After taking a break for lunch, Urias and his wife Ann
joined our class to share some myths and folk stories from Grenada. I loved the
way that Ann walked; she was so captivating and lively with her words which
made everyone want to listen and hear what she had to say. She started off by
discussing medical myths from Grenada such as curing asthma by having the child
drink coconut milk with the adrenaline from a struggling lizard. She had a very
interesting perspective on the myths seeing as she was a nurse and is now working in the
Ministry of Health in Grenada. Apparently these myths are not just folk
stories, people still believe them today. She then shared with us some insight
she had on death and funerals in Grenada. While in the US funerals are more a
time of sadness and grief, in Grenada it is a combination of grief and joy.
Songs are sung that either provoke a mass feeling of sadness or a joyful
celebration of the person’s life. And families that could not afford to freeze
the body in ice would have to have it buried by the next day. We also learned
about how when someone would die, people would run around the town to get
people to wake up and support the family. They would send someone to go around
yelling of the person’s death and everyone would flock to the house to help the
family, showing a clear sense of community in this country.
After Ann’s session we all took a nap and some of us went
down to town again to get a bite to eat. We ran into our new friend, Fish, who
hangs out outside of the supermarket and he told us of another great restaurant
to go for dinner. We had to go around the back through an alley to get to the
restaurant and ended up in a small place. We all ordered (spicy chicken, rice
and beans, bananas, salad, vegetables, sweet potato, green beans) and we just
took a moment to relax. We were served some fresh fruit juice made of passion
fruit which was absolutely delicious and so satisfying and then we headed to
the buses to go to Tivoli again.
At Tivoli we were greeted by all of the Tivoli drummers this
time. They put on a rehearsal show for all of us which was so entertaining.
They did different acts which involved drums and dancing. My favorite was one
dance that simulated fighting, illustrating Grenada’s violent past. The other
day Urias had mentioned that Grenada is one of the most peaceful places you
will ever find, but it ironically has a very violent past. The dancers were so
intense dancing with fake guns to the heavy, loud beat of the drums. Our group
sat amongst locals who stopped who stopped to watch out of curiosity. The
children got such a kick out of watching some of the people in our group get on
the stage and dance for everyone. It’s so sweet to really feel the community
vibe that was coming from everyone present. I loved the performance! Below are some clips from the performance.
Afterwards a few of us relaxed on the porch while Nathan
played guitar on a beautiful night. I actually sang a bit, which I usually
never do in front of other people. I guess this trip is really bringing out the
musical side of me more than I thought it would.
Today we woke up again for class 9-12 where we discussed
some more methods of fieldwork and addressed a few issues regarding ethics and
morals. We learned a lot about how we need to make sure to establish a
relationship with a person before we ask to interview them. As students we need
to prove our credibility and show that we aren’t just here in the island to
steal the music and leave to make a profit. It’ll require a lot more time and
preparation than I would have imagined in order to get the results we want for
our final research project.
In the afternoon we had a former primary school music
teacher come up named Lauren who spoke to us about teaching children music and
all things related to music in Grenada from her perspective as a teacher.
Lauren was so kind and warm and interestingly enough she was of Indian descent.
She had some insight on what it was like living in Grenada as an Indian and
trying to preserve the Indian culture that has been lost. She also taught us a
few Grenadian folk songs which I never get tired of hearing. I love having the
opportunity to sing some more; I really never practice singing like I used to.
There was a song that she taught us, something along the lines of “Oy oy oy oy
oy xelia” etc that now we are all addicted to singing everywhere we go.
After Lauren left my fieldwork group had set up our first
interview with Krumah who is the head Tivoli drummer and CEO of the Foundation of Culture here in Grenada. Our group had met beforehand to try to
plan everything out like we had learned in class. We aren’t exactly sure on our
research topic yet so we used Krumah as a good place to start exploring areas
associated with instrumental music in Grenada.
From Krumah’s session I learned a few things. One thing that
I learned was that the dance that we did the other night, the one that was
sexual where everyone had to go in the middle and dance sexual, is called
pique. It is a dance that is done at a funeral at night when all of the kids go
to bed (because it is not appropriate for them). Everyone performs a dance move
that simulates a sex move to symbolize that with death comes birth and thus the
cycle of life continues…ha. I also learned that Krumah and the Tivoli drummers
were initially very hesitant at first to have us come and work with them. He
got very passionate when he went to discuss how the musicians in Grenada will
never get credit for their music, especially if someone comes and steals their
material. It is a complicated and expensive process for Grenadians to get music
patented, so people from wealthier nations will historically come to the island
to steal music and bring it back to make their own profit. I was so shocked and
sad to hear this, especially since we were warned a little by Dr. B beforehand
that we might experience resistance by people because of this assumption. The realization
made me even more happy and appreciative that the Tivoli drummers did agree to
help us learn drumming and welcomed us into their practice space for
collaboration. Another thing I learned after the interview was that most people
on the island have nicknames. I have actually noticed this informally when a
lot of people have tried to call me “Lynn” which almost never happens. Almost
no one in Grenada goes by their real names which I find to be pretty
interesting.
After our interview we made our way to town to catch the
buses for our last Tivoli drumming session. It was a little sad to know that
this would be the last time I would get to experience drumming with the people
that we have gotten to know over the past four days. We started off by grabbing
drums and relearning some of the rhythms that were taught to us on Monday. We
learned a few new beats after that and then we switched to gathering in a
circle to do folk songs and dances. Once again we experienced pique (this time
I did not get picked luckily), but we learned a lot of new dances including “cutting
the wood” (most of which were sexual in some way…). We did a variety of
different dances and even did limbo or what they call “fire” and stick
fighting. We even had the pleasure of hearing Dr. B play the clarinet!! By the
end of the session we were all exhausted but so sad to have to say goodbye. The
drummers brought some fruit for us including passion fruit, tiny apples, and
bananas to feast on as we sat around and said our final thank yous.
Now off to do homework for the night. Unfortunately this
trip isn’t all just fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment