To my next generation

Daniel, my nephew:

"May you one day have the privilege and the joy of playing Black Gospel music!! There is no power unleashed from the spirit of a musician into the mainstream of his ancestral lines back to West Africa forward into the present like the powers of Black Gospel music. White gospel music does not have this power, or the powers of African music in its core. It sends their worship music into a place of mystical musings in the element of air. It dare not root itself into the Earth, our Mother because that deep connection is not part of their soul's vernacular..." - your Uncle Greg 4/2/18

Master Drummer

"Shook Up Brazil"

By Randy Weston

"Big Black is from South Carolina, and that part of the area is as pure as Africa anywhere in the United States. Chief Bey is from South Carolina. When they coach their drummers they coach with an African drum. They teach them all the music all the blues and Caribbean. Black was so powerful, he and I toured Brazil together in 1981, just piano and drums. I'd never done that before, Big Black shook up Brazil. They had never heard anyone play drums like that before."

*excerpt of my radio interview with RW from October 2014 on PowerTalk 1210
Jake D. Feinberg

 

The Blues, a scholarly approach

 

The Blues

 -Blues Changes
-Special Kinds of Blues
-The Blues Scale
-The Minor Pentatonic Scale
-Pentatonic Minor Pentatonic
-And Blues Scale Equivalents

 Traditional Music theory doesn’t “explain” the blues very well. Consider This: The I chord in the blues is a dominant 7th chord. Also, the blues scale is unlike any other scale found in Western Music. Take a look the image below, which shows the blues scale based on C.

Blues scale in C

It has two minor 3rds (C to Eb and G to Bb), a chromatic passing note between F and G (F#), and consecutive half steps (F,F#,G) intervallic arrangement not found in such western scales as the major and melodic minor scales. The interval structure of the blues is “minor 3rd, whole step, and half step, and minor 3rd, whole step.”
Jazz evolved in nineteenth century from diverse African-American, and Latin-American sources, including African call-and –response chants, field-hollers, gospel music, marches and popular songs of the day, ring shouts, and a largely Cuban influence called “The Spanish Tinge.” However, no one source of Jazz was more than the Blues.

The blues has its own traditions, but also the single biggest part of the jazz tradition: Blues Changes.
There are zillions of “Blues changes.” Having said that, let’s get back to reality. There is a single, commonly accepted set of three-chord blues changes, more or less unchanged since the earliest days of jazz, and still plays today.

Modern examples of three-chord blues include Miles Davis’ “Blues By Five” and two by Thelonious Monk, “Blue Monk” and “Misterioso”. 

by Rashid Booker

Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis

Go to https://www.academia.edu/12875596/Monk_and_Miles_Played_The_Blues 
 

Didn't say much, but said it all.

IRock JAZZ

Miles Davis 


The Prince of Darkness. His approach to music and genius as an innovator affected my music and life profoundly. It was a study in itself to learn indirectly from people who'd mastered a craft, or to be directly penetrated by their creative energies linked to the African spirituality coursing through the bloodlines. Those two things amongst other factors created bodies of work, and better musicians. I am a part of that 'guild'. My ability to honor the large number of influences, the traditions who informed me, the ancestors I am connected to, and the few masters I've personally built relationships with and the masters, like Miles Davis, whose life and times upon the Earth changed the psychology, the theology of cultures. Crucial to my creative processes is an important honoring ceremony done with my life, the way I live and play my music. This is an honoring of Miles Davis, but it extends to all others. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10.17.13




singers Robera Flack, Mick Jagger and Phyliss Hyman

Roberta Flack taught school here in Washington DC, and is well known from that generation. There is also a forgiving attitude from DC about her focus on musical integrity and her lack of fashion sense that taught people about priorities. In her time and before priorities and their placement was fundamental to how Black folks functioned in their lives. It was part of the dignity of Negroes, Colored folks and later Black Americans, who bore a hole into world cultures with a daring grasp upon cultural awareness. Style as we defined it came from the epicenter of one's creativity and reaction, or response to the culture challenges of living in the United States, and a global citizen which came more in vogue as access to the financial hub of the country became more than a dream.

There is a lot to discern from the older musicians, and singers, and a lot cast aside by newer musicians and artists without an historical grasp of their art forms. Different messages go out and into the winds, and we all know the winds they are a changing! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10.17.13

Interviewed: Herb Albert

Louis Armstrong

 

Close My Eyes

By a Herb Alpert 


"I have a classical background. I studied classical music for 12 years. Then, all of a sudden, I heard Louis Armstrong and Miles, Clifford Brown and Chet Baker and I wanted to do some of that. I wanted to close my eyes and just play whatever came out. When you're playing classical music you're interpreting the music through the composer. Not only the notes but above the notes he has how he wants it played (loud, soft etc). You don't really have a chance to be creative. You have to be creative through the eyes of the composer. When I started playing my music I started copying my favorite musicians. I could play a little bit like Louie, all the guys that I liked. After awhile I realized, "who really wants to hear that?" They've already done it. That was my "ah-ha" moment. I had to come up with my own voice, my own style, my own way of doing it if I was ever going to succeed in that business.

"When I met the great Sam Cooke I learned a lot of lessons. He didn't know he was giving me lessons but I was watching how he approached everything. He was a great artist and a genius. He came out of "the gospel field" and everything he sang was meaningful."

There's two groups of musicians; especially improvisational musicians. There are the musicians that are playing the right notes. They play high and low, all the right notes and chords. They have everything going but you're listening to them and you're staring at the wall wondering why it's not getting to you. Then they're the musicians who are searching for the right notes. Guys like Miles, Coltrane, Chet, Louie and Coleman Hawkins. They didn't care if you liked it or not they were just playing stuff that was coming from a very deep place.

One of things I'm really thinking about these days is that jazz needs a renaissance. We need the new Miles coming out here. The new guys who are going to push it forward. To play the song and take a chorus or take three choruses and let the piano player do it and give the bass player a chance to play I think is old stuff."

Excerpt from my interview with Herb Albert from today's (8.16.15) broadcast of the Jake Feinberg Show 

John Coltrane 

BLACK MAN BLACK MUSIC BLACK WOMAN

Black music evolved every genre it touched, or was touched by. The relationship between Creator and Creation is told within the genius and genesis of African music. It is embodied within the women who birth the songs and the singers, whose hips, and thighs are the cadence and the clavé centering the polyrythms through the tangle of pubic hairs to the core, the essence of birthed energies that detangle the contradictions of those who conquered Africans and Africa without the fore knowledge of the deep spiritual powers embedded within the Earth from realms the white people are glimpsing now through science's lenses.

The African woman naked is music, and Life. The African man is music, and Life. Two combined forces of Nature tamed by no one. Contained by no one. If you need to believe it is contained it will appear so, but Africa's soul belongs where it needs to be creating new life. This is the soul of Africa, and her children. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2013



 

Excellence & Hope Against Vacuity

Gerald McCorkle, I met the first year I was married to Renee. I was a microfilm photographer for the National Archives. Conversing with Gerald broadened my horizons. He was already ten years into his marriage, had a home and a perspective on life as a Black man that engaged my quest to fit in the work place at a young age. I remarked to myself then how elegant he was, and certain of himself in an environment of strict attention to detail best described as a culture with an intentional adherence to the supremacy of being white male academics. Gerald had a  keen sense of how to get what he needed without compromising his dignity and his self-worth was not measured by a standard outside of himself. He has always been intellectually challenging to his own designs and skilled probing into others. He spoke clearly with a scant accent that acknowledged his Black American upbringing and an inflection of a literate, thoughtful, and well read man.

His interest in developing young minds has followed him the course of his life. I saw that a few years ago when I was setting up my instruments for a small gig at the Potter's House in Adams Morgan in Washington DC. I was surprised to see him after a few decades there producing shows in that venue and recording artists of the hip hop genre in the metropolitan area. Today, he friended (what a word) me on Facebook.

The first thing I saw on his page intrigued me. It was a picture, or a doctored photo of a young Black man, EJ Green, all 'tatted up', both hands up 'giving the bird' (middle finger up) with a studied look of disdain a lot of young Black cats, and millions of people the world around accept as the stance of Black men from the 'hood. The young man was seeking affirmations about the picture because it was to be his album cover for a new project. The only response came from an obviously young cat who simply said, "Get me hipp." (whatever that means I don't know). I had to respond.

Little brother, the image leaves me with a profound let down, a deep sadness unattached to hope. The art work is deeply immersed in the crudeness of a dejected spirit without hope. I know a lot of young cats wallow in it, but it goes against the African tradition of sound, movement and color.

It is from a profound source artists, poets, musicians, writers come from, but the responsibilities of the creative people has been to uplift consciousness, even in anger, from the deeper levels of lower expectations into the higher rungs, where things get done, where life is formed and vision is raised.

I started out professionally as a musician in North Africa at the tender, but exciting age of 19. Tutored by older cats the first things they taught me I just shared with you. Actually, the magic of music and my parent's lives taught me that. But, the deepest lesson was the 'how' of the art of translating Spirit through my physical body into sound. At this level of performance every genre of music from anywhere in the world I played music from fundamentally transformed (in this order) me, the listener, and the worlds around us seen and unseen! You see the momentum of sound joins other sounds creating a vortex of sensual and explosive and powerful and penetrating probes into the place all music comes from. Every expression is a real experience accessible to any life form, and any form of art and music. I know it isn't an American approach to sound, but here in the States the best of musicians, and the masters come to this place in every genre.

My word to you, young blood, is to arise. You obviously come from the same place the masters come from.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1.25.14 

Ej Green

January 14 , 2014

An hour or so later I re-visited his page because it is on Gerald's wall and my contribution was deleted, and in its place he wrote. "Sir, I don't know you so can you delete this shit off my page?!"

"Pity, young man, that you know so little about the business of music, and exchange. It will cost you in this business to be narrow in perspective confining yourself to the small circle of people you know. You are trying to get into the music game with your eyes closed. I am sorry for what you don't know, and are unwilling to know. I gave you gift... And I was interested in hearing your music."

"I wish I could tell my mom that I love her everyday. I think about her as much as she probaly thinks about me. I mean, hell, I would think about my firstborn... I don't live with regrets, just wish I did things differently because you don't learn from regrets, only mistakes. Having said that... I wish our relationship was different and not where it is today. (You are a beautiful woman, mama)" - Ej Green, August 12, 2013 

Celia CRUZ in my imagination!

Celia Cruz was so much!!

Celia Cruz, since I first heard her as a teenage musician, has been one of my five favorite singers in the world. First, it was the voice, and its fiery connection to African sensibilities. When I saw her picture a couple years later I was smitten. She was much older, and her body had weight to it. When I finally saw her live onstage in DC a little before she died you couldn't pull me from where I stood! So powerful was her presence and overwhelming the sound coming out of her. The royal qualities of Celia Cruz joined everyone together and whether it was the first time you'd heard her music, or not the joy received could not be contained. Even the crippled shook to the rhythms.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago I thought to Google her, and I saw her early pictures, and... Well, look at this:    ~ Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 10.21.13

Celia Cruz

Still banned in Cuba

GODFATHER of GOGO beam me up, Chuck!!!!

Lead singer for the reggae band STEEL PULSE (r.) shaking the hand of the legendary Chuck Brown, who created GoGo music; the original sound of Washington DC (Chocolate City), and Tom Terrell at the Strathmore in early 2012.
photo by Dera Tompkins. 

MOTHER'S angst . . .

Tupac Shakur, dead genius & rapper

Tupac, as brilliant as he was, has become a center-piece in millions of young Black men's lives much to their detriment. These young cats don't even understand how Tupac's unexamined example cripples them causing them to fumble on their contradictory words, and actions. - Gregory E. Woods 8.31.12

Les Nubians-La Guerre

BLACK PRIDE, the lack thereof…

“I regret letting my third language languish (French). The lyrics of Les Nubian's song, La Guerre, reminds me of how unevolved Black Americans were when I returned to the States from living in Africa. Their resentment of anything remotely connected to deep African spirituality, and what was outside the vernacular of coarseness was astounding. Others and I let things let other languages we spoke reside in our mysterious backgrounds, and developed a coping skill that took time to stop simmering with resentment. We talked about it as a form of self-preservation. We had to go through pity into awareness of the dominating fears of Black America to understand the importance of Blacks to suckle on the ‘tit’ that informs identity.

In Black American culture as long as the idea of self is measured by how ‘we’ look, or come across to the Whites, and as long as our freedom is given to us we cannot own the most important thing: our own images!

I dig the song by Les Nubians. I get it.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

a LIFE LIVED DEEPLY

Spoken-word musician Gil Scott-Heron dies in NYC

By CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press Cristian Salazar, Associated Press – Sat May 28, 7:29 am ET


NEW YORK – Musician Gil Scott-Heron, who helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetry on songs such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," died Friday at age 62.

A friend, Doris C. Nolan, who answered the telephone listed for his Manhattan recording company, said he died in the afternoon at St. Luke's Hospital after becoming sick upon returning from a European trip.

"We're all sort of shattered," she said.

Scott-Heron's influence on rap was such that he sometimes was referred to as the Godfather of Rap, a title he rejected.

"If there was any individual initiative that I was responsible for it might have been that there was music in certain poems of mine, with complete progression and repeating `hooks,' which made them more like songs than just recitations with percussion," he wrote in the introduction to his 1990 collection of poems, "Now and Then."

He referred to his signature mix of percussion, politics and performed poetry as bluesology or Third World music. But then he said it was simply "black music or black American music."

"Because Black Americans are now a tremendously diverse essence of all the places we've come from and the music and rhythms we brought with us," he wrote.

Nevertheless, his influence on generations of rappers has been demonstrated through sampling of his recordings by artists, including Kanye West.

Scott-Heron recorded the song that would make him famous, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which critiqued mass media, for the album "125th and Lenox" in Harlem in the 1970s. He followed up that recording with more than a dozen albums, initially collaborating with musician Brian Jackson. His most recent album was "I'm New Here," which he began recording in 2007 and was released in 2010.

Throughout his musical career, he took on political issues of his time, including apartheid in South Africa and nuclear arms. He had been shaped by the politics of the 1960s and the black literature, especially of the Harlem Renaissance.

Scott-Heron was born in Chicago on April 1, 1949. He was raised in Jackson, Tenn., and in New York before attending college at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Before turning to music, he was a novelist, at age 19, with the publication of "The Vulture," a murder mystery.

He also was the author of "The Nigger Factory," a social satire.

This is the man whose attitude, poetry and "bluesology" influenced a whole generation of radical rap musicians. Renowned in the '70s and '80s as the "Minister of Information", Gil Scott Heron is the voice of humanity, whose prose dissects the ills of the world with scalpel-sharp precision. He is a writer/poet/musician and one of America's great originals. Performing work from his latest album 'Spirits', Scott Heron is a man with something to say and a message worth listening to. - anon.

the Curse of 27

Robert Johnson

the Curse of 27

Legend tells us that Mississippi-born Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar like no one had ever heard before. No one can say for certain whether or not the devil exists, but one thing is certain: Robert Johnson played the guitar (and sang) like no one had ever heard before, and left his mark on several generations of blues players since. An authentic American original, Johnson's musical innovations influenced the blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B, country & Western, gospel and folk styles. He died -- reportedly after being poisoned by the husband of a woman he was courting -- August 16, 1938.

Eleggua, Exu, Elegba is the Orisha of the Crossroads. In Ifá, the spiritual practice that crossed the Atlantic with people from various tribes, and nations to be sold into slavery throughout the Americas, Elegba is the Orisha that has to be honored at the beginning of ceremonies with other Orishas. Exu, or Elegba is a trickster sitting at the Crossroads. In places, like Brazil, with high African spirituality present in the land and the air, offerings, and small altars are all over the place and one needs be, at the least, mindful of these things, and at the most respectful of the powerful energies of this Orisha. Exu can hurt or help you.

In North America where African spirituality, and its deeply rooted sensitivity and connection to the Earth, and other realms of power are reduced to the boogey man, the Devil, and Evil, Black Americans became the proverbial lost souls. Unable to recognize their own power, connect with their spiritual legacies, afraid of white people, and dominated by the Church who replaced their image of self with their own image Blues lore talked about Robert Johnson in whispers, and saw him in the dark, not in any light whatsoever!


"He sold his soul to the Devil to play the guitar like he did!"


In the street vernacular that's bullshit. I use the vernacular to convey how foul such assertions are, and how detrimental to the soul our language has become. If the story is true about the African spirituality the Portuguese, and the Spaniards respected and feared we have the reason African spiritual traditions flourished in Central and South America, and we have the essence of Robert Johnson in focus. He, apparently, was in relationship with the roots of his legacy and made the proper offerings to Elegba at the crossroads to fortify his life journey. I do not know what Orishas sat atop Robert Johnson’s head, but I do know he was an ‘African spiritual man’. It takes spiritual power that does not conform to form to live at the level of commitment Robert Johnson lived. It’s in his music; his story-powers! Robert Johnson's lesson and gift to the African grandchildren of ex-slaves was not lost on them. It was lost on the church-going, white people fearing, superstitious, frighten small minded, and feeble hearted Negroes, and colored folks who cowered before the frightful power of a Black man attuned to his African soul, and the powers of the worlds he had assess to coming together because of the words he formed around the intent of his being, and the content of his purpose on Earth, his Mother." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

The Stylistics - People Make The World Go Round.

"Love is a deep gratitude, a connection between worlds, invincible against the elements of death. Love is the joining of creation stories and is the language of Creation." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

dark skinned beauty of aristida !!!!

"Black American's sense of love was restructured by slavery. Survival defined love for Black Americans. Love has to be pulled out from the survival of the group into the universality of love." - Gregory E. Woods

Africa Unite sung by Ziggy Marley

Abena Disroe & Mama Marilynn Killingham who died dec 26, 2009

Abena Disroe at Bob Marley's house

Erykah Badu is the light of African knowledge

Samuel Torres performs on 7 congas tuned to E minor

GARIFUNA

November 1997 the Black Carib culture known, as the Garifuna were reminded of their ancestors' resilient struggle to overcome the brutal racism put forth by the European settlers in the New World. This day marked the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Garifuna on the shores of Central America after being forcibly removed by the British from the island of St. Vincent located in the Caribbean. Though this culpable relocation of their entire culture by the British was meant to circumscribe the Garifuna, they have survived like members of their ancestry did when they were enslaved and brought from Africa during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.


Today the Garifuna populations can be found in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and many have migrated to the United States. The Garifuna, also known as the Garinagu, are direct descendants of the "Island Caribs" and a group of African slaves who escaped two ship-wrecked Spanish slave ships near St. Vincent in 1635(Garinagu Early History, 1).

The Island Caribs were descendants of South American Indians known as Arawaks and another group, the Caribs, who migrated from South America to the Caribbean at a later date. Through the admixture of these cultures as well as the influence of European settlers in the Americas, the Garifuna obtained a diverse culture that incorporates African traditions of music, dance, religious rites, and ceremonies; Native American cultivation, hunting, and fishing techniques; and a French and Arawak influenced language.

The Garifuna culture displays many influences of its African heritage, and this is extremely evident when comparing their music with the indigenous music of the African societies from which their ancestors originated. According to one source, "most of the slaves brought to the Caribbean were taken from the Niger and cross Delta regions in the Blight of Benin (present-day Nigeria) in West Africa, and from further south in the Congo and Angola"(A History of Belize 5th chapter, 1).

Much like the music of these areas, the Garifuna style of music relies heavily on call and response patterns. These patterns are less overlapping than many traditional ones found in Africa, but none the less the Garifunas' "leader/chorus organization" is very consistent with those of African styles (Franzone 1995,294).

In addition, the importance of the drum in Garifuna music is another similarity to their African influence. Garifuna music relies heavily on the drum, and in many instances their music is dictated by it. Often times a particular drum style will call for two drummers (except for sacred music, which usually uses three). Typically, one drummer will play a fixed, consistent pattern. This drummer is usually called the segunda player.

Another more intricate part made up of cross-patterns is normally played by the primero player (S.Cayetano, 1). The drums of the Garifuna are usually made of hardwoods that are uniformly shaped and carved out in the centers. The ends of the drums, whether it be one or two, are covered with skins from the peccary, deer, or sheep (S.Cayetano, 1).

These drums are always played with the hands, and some drummers have been known to wrap metal wires around the drumheads to give them a snare-like sound. Some musicians accompany the drums with gourd shakers called sisira, and even instruments like the guitar, flute, and violin have been adopted from early French, English, and Spanish folk music, as well as, Jamaican and Haitian Afro-Caribbean styles (S.Cayetano, 1).

In accompaniment to their music traditions lie the Garifuna songs and dance styles, which are an integral part of their culture. These songs and dance styles that are performed by the Garifuna display a wide range of subjects like work songs, social dances, and ancestral traditions. Some of the work songs include the Eremwu Eu, which is sung by the women as they prepare to make cassava bread, and the Laremuna Wadauman, a song men regularly sing when collectively working together (S.Cayetano, 2).

As for songs and dances in the social context, pieces like the Gunchei are quite customary. In this dance style the men take turns dancing with each woman. Another very popular dance style performed by the Garifuna is called the punta. According to one Garifuna author this style is, " the most popular dance performed at wakes, holidays, parties, and other social events"(S.Cayetano, 2).

It consists of different couples attempting to dance more stylistically and seductively with hip movements than their other competitors. While most of these songs and dances is more modern in origin, the Garifuna still maintain many traditional pieces. One of the most famous of these is called the Wanaragua.

This dance, which is also known as the John Canoe, is a dance that originated in times of slavery and is performed around Christmas time. The participants will dress up in white masks and venture from house to house in order to receive food and drinks from that household. The dance is said to have been started by both the Creole and Garifuna during encounters at mahogany camps where they were forced to work, and the intent was to mock their white slave owners (Palacio 1993,14). Other traditional dances are defined as: "the Charikawi- a mimed dance where a hunter meets up with a cave man and a cow, and the Chumba-a highly poly-rhythmic song, danced by soloists with great individualized style"(S. Cayetano, 2).

While many of the song and dance styles mentioned above are uniquely Garifuna based, none of them emit the echoing tidal wave of African ancestry like Garifuna ancestral rites and ceremonies do. There are traditionally three main ancestral rites portrayed by the Garifuna.

They are defined as: "1. The Amuyadahani- bathing the spirit of the dead

2. The Chuga- feeding of the dead, and 3. The Dugu- the feasting of the dead"(S. Cayetano & F.Cayetano 1984,1). The Garifuna perform these rites because like many African societies they believe that spirits of their ancestors, which are both good and evil have direct impact on the lives of people in the living world.

One author confirms this when she says, "Instances of natural death are prepared for. However, sudden or untimely deaths suggest the influence of evil human or spiritual factors, and much care is taken to prevent the restless spirit of these deceased from returning to bother the living"(Franzone 1995,152). When this unexpected death occurs it is announced to the rest of the community by wailing women who go door to door with the sound of drums (Franzone 1995,152). It is for this reason that the Garifuna take great care in providing for their dead ancestors the three ancestral rites, the most extravagant one tends to be the Dugu.

Since it is recognized that the Garifuna are meshed together with influences from many different cultures; it is also possibly in some degree to begin to separate parts of their culture to determine their roots. One example of this is their Amerindian influences of the Arawaks and Caribs collectively known as the Island Caribs. When the African slaves intermixed with the Island Caribs they brought into the culture many African based influences that have been previously discussed. However, in order to better understand whom the Garifuna are it becomes necessary to relate other adopted characteristics of their culture to they're other major ancestral influence, the Island Caribs. This Island Carib culture was one that was founded on yucca and cassava farming as well as hunting and fishing sometime before 1000AD(Garinagu Early History, 1). It is quite amazing then that the Garifuna women are still widely known for their tradition of making cassava bread (Palacio 1993,1-3). In addition, the Garifuna men have always been known for their maritime skills since they were mainly away hunting and fishing from various islands throughout the Caribbean and Central America (Global Neighbors: Garifuna History, 1). It is not hard to understand then why the Garifuna are both a matrilocal This means that the women are at the center of the household and descendants trace their bloodline through their mother's family. According to one author, "The women are very actively a part of the Garifuna social culture and are known for their leadership ability and articulate speech"(Global Neighbors: Garifuna History, 1). Therefore, while the women are the farmers in which they grow mostly cassava, they are also major role models and figureheads for the young children (Global Neighbors: Garifuna History, 1).

Another influence that the Garifuna had in their defining lines of their culture was the obvious influence of the French during the beginning stages of colonial development in the New World. It was during this time that French missionaries were exploring the region of the Caribbean and teaching the Island Caribs many words of their native tongue, including the use of French numbers and counting systems. Certain expressions were than fused with the Arawak language that the Island Caribs were speaking. This created the Garifuna language that can still be heard counting in French today (Global Neighbors: Garifuna history, 1).

All of these things combined have provided a brief understanding of who the Garifuna are, and where they come from. Furthermore, it has become apparent through reference points to other cultures and more in-depth studies of the Garifuna that their roots were cultivated in many places around the globe. For example, the traditions of their music dance, religious rites, and rituals are all very much seeded in their link to their African ancestry. While the Garinagu forms of subsistence, on the other hand, are more associated with their Island Carib ancestors. Even the European settlers of the New World had a very profound effect on the development of the Garifuna culture. The same culture that is characterized by the blending of distant pieces of worldly influences, driven by the human intuition to survive, and fueled by the desire for freedom.



REFERENCES CITED



1) Palacio, Myrtle 1993 The First Primer On The People Called Garifuni . Glessima Research & Services

2) Franzone, Dorothy 1995 A Critical and Cultural Analysis of an African People in the

Americas: Africanisms in the Garifuna Culture of Belize. UMI Dissertation Services (151-152).

3) Global Neighbors: Garifuna History. Garifuna World [On-line],

Available: http://www.garifuna-world.com/

4) Garinagu Early History. Garifuna World [On-line], Available:

http://www.garifuna-world.com/world.com

5) Cayetano, Sebastian, (1997). Garifuna Music. Garifuna World [On-line],

Available: http://www.garifuna-world.com/

6) Cayetano, Sebastian; Cayetano, Fabian (September 30, 1984). Dugu. Garifuna

World [On-line], Available: http://www.garifuna-world.com/

7) The History of Belize (Chapters 4&5). [On-line], Available: Garifuna-world.com

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Don Alias, percussionist

Don Alias was one of the musicians elegant of hands and soul who heavily influenced world music, and most importantly, me.  Anyone can easily Google him, but experiencing the depth of his musicianship cannot be captured.  It had to be experienced and absorbed.  - Gregory E. Woods

AFRICAN SPIRITUALITY IS THE ESSENCE OF FUNK

“What is this thing called FUNK?”

The darkness evoked by a deep bass groove shifted consciousness in the 1970's. Shifting of consciousness was the signature mark of the times and the music one listened to was an indicator, as revealing as the books one read, and the writings one studied, of who you were. Most of the cats I hung out with knew their intellectual curiosity was the indicator women were going to hone in on once they got close to listen to your rap.


Funk, black music in general, had its followers who ranged from stone heads to people driven by the social issues of the time, the constant demands on deepening one's hold on life, and the ability to pull you into your funky, dirty down to the bone “Can you dig this? I am Black, Intelligent, and I'm down wit it” vibe. Original design of African music tied, and connected the aspects of Being, the elements of Earth, and the spiritual rythmns in the higher realms of existence, and when African music became funk we empowered every race, and class of people with so much power and gave access to higher realms of creativity to all. Black Music is a deep thing. Say it ain't so. -Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (12/08/09)

eryka badu, funk mistress