by Donnyale Ambrosine

Bahamian culture, like all great cultures, is woven of a strong thread of commonality that runs through its citizens.

A charged atmosphere is one that leaves the unsuspecting visitor yearning for more�imparting a feeling that, once removed from the locale, is hard to recapture. Such is the emotion evoked in the Islands of the Bahamas.

Like the distinct personalities of New Orleans, Paris, and Berlin, each Bahamian isle beckons newcomers, return travelers and natives alike. Though each of the inhabited islands exudes its own personality, Bahamian culture, like all great cultures, is woven of a strong thread of commonality that runs through its citizens. Its festivals with distinctive music and dance, its cuisine and seafaring traditions are unique only to this small section of the world, yet profoundly impactful upon those who experience them. Junkanoo is a mainstay of Bahamian culture that has citizens planning, working, and sometimes paying all year for the 16 hours of delight that ends one annum and begins another. Much of traditional Bahamian dress, music, food, dancing, and singing is encompassed in this single event.

In the years before Junkanoo became an organized event, individuals dressed in costumes and traveled from house to house to frighten children. Some Junkanoo bands would serenade homes on Christmas morning with dancers cavorting in front of the house until the occupants offered up a donation of food or money.

Today, the Mardi Gras-like festival takes place from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Boxing Day (December 26th) and New Year�s Day. Thousands line the streets, tourist and native alike, to witness the bacchanal where participants in brilliant costumes of crepe paper and sequins glued to clothing, cardboard, and wood dance and sing in the streets.

Dancing during the festival usually includes popular dance mixed with tradi-tional Junkanoo steps called �rushing�� footwork consisting of two steps forward, one step back. The rush is said to have derived from Africa, mimicking the Ashanti Warrior march to war (some authorities say rushing was a religious dance passed down from slavery.) Other prominent dances during the parade include Soca and Merengue.

Musical Orgins

Goombay is an event best described as a mini-Junkanoo/food festival half way through the year on Bahamian Independence Day July 10. �Goombay,� the Bantu word meaning �rhythm,� describes the traditional music that melds African rhythm with European colonial beats. It also is the name of the goatskin drum used in Goombay music.

The drum is made from a keg with the top cut off and a goatskin stretched tightly over the opening. It is the centerpiece of the rolling rhythm of all Bahamian music. Traditional old-style Junkanoo music orig-inally was derived from Goombay, and though the drum still is used, Junkanoo music has somewhat strayed from its roots to the rapid beat currently associated with the festival.

Traditional Junkanoo music is made with conch shell (horns), cowbell, whistles, shakers, and the Goombay drum. The fast-paced �Dun-kalik, dun-kalik, dun-kalik� rhythm makes a foot-thumpin�, body pumpin� sound so moving that causes nearly every listener to jump to his/her feet! Traditional songs including �A Rushin� Through the Crowd,� in which has spectators on their feet. �K-k-Kalik, k-k- kalik, k-k-kaliking k-k-kalik, k-k-kalik, k-k- kalik, k-k-kalik, yeah!�

Junkanoo now is the predominate musical form, but Goombay traditions still are preserved in the islands� �rake and scrape� bands. Traditional rake and scrape is a sim-ple music that, historically, made use of very limited local resources. Again, the drum is the centerpiece along with mara-cas, rhythm sticks, a modified violin (usually made with a wash tub, heavy stick, and string), and a hard metal (like a saw or a file) that is scraped against a wash board. Today the tradition has evolved with the times, injecting electric bass and guitars� but no rake and scrape band is complete without the saw and the drum.

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