in the Caribbean is partly different from the African motherland, and many seem to stem from farm life,..farm animals like cows, mules, and chicken recur in Jamaican proverbs. Also, dogs and cats recur often in these proverbs, later common pets (as mentioned) in countries like Britain. There are however also proverbs with monkeys, snakes, and lions, that perhaps have African origins.

http://www.lasanabandele.com/jamaican_proverbs.html

“The higher the monkey climbs, it is the more he will expose”, is an interesting Jamaican proverb. It means that when you “climb” socially, you get under more scrutiny.

Another common Jamaican proverb, also recurring in several reggae lyrics, refers to the also very urban mouse. “Fire deh a mus-mus tail..Im tink a cool breeze”: literal translation: the fire is close to the mouse’s tail, but the mouse thinks it is just a cool breeze. This also means that someone is unaware of what is to come.

These last two proverbs have a somewhat comparable meaning, pointing at changes in society and the need for consciousness, common in socially conscious reggae lyrics, of course.

Like in the Yoruba ideas in the article I referred to before, the Akan Anansi spider tales, but also in other cultures in the world, “animal rights” as such are not so much recognized as some would want, but animals are still symbolically and philosophically equalled with human beings: what can happen to them can happen to humans as well. This can be considered as a form of humanization. They are used as models to learn from, in that sense. Also many European proverbs with animals have that equalling or humanizing of animals of course, and had that long before something like “animal rights” were even considered in Europe. Animal behaviour as lessons or warnings for human mistakes is in other words common to many cultures globally.

LIVITY AND ITAL FOOD

The Livity idea – living in balance with nature, and eating no meat/fish - is widespread among Rastafari adherents. It is not unanimously practiced or required, but Rastafari does not have that much strict, centralized rules. It is highly valued though. The Twelve Tribes mansion among Rastafari is often looser on diet issues, for instance, even eating chicken and other meat and fish at times.

Many Rastafari are vegetarian however, and that is of course relevant for this post. To be more accurate, these Rastas prefer Ital food, which is broader than just the vegetarian not eating of meat or fish. Ital food should be really natural, and unprocessed, like raw fruit.

“Nothing weh mi eat it nah bawl” sings reggae artist Bushman on his song “Fire Pon A Deadas”. The term “deadas” of the title is a disparaging term Rastas use meaning flesh: since animals were killed for it. The respect for life of animals is of course a praiseworthy attitude in societies where “animal rights” are under-recognized, or hypocritically dealt with, as in Western cultures.

The Rastas that eat meat or fish attach, again, some humanizing symbols to animals, even when eaten. There is a partly Biblical influence (no pork, shellfish, Levitical code), traditional African beliefs (in the avoidance of salt, for instance), and other rules on the animal characteristics. For that reason, Rastas avoid eating types of fish or other animals known as “predators”, for a possible infectious influence on humans eating them.

DRUMHEADS?

There is one contradictory aspect though. Hand drumming is also valued much by Rastafari adherents. The Kete drums are used for Nyahbinghi gatherings, including drumming and chanting, which are quite crucial “groundation” moments for many Rastafari communities. Besides Kete drums – based on Akan/Ghanaian Akete drum types - other drums recur as well, such as from the Congo-based Kumina Afro-folk tradition in Jamaica, djembes, or the Afro-Cuban (but based on African models, of course) congas or bongos. Most of these drums have heads made of animal hides. Maybe these skins were used after the animals’ natural deaths, but it is not known for sure. Kete drums tend to use goat skin, as do djembes, while sheep skin, cow skin (congas, mostly, and also bigger bass drums in nyabinghi), or buffalo skin (e.g. bongos) is also used. Historically in Africa, cow and goat skin, but further also antelope skin was much used for drum skins.

Nowadays synthetic drumheads exist, but many Rastas prefer traditional drums, also those who are vegetarian: with hides/skins of (killed?) animals. This is not hypocritical, I think, but can better be called ironic or inconsistent. I use the term “hypocritical” more for the “deceiving” manipulation of people with power, in higher social positions.

It is somewhat inconsistent though – using animal hides but not eating meat -, but “pro-nature” consistency is difficult if wooden materials are used, for drums or otherwise: trees have often to be cut for it.

Interesting is how traditionally in Nyahbinghi drumming sessions among Rastafari, animal hides are selected. The drums called “fundeh” (often mid-sized kete type drums), tend to give the “life line”, basic (heart) beat rhythms, with little variation. The variating role is much more there for the “repeater” drum, a kete that is a bit smaller/shorter in length (often also the diameter of the skin), and played for more varying, improvizing rhythmic patterns. Both these drums tend to have goat skins. Some Rastas – such as known drummer Count Ossie - believe, however, that for the head of the “basic beat” Fundeh a male (ram) goat should be used, and a female (ewe) goat for the Repeater head. This relates to the – compared to the male - more and varied - and higher-pitched - noises the female goat apparently makes when alive, thus fitter for the Repeater drum function. Animal characterizations also here, haha.

Even though a smaller head diameter and specific tuning – as well as length of the drum - influences the different pitch between drums, e.g. the fundeh and repeater (the latter is often tuned tighter), as well, different animal hides do have different sonic/tonal effects. That’s why for bigger, bass drums – as the big Nyahbinghi “Thunder” drum – the skin of cow (or sheep) tends to be used.

Photo: Me (Michel) playing with others during a Nyahbinghi session in a park in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2014). I sit around the middle (red sweater, yellow trousers) and play a Fundeh. The man on the right of me plays a Repeater (with a somewhat smaller drumhead size)

FAUNA

The Rastafari movement is Afro-centric, focussed on the African continent as the roots of kidnapped Black people in the West. “I won’t give up a continent for an island”, as Alton Ellis (and Hugh Mundell) sung, both now deceased reggae singers. The lived experience, however, is the Caribbean, and therefore specifically African animals are not mentioned very much, especially in Jamaican proverbs, though there are some examples. Also apart from the lion, that is.

Some African proverbs or tales (Anansi) have survived in the Americas, but many are derived from European languages or English, referring often to animals more common in Europe, and the Caribbean itself. Dogs, horses, wolves, cows, bulls, chicken, roosters etcetera. In other cases, proverbs come from Caribbean farm lands. Not much giraffes, elephants, or zebras in the wild there.. Sometimes, African (non-lion) animals are mentioned: leopards, elephants, as well as animals found on several continents. Bees, ants, birds, mules, monkeys etcetera, are all indigenous (in different subspecies) in both Africa and the Caribbean. The donkey is even originally African, they say. And the cat is, by the way, historically a domesticated version of the African wildcat.

More than fauna distribution, the symbolic use of animals is relevant here, also in (message) lyrics that characterizes much reggae, especially Rastafari-influenced reggae.

Thus contextualized, it’s now time to discuss examples of the reference to animals and their mostly symbolic meanings in reggae lyrics.

REGGAE LYRICS

I will especially pay attention to Roots Reggae lyrics, with Rastafari influence, since the 1970s. This way I can bring reggae and Rastafari together in one thematic whole.

One side of Rastafari is the Bible, and a new interpretation of it, from a Black, African perspective. Though there are increasing numbers of Rastafari thinkers who opine that the Bible or Christian derivatives are over-emphasized in the Rastafari movement (Mutabaruka, for instance), the Bible still is overall important in the movement as a reference point.

This is also the case in reggae lyrics. The Congos’ ‘Ark of the Covenant’, refers to the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark, discussing different types of animals, saved on that ark, “even the ants”. Producer Lee Perry added cow sounds to the music for good measure.

LION

The lion symbol recurs a lot throughout Roots Reggae, and New Roots lyrics. The song ‘Man A Lion’ by Bushman discusses it, ‘Black Lion’ by Jah Lloyd (a.k.a. Jah Lion). Burning Spear’s sings on ‘Lion’ (on the Man In the Hills album, 1976) not to kill the lion. The Itals sing ‘Don’t Wake the Lion’ (1976). Bob Marley sings about being “Iron like the Lion in Zion” (Ethiopia).

Dee-jay I-Roy also has a great song called ‘Heart of a Lion’ (1978) on this theme, from also a Rastafari perspective. Its interesting rhythmic and lyrical variation by the way proving that deejaying/toasting is a genuine art form (and not just someone talking over existing music).. but that’s another issue..

The Lion, especially in the phrase Conquering Lion, refers to Selassie, but the animal itself is also discussed as such, though also as symbol and animal at the same time.

On a more recent – energetic – tip: another example is a digital dancehall song ‘Lion Fi Roar’ (2002) by Sizzla.

WOLVES AND OTHER ANIMALS

References to the lion as Rasta symbol in reggae (including some dancehall) lyrics are overall too numerous to mention. The same can be said of the more negative use of the term “wolves” or “wolves in sheep clothing”. Dennis Brown talks about the evil by symbolic ‘Wolves and Leopards’ against sheep, in the song of that name (1977) , while Fred Locks also sings that wolves should leave the sheep alone (‘Wolf, wolf’, 1976) . Dee-jay Big Youth has a tune with the title ‘Wolf in Sheep Clothing’, but other reggae artists have similar song titles with “wolves” (Cornell Campbell, I Kong, Steel Pulse, the Abyssinians a.o.). I myself mention it in the last verse of my song ‘Rastafari Live On’ (Michel Conci, 2012).

Too much to mention – the wolf -, in titles or somewhere in lyrics, like the lion. Maybe for that reason it is interesting to discuss examples that are a bit more rare or (almost) unique. Original, some might say, though something that is not original can still be true.

Yami Bolo’s ‘Officials are like Locust’ (1994) a good song with good music led by Sly & Robbie, is an example of the use of a less commonly mentioned animal, in this case in a negative way. ‘Leopards’ in Dennis Brown’s well-known ‘Wolves and Leopards’ is in that sense also relatively “original”. Max Romeo compares foolish, aggressive raiding by police to ‘Three Blind Mice’ in the known song of that name. Mice indeed seem fast and nervous from our, human perspective, because their hearts pump blood faster, somebody told me once.

I liked the also quite original ode to the industrious, working Bee on the song by new artist Colah Colah called ‘The Bees’ (2012), a nice version on an old Studio One riddim, with a nice video as well, I think. Colah Colah even discusses the natural relationships between bees and other animals, like wasps, roaches, and rats.

From a ghetto, urban perspective, Mutabaruka talks about “roaches and rats take over the flat”, as indicative of poverty in the ghetto love song ‘Hard Times Loving’ (1983). Another early dancehall artist took on the odd, somehow funny moniker/artist name White Mice. Overall, however, in several (Rastafari-inspired) Roots Reggae lyrics, mice or rats are mostly presented as negative or at least as hindrance, perhaps predictable, due to the very behaviour of rats/mice: fast, and parasitic by gnawing on what humans leave – teeth of rodents grow faster than the rest of their body - while avoiding contact with humans. This causes irritation in several human cultures, although I have known about people who find rats actually “cute”.

In less Rastafari-inspired reggae, such as parts of Dancehall, names of “fierce” animals recur as monikers: think of the artists Tiger, Super Cat, and the funny name Mad Cobra. The artist name Eek-a-Mouse sounds fun, but refers not to a mouse, but to a race-horse the artist once betted on. He lost the bets on this horse, so his friends jokingly named him after that horse. Eek-a-Mouse called himself now “mouse” by the way too, as his artist name has taken hold.

Locusts, wolves, leopards are animals used as metaphors of negative, evil human behaviour. Also ravens, vultures (lyrics by Israel Vibration for instance), hyena’s (e.g. in a song by Apple Gabriel) are used as negative, devouring symbols in lyrics. The devil (as force of evil) is in some lyrics described as a “cunning fox”.

The lion is a positive symbol, there was an ode to the bee, but also other animals are referred to in a positive sense, as positive examples for humans to learn from. Burning Spear’s ‘Elephants’ (who unlike humans take good care of each other), or ants that live in unity (unlike humans) as in the lyrics of Culture’s ‘Chanting On’ (1989).

Then there are of course the many sayings/proverbs in Jamaican Patois, which I discussed earlier, that found a way in the lyrics of these Jamaican reggae artists. Example: “high seat kill miss Thomas puss” (Puss = cat in Patois), about thinking oneself unrealistically too high in social standing, the “greedy dog that lost its bone” (both mentioned in the Israel Vibration song ‘Greedy Dog’). “Fire deh a mus-mus tail, im tink a cool breeze” (I discussed already) recurs in lyrics of several reggae songs. Further, the saying “Too much rat never dig good hole” (having too many doing the same thing is counterproductive) is in a lyric of the group the Itals (song ‘Kill Crime’, 1983). Gregory Isaacs (and others) sing: “the higher the monkey climbs, the more he will expose”, which I also already discussed before.

The well-known song ‘Maga Dog’ by Peter Tosh (the Wailers) also refers to a Jamaican proverb/saying, mentioned in one of the links I gave earlier. Literally: if you help/feel sorry for a maga (thin) dog, he still can bite you.. it is about ungrateful people after you helped them.

In fact, I found that with more knowledge of Jamaican sayings (in Jamaican Creole/Patois) – in this case including animal references - I got to understand the precise meaning of many reggae lyrics a bit better as well. Educational!

CONCLUSION

The symbolic use of animals in reggae lyrics thus has in a broad sense similarities with many other world cultures. It is furthermore Biblical and also Western (British) influenced – the latter in sometimes “European” animals used in expressions -, though with some African influences, and an own Africa-oriented interpretation. Animals are discussed as proud and strong symbols of a people and king or leader (as in several cultures, world wide): notably the lion. You might even say that Rastas “re-appropriate” the African lion symbol, after the lion has been appropriated by non-African peoples (in Europe as well as parts of Asia). Certain animals in reggae lyrics further represent the evil within humans, and in a more practical sense as having behaviour that can be used to educate humans by focussing on the essential. This is also found in several cultures globally, including ancestral Africa.

On a positive note (at least for animal lovers): all the while, there is an ongoing comparison between animals and humans that at least connect the human and animal worlds structurally. Lyrics do seldom set animals apart as abstract, strange beings, but rather as part of a natural whole with humans. Reggae lyrics overall do neither emphasize so much animals’ supposed “inferiority” to, or mere functionality for, humans, perhaps less than elsewhere in the world or in other genres. Overall these lyrics tend more toward equality or at least respect for the life of animals, and not just humans. This probably reflects somehow the connection with the natural world and Livity influencing Rastas.

There is in this sense in part a parallel with the article on Yoruba views on animals, I linked to earlier in this post: including in the fact that animals are like humans imbued with divinity, sharing the same life force.