- Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:27 pm
#28153
hi daniel & others!
the african music historian john collins says it was 1st october 1801 that the gumbay drums came to sierra leone. the gumbe music as it developed in sierra leone came to fernando po (now called bioko) in the 1940s via the migrant labour of west africans to do carpentry and other work, among them ghanaians (mainly ga ethnicity from greater accra region) and sierra leoneans (largely krio from freetown). some 500 or so afro-cubans had been sent to fernando po in the 1800s while fernando po was under spanish rule, so it's probably likely that there was some afro-cuban influence on gumbe after the sierra leoneans brought it to the island. the ga then adopted gumbe into their own tradition (they call the rhythm 'gome'), and added octagonal frame drums (as opposed to the rectangular/square ones originally used), to reflect their carpentry skills.
the spread to francophone west africa happened in 3 ways. firstly, from ghana to upper volta (now called burkina faso) and then to cote d'ivoire. secondly, from sierra leone to guinea. thirdly, the spread across anglophone west africa included nigeria and gambia. gambia is very close to senegal, and then from there it spread to mali. the genre also spread to cameroon, gabon and congo. in other words, all over west africa and into central africa.
gumbe gave birth to 3 other popular genres - asiko (originally pronounced ashiko), maringa and milo jazz. the francophones pronounced it assiko, the guineans further shortened that to 'siko'.
if you see my thread about jolay (dyole, djole) in the cultural section, you will find some history there. i have had several reliable sources from sierra leone and ghana told me that the gumbay drums and genre were introduced by freed jamaican maroons to freetown. this was later corroborated by three different articles i read on the subject. the frame drum and music had originated in jamaica as a rebellion to the british ban on the use of peg drums, and was strictly recreational.Afoba wrote:thanx to Rainer Polak and his deep researches:
"The square frame drum gunbe originates from the Carribean and has spread along the west african coast since the early 19th century. Departing from Dakar and Abidjan, in the 1930s and especially in the 1950s in relation to the independence movements, the gunbe movement then covered large parts of the inner French West Africa as well."
the african music historian john collins says it was 1st october 1801 that the gumbay drums came to sierra leone. the gumbe music as it developed in sierra leone came to fernando po (now called bioko) in the 1940s via the migrant labour of west africans to do carpentry and other work, among them ghanaians (mainly ga ethnicity from greater accra region) and sierra leoneans (largely krio from freetown). some 500 or so afro-cubans had been sent to fernando po in the 1800s while fernando po was under spanish rule, so it's probably likely that there was some afro-cuban influence on gumbe after the sierra leoneans brought it to the island. the ga then adopted gumbe into their own tradition (they call the rhythm 'gome'), and added octagonal frame drums (as opposed to the rectangular/square ones originally used), to reflect their carpentry skills.
the spread to francophone west africa happened in 3 ways. firstly, from ghana to upper volta (now called burkina faso) and then to cote d'ivoire. secondly, from sierra leone to guinea. thirdly, the spread across anglophone west africa included nigeria and gambia. gambia is very close to senegal, and then from there it spread to mali. the genre also spread to cameroon, gabon and congo. in other words, all over west africa and into central africa.
gumbe gave birth to 3 other popular genres - asiko (originally pronounced ashiko), maringa and milo jazz. the francophones pronounced it assiko, the guineans further shortened that to 'siko'.
