Bamboula, Danse des Nègres, L.M. Gottschalk
Michael S. Wright writes:
To all!
A
Bamboula is an African drum made with the skin stretched over both the
ends of a really thick stem of bamboo. OK, we all know that but I would
suggest that it would make a fantastic research topic to determine
WHERE the melody, rather than the rhythm came from as I have no doubt
that the rhythm holds its roots in Africa.
I recall from a long time back that the dances based upon Voodoo culture have been described as Bamboula in Jamaica.
I am not going to go further into my speculation of where the melody originated!
Gottschalk’s
1845? version (almost takes a minimalistic approach in the first
subject!) makes great use of the percussive nature of the piano. I
recall discussing this with Dr Akin Euba quite a while back in a
symposium on African Pianism. I feel the work is powerful and almost
ahead of its time in the early romantic styles prevailing. The second
subject of his work acknowledges this! One feels that the ‘rawness’ of
the start of Gottschalk’s version could have only come from the Slaves
performing on ‘high’ days. Coleridge Taylor’s rather more ‘Elgarian’
version Rhapsodic Dance, The Bamboula, Op. 75 of 1911 came during or
following his trip to America. Nevertheless Coleridge-Taylor’s version
is a brilliant development that I suspect came more from hearing the
first subject in Gottschalk’s piano version. However, my guess too is
that Coleridge Taylor must have heard some authentic folk-dance material
by African Americans during this trip – probably more so than Dvorak
during his stay!
Useful to all could be this link Bamboula Dance and Music - Then & Now in four parts - Edited by Azizi Powell
Good topic!
Regards
Mike
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