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Home , Caribbean people, Convince, Demographics of Haiti, Kumina, Sidney Mintz, Tropical music

Creolization in the Heliana Fortes de Roux

For most the Caribbean evokes spectator or manipulator of distant Carib­ an image of sunny, fine sand beaches bean transformations, but also an arena for lapped by crystalline waters. For many, it is ongoing cultural innovation. a synonym for tropical music and fun, rest The program brings together folk musi­ and relaxation, vacations and tourism. This cians, practitioners, folk performers, stereotype, however, is a commercially moti­ and cooks from the islands of the to vated image that distorts the rich diversity of demonstrate the interactions between native, Caribbean . The region encom­ European, African and even Asian cultures passes a of cultures that have that have resulted in the creation of new evolved over centuries of complex, turbu­ cultural forms. In the Caribbean region lent, and profound interactions-within a people of diverse ethnicity live side by side. limited geographical area-among the in­ Though they do not indiscriminately share a digenous peoples of the area, Europeans uniform common , their lifeways from several countries, peoples from West crisscross and intermingle. If one is inter­ Africa, and in some cases, indentured ser­ ested in origins, single elements of vants from India and East Asia. and practices can be teased out, but in most The Caribbean program at the Festival of cases they cannot easily be attributed to any American Folklife is but one of many ways single place or time. to present Caribbean cultural traditions. The A visitor to the Caribbean program at the program traces the creative integration and Festival might wish to listen to Puerto Ricans synthesis of new cultural traditions from singing decimas, witness a Haitian Vodoun elements of diverse origin that had been ceremony or learn how to make bammies juxtaposed or had previously coexisted inde­ from cassava, a root indigenous to the New pendently. The music and ritual perform­ World. Many can recognize the European ances and foodways demonstrations do not instruments played by the son musicians; merely trace the static persistence of indige­ most can trace the Vodoun ceremony to an nous, African, or European culture traits in African past. Perhaps some visitors will rec­ the Caribbean, but instead illustrate their ognize the indigenous presence as transmutation into a fresh cultural amalgam they observe the cassava cook. The Festival that forms the base of emergent identity. program only begins to trace some of the This emergence occurs not only in the Car­ cultural traditions at the root of complex, ibbean but also in the mainland United unique and dynamic Caribbean expressions. States, whose eastern cities have become The Caribbean region is one of the most havens for disinherited peoples of the Carib­ diverse and heterogeneous in the world. bean. The is no longer a mere Such are its complexities that there is no

The Caribbbean: Cultural Encounters in the New World bas been made possible, in part, by the Music Performance Trust Funds, and the government ofjamaica , the government of , American Airlines, and Marazul Charters.

67 Maroon abeng player from Moore Town, . This wind instrument was used during the 18th century war against the British and has retained sacred meaning to this day. (Photo by Heliana Portes de Roux) consensus even on its geographic definition; Basin definition and an overly narrow West this controversy is not necessarily esoteric. Indies definition there are other alternatives. The broadest prevailing geographic defini­ One uses the concept of the Caribbean tion of the Caribbean is that given in the archipelago, which stretches from the Ba­ Atlas of the (1984), which hama Islands at the north to Trinidad and defines the Caribbean to include "the islands Tobago. In another view the Caribbean is of the as well as the countries thought to be constituted by the islands of on its shores." This definition includes 30 the Antilles chain and by Surinam, Guyana, countries and a total population of nearly and Belize. Common to all 400 million people since it encompasses the of these places was a plantation economy United States, Mexico, the five Central sustained by the labor of slaves of African American republics, Panama, , origin. We must not forget, however, that , Belize, Guyana, Surinam and the social region French Guiana. A narrower definition of the shares much both with the South American Caribbean includes only the 13 independent mainland stretching from former British colonies of the , northward and with the Gulf Coast and At­ whose total population is slightly over 6 lantic seaboard of the United States. million. Between an overly broad Caribbean The Caribbean is not only a geographical

68 Santeria Enslaved Yoruba from southwestern Nige­ ria, brought to in great numbers be­ tween 1790 and 1865, carried with them numerous powerful divinities called . In Cuba the Yoruba were called the Lucumi, and their of the orichas (Spanish spelling) came to be known as La Regia Lu­ cumi, La Regla de Ocha, or Santeria. San­ teria appeared in Cuba not as a static sur­ vival or retention of African practices but as a dynamic Afro-Caribbean shaped Domestic shrine for orichas and saints with offerings, by the needs of creole communities that Guanabacoa, Havana, Cuba, 1986. Saints' images tradi­ emerged and changed in and free­ tionally stand above the porcelain soperas (tureens) dom. At first Santeria was the exclusive reli­ containing the deities' "secrets." (Photo by David gion of colonial Cuba's Lucumi "nation" Brown) (ethnic Yoruba and their early direct descen­ dants), but it evolved as a spiritual path seen to own or control a domain of nature available to all Cubans in the 20th century. and human experience; is distinguished by Santeria also flourishes in Puerto Rico, Mi­ legends, attributes, colors, and favored ami, New York, , Illinois, and foods; and is praised with distinct drum California, in communities of Cuban mi­ rhythms and chants in the Lucumi ritual lan­ grants. Its adherents now include White and guage. Santeria's principal ritual goal is the Black Americans and other immigrants from effective tapping and channeling of the the Caribbean. orichas' power for the health and benefit of In the 19th century the emerging creole the community, within a moral context sanc­ religion creatively borrowed or remade tioned by the ancestors (egun). This task Catholic elements, icons, ritual, and mythol­ belongs to corps of specially initiated and ogy within an Afro-Cuban ethical context. trained priests or santeros who, as mediators As Santeria grew up inside the larger , of ritual power, discern the orichas' will the Lucumi o1ichas came to be celebrated through sophisticated divination systems and on the feast days of their Catholic saint solicit the orichas' aid with proper tribute counterparts-a creative use of the Church and (eb6). As the orichas' servants, calendar as an armature to reconstitute the they act as "mounts" or "horses"-mediums sacred festival cycle. Spanish military attire of spirit possession-when the come and courtly costumes and crowns, which down in the heat of drumming celebrations had earlier entered Afro-Cuban carnival pro­ to dance, eat, and prophesy. cessions, appeared in the sacred Lucumi Santeria ritual practice centers in the initiation process called the coronation. "house of Ocha," which refers to both the Saints' images, votive candles, and flowers place where a shrine is maintained and the appeared on altars alongide Yoruba-derived ritual family of Santeria worshippers-a headwork and sacrificial offerings. Ornate circle of "godchildren" initiated by an elder porcelain soup tureens came to contain the "godparent." The ritual family provides orichas' sacred objects-stones and cowrie mutual support to its members; godchildren shells embodying the orichas' power (ache). owe respect to their ritual elders and are Layers of European-derived materials adorn obliged to assist in house such as and guard a secret, essentially African, drummings and initiations. In their homes sacred core. initiated priests establish altars for their an­ The orichas are understood as so many cestors and orichas and conduct consulta­ refractions of a distant, incomprehensible tions and spiritual cleansings. Supreme Being or Creator. Each oricha is David Brown

69 unit: it is a region with a common history African slaves' and their descendants' creative rooted in the interplay of European powers use and transformation of European cultural in their efforts to gain political and eco­ institutions, products and patterns (and, to a nomic control over land, sea lanes, people lesser extent, those of Asian and Native and potential resources. In the Caribbean American origin). Creolization-a process to many complex relationships developed be­ which people of African heritage contributed cause of this historical experience. The Car­ greatly-was a fundamental factor in deter­ ibbean was the first gateway to the New mining the basic fabric of each Caribbean World, from which Spaniards organized their society. invasion of the American mainland and con­ The term "creole" was used from the 16th quest of its native peoples. Throughout the to 18th centuries to denote people born in colonial period it was the bridge between Spanish America of Spanish parents, distin­ and its new viceroyalties on the main­ guishing them from those born in Spain itself. land. As , and Holland suc­ It has since been used with various-often cessfully challenged Spanish domination of conflicting-meanings. In the Spanish colo­ parts of the Caribbean, new plantation sys­ nies, Creoles were generally excluded from tems were established, especially for grow­ high office in both church and state, although ing sugar cane. The region, already signifi­ by law Spaniards and Creoles were equal. cant in political terms, became important Creoles led the revolutions that achieved in­ economically as well. dependence from Spain in the early 19th cen­ The history of the Caribbean is the ex­ tury, and after independence, they entered pression of unique circumstances in each the ruling class. In various parts of Latin particular island nation and also the expres­ America the term "creole" has different refer­ sion of a number of elements common to ents: it may denote any local-born person of all. The region is considered by anthropolo­ Spanish descent, or it may refer to members gist Sidney Mintz as a "societal area" pre­ of urban Europeanized classes, as contrasted cisely because it shares social structural and with rural indigenous peoples. In the An­ economic characteristics, common historical tilles, the word was used to denote descen­ patterns of conquest and expansion of Eu­ dants of any European settlers, but now it rope, patterns of colonization, peonage or refers more generally to all the people, of slavery, development of a plantation econ­ whatever class or ancestry, who share in the omy and development of multiracial and Caribbean culture. multicultural societies. Although in broad By extension, "creole" came to refer not outline these processes were common to all, just to people but also to languages and to each Caribbean society is unique, and gener­ cultures that were born in the New World; alizing about the entire area does not ad­ "creolization" refers to the process by which dress adequately the distinctive characteris­ a new synthetic language or culture devel­ tics of each. ops. In the Caribbean people from diverse The interactions that occurred in the Car­ backgrounds, cut off from their homelands, ibbean initiated a process of creolization that made a virtue of necessity by synthesizing acquired unique characteristics within each disparate elements of their past and present context, depending on the cultures that environments to produce a new cultural came into contact. New systems of commu­ manifestation, a creole culture. The process nication, new melodies and rhythms, and of creolization is not a uniform and mono­ new forms of religious expression were lithic one that follows the same course every­ born. The distinctiveness of this process in where and produces the same results. In­ the Caribbean region stemmed from two stead, creolization takes in a wide range of significant factors: 1) the determining role of cultural transformations and amalgamations, the creative expressions of Africans, and 2) each specific to a local area and a particular the progressive "conquest," from bottom to historical situation. Because the Caribbean top, of social, legal, and political domains by program at this year's Festival of American the subject classes. The latter often involved Folklife focuses on traditions from Puerto

70 Maize-flour drawing, or , for the Haitian loa Erzulie. (Illustration by Andras Goldinger)

Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba, the following spheres of life, they became mother tongues considerations of creolization will concen­ or first languages, completing their transfor­ trate on how that process has occurred in mation to creole languages. those countries. During the period in which creole lan­ guages began to develop in Caribbean socie­ The Creolization of Language ties-after the swift extirpation of native The Caribbean area is marked by the populations-there were sharp differences emergence of characteristic language forms between African slaves and their descen­ distinct from the indigenous languages, from dants and free Europeans who assumed African languages, and from the languages themselves to be racially and culturally supe­ of the colonizing European countries. This rior. The creole languages were associated development began in the most oppressed with slavery and to make matters more com­ sector of society: African slaves and their plex, the national elites began to regard descendants, who spoke a number of dis­ themselves with the eyes of their metropoli­ tinct languages. They needed a common tan cohorts, turning their back on the emerg­ language to speak to one another, and their ing languages, customs, and beliefs as if European masters (who also spoke various they were stained. Creole languages were languages) needed to communicate with thought to be negative cultural and ethnic them. Pidgin languages arose, with simpli­ expressions and considered as primitive and fied grammars and greatly attenuated vo­ malformed languages. cabularies, suitable for basic communication The creolization of language did not oc­ despite being artificial constructions. These cur homogeneously throughout the Carib­ pidgins were second languages for everyone bean. Creolization was determined by a who spoke them. As generations passed variety of factors depending on the specific and the pidgin languages were used more history of each area. In Hispanic colonies extensively, they re-incorporated vocabulary such as Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Puerto from the parent languages and developed Rico, Spanish became the standard language complex grammars. Now used in all because these colonies were always linked

71 plantation's social milieu. These immigrants came into contact with slaves who had ar­ rived earlier from various African nations who worked as domestic servants, skilled craftsmen, and field laborers. This variety of backgrounds in the Caribbean is responsible for the birth of new language forms in vari­ ous settings. As linguist Mervin Alleyne 0985) explains, in Guyana, Antigua, Montserrat, Jamaica, and St. Kitts, different levels of language evolved, ranging from a creole speech or patois to intermediate forms of standard English. In Haiti and the , a French based creole came to be spoken by a majority of the in­ habitants. The creole of Surinam drew its vocabulary primarily from English during the initial period of colonization, and was later influenced by Dutch, eventually developing into dialects such as Saramaccan and Sranan. Conditions on Barbados favored a close ap­ proximation to English; thus Bajan, one of the Barbadian creoles, is quite similar to English. In Trinidad a dialect derived pri­ marily from English, a French-based creole and a non-standard Spanish evolved. Papia­ The Vodoun altar at Madame Nerva's hounfor in Jac­ in the three Dutch islands of Curac;ao, mel, Haiti, incorporates chromolithographs of Catholic Aruba and Bonaire blends Spanish and Por­ deities. (Photo by Heliana Portes de Roux) tuguese language elements. Some creole languages, though developed to the same metropole. The nature of the by subjugated peoples, have gradually be­ colonial enterprise was also different: as gun to win for themselves social and even R.W. Thompson 0957:353) explains, "a legal acceptance in the societies in which more serious effort was made by the Span­ they arose. Of course, the European colo­ iards and Portuguese to plant their New nists not only controlled the economy but World with of European also imposed their own forms of cultural stock. As a result, their subjects of African . Europeans considered all the descent did not greatly overwhelm in- num­ cultures with which they came into contact bers those who spoke a European language in the New World-the indigenous, African, in conformity with native usage." However, and Asian cultures-to be uncivilized. Since ritual languages of African origin such as creole society primarily grew out of enslaved Lucumi were conserved in Cuba and else­ groups, it was associated by the European where, and Spanish became imbued with colonists with backwardness and lack of intonations and variations, idioms and inflec­ education. Thus, the status creole languages tions, variations of pronunciation and style, gained in the Caribbean society was op­ as well as new local terms. posed to the European ideal that the elites The situation was different in other areas inherited. with different patterns of colonial domina­ Creole was designated the official lan­ tion, including the introduction of inden­ guage (along with French) in Haiti; and in tured servants, prisoners of war, and crimi­ Martinique it was approved for elementary nals who were forced to emigrate from their school education in areas where it is the countries of origin to become part of the main language. In addition to such "official"

72 Arada or Vodoun drums with painted . Note the variety of artistic carvings in the base of these Dahomey-style drums. (Photo by Heliana Partes de Roux)

Master drummer of Madame Nerva's hounfor plays the manman or hountor drum, the largest of the ensemble, using one bare hand and one stick. (Photo by Heliana Partes de Roux)

73 Jah Music: Rhythms of the The Rastafari are among the most Afri­ held in rural areas. At these religious can-oriented members of jamaican society, celebrations brethren and sistren gather in but they are also among its most creative thatched tabernacles to "praise jah and synthesizers. This is illustrated by Rasta­ chant down Babylon." Typically, drum­ fari music, both in its "roots" form, Nyab­ ming and spiritual dancing take place ingi, and its popular form, . Reggae throughout the night, punctuated by for­ is linked with the internationalization of mal speechifying by leading orators. Eld­ the Rastafari Movement from the late ers recognized for their ritual knowledge 1960s onward and shows ongoing fusions officiate the week-long celebrations. As of local folk music with popular strains the Nyabingi traditions gained visibility in from abroad. Nyabingi, by contrast, is rural areas, younger members of the more esoteric-a drum music central for island's Maroon and groups have some four decades to the worship of jah, come to identify with the Rasta Movement the Rastafari creator. Both reflect wide­ without abandoning their own cultural ex­ spread borrowings and cross-overs of mu­ pressions. Their involvement with mul­ sical forms. tiple traditions will no doubt make itself Early Rasta music was largely European felt in the further cross-fertilization of mu­ in form, reflecting cultural links shared sical styles. with Afro-Christian revivalism. Songs from Reggae is a complex musical fusion that the Sankey hymnal and the Book of Com­ developed in the late 1960s from a combi­ mon were adapted to Rasta needs nation of popular jamaican styles (ska and and sung at street meetings to a rhythmic rock-steady) and American rhythm and accompaniment of boxes, mara­ blues, with influences from other island cas, graters and scrapers. By the mid- folk traditions. Although reggae overlaps 1940s an emergent style of drumming be­ more with jamaican popular music than came increasingly important to Rasta cere­ does Nyabingi, they share an emphasis on monies in the camps and yards of West African self-determination. Disaffected Kingston. This drumming style, Nyabingi, and radicalized youth (including Bob Mar­ reflected the fusion of burn and kumina, ley) who entered the Movement during two African-derived recreational musical the political turmoil of the 1960s straddled styles. Early Rasta master drummers the folk and popular musical spheres and adapted the three-part burn ensemble gave reggae its cutting political edge. The (bass, funde, repeater) to suit their individ­ "conscious" lyrics of many reggae compo­ ual styles and needs. Throughout the sitions address the social and political cir­ 1950s and 1960s Nyabingi music contin­ cumstances of the masses in jamaica and ued to be influenced by the folk musical elsewhere, and popularized Rastafari experience of the Rastas. These influ­ throughout the world. Today reggae can ences grew out of the rural-urban connec­ be heard in metropolitan Black communi­ tions of brethren who moved freely be­ ties in the Caribbean, , Eu­ tween country areas and the urban camps rope and Africa. Influenced both by local of Trench Town, Back 0' Wall, and the folk forms and Afro-American rhythm and Dungle, as well as rural migrants who blues, reggae is now a vehicle for political joined the ranks of the Rastafari Move­ commentary as well as an artistic form. ment. Since the late 1960s island-wide Nyab­ ingi ceremonies have increasingly been John P. Homiak recognition, has gained in form of religious expression evolved from status as an expression of traditional culture; French-influenced Catholicism together with it is valued by nationalist movements in an a diversity of West African religious tradi­ effort to reaffirm their cultural identity as tions. Michael Laguerre 0980) refers to it as separate from French culture. is a that developed as a result of spoken regularly in the Dutch Antilles dur­ the incorporation of West African slaves into ing the course of many daily activities and colonial Haitian plantation society. He ex­ although English is the of plains how Vodoun developed from house­ Jamaica, local movements supporting the hold-based ritual into an extended family­ Creole dialect have developed. based ritual that after independence in 1801 became and has remained the main religion The Creolization of Religion in the island. Vodoun is part of Haitian cre­ Enslaved Africans in the Caribbean re­ ole culture and represents the very particular structured their ancestral in ways way in which African and Christian religious that reaffirmed their ethnic identity or served elements came together to form a belief sys­ as vehicles for resistance to European domi­ tem that permeates almost every aspect of nation, while simultaneously satisfying their Haitian life. spiritual needs. Some of these religions, Vodoun-the word itself is Dahomean in such as those of Y oruba origin (which found origin and signifies "spirit" or "deity"-is ap­ in Cuban Santeria and in the Shang6 of plied to all the activities of religious life, from Trinidad their most important expressions in the ritual of the temple to the songs and the Caribbean) have drawn essential content dances. The Vodoun practiced in Haiti con­ from their African ancestry. This is evident sists of rites, beliefs, and activities of a num­ in their rites and pantheons as well as in ber of religions such as the Congo-Guinee, their priestly organization. In Haiti, where the Ibo-Kanga and others. These become there was practically no White population integrated in Haitian practice; according to after the early 19th century, Vodoun evolved Harold Courlander (1960) this integration to constitute not only an African religion, but demonstrates how Haitian Vodoun draws also a national one. from the common inheritance of all these Slavery cut off religion from its former African . place in African social and political struc­ Nevertheless, whatever the content of the tures and forced Africans to separate it from beliefs brought by the slaves from Africa its original environs to fit it into an unknown might have been, when practiced in the New world governed by a different logic-that of World, they were influenced by external fac­ European masters. Thus, for example, they tors: the laborers' daily activities in the plan­ had to adapt their own religious expressions tation, the intermingling among people from to a European religious chronology, some­ various backgrounds, a new language for times shrouding African content in Christian communication, new types of housing, new forms. The identification of African deities diet, new patterns of social organization and and Catholic saints evolved in part from the political power, and a new calendar of events slaves' need to disguise their ceremonies. that reflected Catholic feasts and the coloniz­ This process yielded a number of different ers' national holidays. All these variables, collective representations. Thus, myths of added to the synthesis of African sacred be­ deities such as Omolu could be related to liefs, made for the emergence of a Haitian parables of the Scriptures such as that of the belief system. Prodigal Son; popular Christian legends The songs, essential to the Vodoun ritual, could be linked to the (deities) of reveal the creolization process. Sung primar­ Santeria; and Biblical allegories could con­ ily in Haitian creole, some contain words tribute, as they did in Haiti, to a new my­ from African languages and some are simply thology that replaced the African mythology. borrowed from the . This is Vodoun, the religion of the Haitian not surprising, for many Vodoun practitioners people, is a good example of how a new are baptized and attend Mass in the Catholic

75 and reinterpreted in African terms. These elements are not just fused together, they are incorporated in the creative process of forming a new religious system with new meaning. In the Protestant Caribbean this syncre­ tism took on different forms. Biblical texts were imposed upon slaves to encourage passivity and acceptance (such as the narra­ tive of the submission of the Israelites to Egypt and the captivity in Babylon). Mes­ sianism, the expectation of a deliverer or savior, was a concept that Blacks adopted to serve their own needs. Another example is found in the reinterpretation of African trance, as occurred in many of the "Revival" religious in Jamaica. In the same country, churches such as the Jamaica Free Church lean towards Prophetism; in the Bongo , syncretic rites are celebrated in which Protestant chants and take place while animals are sacrificed. These expressions often have a strong messianic sense, as does the Rastafarian movement, although the latter carries not only religious but also strongly political meaning. Playing the small rumba box or quinto, a drum-substi­ tute which has been traditionalized as part of the Afro­ Music: Ritual and Social Cuban percussive repertoire. (Photo by David Brown) Underlying the diversity of musical forms and styles in the Caribbean, as Kenneth Church. The following portion of the litany Bilby (1985) has pointed out, are certain Djo (prayer from Guinea) in Haitian creole, basic unifying characteristics. Caribbean collected in Port-au-Prince, is important in musics, like the creole languages spoken in showing how Roman Catholic and West Afri­ the region, reflect the region's historic devel­ can traditions come together in Vodoun: opment. The coming together of traditions from , Africa, India, and China in the Lang di senie di ta Marie contexts of New World plantation econo­ Kel consevoa an J ezi Kri mies led to the creation of new cultures, Letenite la choazi li new languages, and new musical forms. Il a konsi di Sintespri. The Caribbean has been and continues to be a crucible in which new musical forms have An angel of the Lord said to Mary repeatedly been forged. That she will give birth to In the Caribbean, creolization contributed She has been chosen since the beginning to the creation of a wide array of musical of the world forms, ranging from those closely resembling She will give birth by the operation of the the European patterns, to "neo-African" Holy Spirit. [Laguerre 1980:155-156] forms. Each colony created its own music within this Euro-African array. That is why In the Caribbean, then, there exists a sort the Caribbean can be treated as a single mu­ of pendular movement in which African ele­ sical region despite the major variations ments were introduced into Christian prac­ found locally. Musical creolization has been tice, while Christian elements were absorbed expressed in events in which music plays a

76 key role: the fiestas or fetes, sometimes linked to religious practices; work songs that were sung by slaves in the fields in call-and-re­ sponse style; traditional carnivals that were originally related to European religious cele­ brations but which little-by-little were taken over and reinterpreted by the Black popula­ tion. Both Whites and Blacks danced in the carnivals, and both African and European in­ struments were played. Creolization also oc­ curred in European dances, as slave musi­ cians tended to transform styles to corre­ spond to their own aesthetic sensibilities. The key role of drums in Caribbean musi­ cal forms points to their African ancestry. Also fundamental are the relationship be­ tween music and dance, the call-and-re­ sponse style, the music's social and collective nature, and the presence of syncopated rhythms. These elements are found in the jook dance or jumping dance of the Baha­ mas; the Kromanti dance and Gumbe, Sifting cassava flour for making bammies. Methods and utensils used in the processing and cooking of Kumina, and or Bongo rites of Ja­ manioc or cassava derive from the indigenous Arawak maica; the ritual dances of the Rastafarians; people. (Photo by Heliana Portes de Roux) the kalinda dance of Trinidad; the Santeria and Abakua rituals of Cuba; the palos of the ; the Vodoun ceremonies the repertoires of music groups such as the of Haiti, and the of Puerto Rico, to town bands that played European harmonies mention just a few examples. with instruments. Examples in­ Among the styles that more closely reflect clude the merengue of the Dominican Re­ European tradition are marches, polkas, ma­ public, the son and danz6n of Cuba, the zurkas, and ether dances, sometimes played menta of Jamaica, and the biguine of Martin­ by small-town bands with instruments of Eu­ ique. All of these arose as new styles of folk ropean origin, using the harmonic system music, and became to some extent a part of based on diatonic scales that came from Eu­ those nations' respective national identities. rope. Yet, even when the diatonic system In other words what is "creole," the new and European instruments are used, the creation, is an important part of what is au­ bands modify styles and forms and insert thentic to each country. rhythmic elements from African traditions to Along with historical changes in the Carib­ free up the melodies from rigid structures. bean, including urbanization and the spread During the first centuries of the colonial of modern communication media, music has period Europeans viewed musical forms of continued to evolve, always maintaining its African origin as a form of social control and links to its origins. Trinidad's calypso, Ja­ a way to maximize labor productivity. They maica-'s reggae, and salsa-which unites attributed a functional meaning to such mu­ Cuba, Puerto Rico, and New York-have all sic, consistent with their own interests. Afri­ resulted from that ongoing process of crea­ can-based music sometimes gained legitimacy tion and innovation. These creole genres in its own right. And over time African-based have become international popular musics music made its way into the sitting rooms of appealing to African, European, American Europeans. Musical styles and dances from and global audiences with a built-in diversity Europe were transformed and Africanized of style that appeals to many different aes­ through the infusion of African elements in thetic systems.

77 Creole Caribbean Cooking survived, and those of African origin were The encounter of peoples in the Carib­ not often incorporated into the diet since bean was also an encounter of food prod­ slaves were given a ration and their food ucts and of transformations in the eating and taste preferences were not generally habits of those involved. With conquest considered. At first male slaves were pre­ came the rewards: gold, silver and precious ferred to females, who had traditionally stones, spices, fruits and cassava, cotton, been the ones who prepared food. Also, in indigo and tobacco. The and the initial stages of forced labor in the plan­ Tainos, indigenous to the Caribbean, had tations there was little opportunity for culi­ knowledge of tropical fruits, corn, cassava, nary creations. For this reason, Europeans seafood and spices. These products, among were the leaders in the early development of others, provided the base from which new Caribbean cooking, adapting condiments culinary processes evolved and represent and seasonings to newfound products. today the silent contributions of the thou­ As was the case in music and languages, sands of native peoples who died during the conditions in the Caribbean nevertheless conquest and colonization of the islands. encouraged the development of creole Over centuries many food products were foods. Fugitive slaves (Cimarrones or Ma­ introduced to the regions-ackee from Af­ roons), pressed by need, created a stew or rica, oranges and lemons from Spain, bread­ puchero that contained anything they could fruit from the Pacific, bananas, ginger, obtain. The "jerked pork" tradition of Ma­ cloves, turmeric and nutmeg from Asia. The roons in Jamaica comes from the early days fertile soil of the Caribbean produced an of their freedom when they hunted wild abundance of useful plants, both native and pigs. The abundance of sugar facilitated the introduced: cocoa and coconuts, avocadoes creation of original desserts topped with and eddoes, plantains and bananas, pine­ fresh tropical fruit. The cooks, generally apples and pawpaw; soursops, sweetsops, Black women, served as liaisons between guavas, mangoes, cassava and sweet pota­ the Afro-Caribbean population and slave toes; coffee, ginger, limes, grapefruits and owners, taking dishes prepared in their other citrus fruits; and with much sorrow, kitchen to the master's table and diffusing sugar cane. Sugar cane has played a key newly learned European recipes among the role in the fortunes and misfortunes of the Afro-Caribbean population. From this proc­ Caribbean. It was introduced in 1493 by ess of exchanging, borrowing and mixing, Columbus and it was because of sugar cane creole foods were created, based on local that the slave trade flourished in the Carib­ food products or those that were brought bean plantations. from other regions of the world and assimi­ Many European crops such as wheat were lated into . not prominent in the Caribbean since they Today as in the past food is often pre­ could not be successfully cultivated in a pared in the open air on a charcoal barbe­ tropical climate. On the other hand, pork cue, giving the dishes the characteristic Car­ and beef were quickly incorporated into the ibbean flavor. Many islands claim specialties Caribbean diet. Few of the traditional dishes of their own-in ] amaica there is ackee and of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean saltfish, the traditional cassava bammies, and

78 "jerked pork"; ajiaco and lech6n asado in Citations and Suggested Readings Cuba; rognongs in Haiti. Creole cooking has· Alleyne, Mervin. 1985. A Preliminary Survey of the a unique flavor, with an immense number of Spanish Dialects of Trinidad. In Mintz and Price, pp. dishes: curried goat and curried mutton, 155-179. crabs and lobsters; moras y cristianos made Atlas of the Caribbean Basin. 1984. Washington: with black beans and rice; fish cooked in United States Department of State. coconut cream, stuffed avocadoes; pine­ Bastide, Roger. 1967. Les Ameriques Noires. : apples filled with shellfish. In the end is Payot. Creole cookery that combines the flavors Bilby, Kenneth. 1985. The Caribbean as a Musical and ingredients of many peoples. Region. In Mintz and Price, pp. 181-218.

Conclusion Cabrera, Lydia. 1983. El Monte: Igbo-Finda, Ewe Orisha-Vititi Nfinda; notas sobre las religiones, la Music, language, religion and food prod­ magia, las superstitiones, y el folklore de los negros ucts were not the only results of Caribbean criollos y el pueblo de Cuba. Miami: Colecci6n del creolization. Similar processes of adapta­ Chichereku. tion, assimilation and transformation are Courlander, Harold. 1960. Tbe Drum and the Hoe. evident in literature, theater, dance, painting Berkeley: University of California Press. and crafts. These expressions constitute the Crahan, Margaret E. and Franklin W. Knight. 1979. results of re-creation and fe-edition, accom­ Africa and the Caribbean. : The Johns plished by all those who willingly or by Hopkins University Press. force populated the Caribbean (and their Laguerre, MichaelS. 1980. Voodoo Heritage. Beverly descendants); they have left a profound Hills: Sage Library of Social Research. mark on the cultures of the region. As we Mintz, Sidney W. 1974. Caribbean Transformations. approach 1992 and the Quincentenary of Baltimore: The Press. Columbus' voyages to the Caribbean, we consider the encounter in the New World of Mintz, Sidney W. and , eds. 1985. Carib­ bean Contours. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins people from several different continents. Univeristy Press. The consequences of that encounter-both good and bad-continue to unfold, shaping Murphy, Joseph M. 1988. Santeria: An African Reli­ gion in America. Boston: Beacon Press. contemporary life in the . The cre­ ole traditions of the Caribbean· invite us to Thompson, Robert Wallace. 1957. A Preliminary think not only about our complex past, but Survey of the Spanish Dialects of Trinidad. Orbis 6, 342-359. our cultural future as well.

Heliana Portes de Roux is a folklorist and ethnomusi­ cologist in the Smithsonian's Office ofFolklife Programs and a Professor of at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. She specializes in the study of culture in Peru, and Afro-Caribbean and Afro­ American music. She is the author of several articles, the compiler of a record album and director of numer­ ous documentary videos.

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