Suriname folk-lore

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E. Notes on the recording op the songs.

The songs presented in this work were recorded in 1929, during the second field-trip to Suriname, on a phonograph recommended by Professor von Hornbostel, and procured from Wira, G.M.B.H., Berlin; recordings were made on wax cylinders of the Edison Phonograph Company. With the cooperation of the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Berlin two hard-rubber casts were made of each of the original cylinders, thereby making available for reference two complete sets of the recordings, one in the Phonogramm Archiv of the University of Berlin, and the other at Northwestern University, Evanston. The transcriptions, as they appear here, are grouped according to song categories, and two tables¹ are appended for the use of those who may wish to consult the original recordings, the first giving the number of the record on which the song appears, and the second listing the songs by the numerals given each in the field, and opposite these the corresponding transcription numbers.

The Bush-Negro songs were obtained from singers the length of the Suriname River, and with the exception of songs Nos. 9, 13, 75, 76, 91, 96 and 97, which are Djuka songs, sung by Djuka men, they were given us by members of the Saramaka tribe.

In order to facilitate the work of students of comparative music, the Bush-Negro as well as the Town Negro songs are included in this volume, even though the major portion of the data describes aspects of the life of the coastal Negroes. Since, however, there is no ethnological comment in these pages to serve as a background against which the Bush-Negro songs may be projected, we shall sketch briefly certain phases of the life, and a few of the more cogent psychological attitudes of the Bush as they touch upon the songs themselves and the technique of recording, and shall indicate the bases from which these spring.²

The New World experiences of these Negroes have been such as to preserve in the interior of South America an archaic African culture, for whereas their ancestral stocks in Africa have had continuous contact these last two hundred years with other West African and European peoples, the Suriname runaway slaves who had fought their way to the status of a free political group by the first half of the eighteenth century, have remained in isolation. From the aboriginal Indians whom they had driven from the river bank terrains which they appropriated for their own villages and fields, they had taken over certain food complexes, either in their entirety, like the manioc complex, or in part, as in the use of the kunali shrub for poisoning fish. From the Whites they obtain such staples as cloth, rum, gunpowder, axes and bush knives, iron griddles and pots,

1 Appendices IV and V.

2 See Herskovits, M. and F. (V), for a full account of Bush-Negro life.

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beads for ornamental and ceremonial purposes, brass and iron for conversion into armlets, bracelets and anklets, and white clay for ceremonial uses. To these must be added such luxury acquisitions as enamel basins, large and small oil lamps, tools for woodcarving, with helmets, folding chairs and even an occasional table, hammocks with mosquito net attachments, a shirt and pair of trousers as a sign of special affluence.

Other than in the field of material culture, the greatest single outside influence is to be discerned in the language, which, as we have indicated in our discussion of the language of the Town, consists of a Portuguese-English base with a good proportion of African words, a sprinkling of French, Dutch, and Indian, and all of these expressed in an African idiom, with African speech cadences and rhythms, and, in the instance of African words, with significant tones. In other aspects of their culture, however, no outstanding influence of either Indian or European civilisations is observable.

The Bush-Negro's attitude toward the White man may be said to stem chiefly from the lore of the relationship of the enslaved ancestors to the Whites, and the heroisms of the runaway slaves in establishing themselves in the Bush. This memory is consciously fostered from one generation to the next in the name of the ancestors, who are worshipped, and for political reasons is often emphasized anew by clan heads and priests. The pervading attitude, then, may be said to be characterised by two proverbs most often spoken to White persons by men of all ages. One is, ‘White man's magic is not black man's magic,’ and the other, - heard incidentally on the coast as well, and expressing that one is fortified by wit and strength to cope with enemies - ‘There are men on the upper river, and there are men on the lower river, too.’

About this attitude of aloofness toward the White man's civilisation, and the suspicion of the White stranger, cluster an entire complex of inhibitions. One of these was manifested in the unwillingness to give the text of the songs sung into the phonograph, though except in the case of the very young, or of the specially timid, there was no reluctance to sing into it. The reason for this was that the fascination of singing a song into a ‘machine’ and hearing it reproduced immediately thereafter was strong enough to overcome all hesitancy. The singing, however, was often prefaced with a spoken explanation to the ancestors, or to a man's personal spirits, that he was conceding nothing of his heritage in thus performing for the White man's machine. Often, too, the singer made peace with the spirits by misnaming the songs he sang.

Knowing these attitudes, it was necessary to replay the songs to members of other villages in order to obtain a check on the names of the songs, and to play them again to informants for explanations. An excited exclamation naming the type of song usually resulted from first hearing a record, and this was taken as the best indication

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of the true nature of a given song. In the matter of obtaining texts, however, new problems arose. Few men on the river fail to carry protective magic against slander and backbiting, so that to reveal what another had attempted to distort involved spiritual danger. If a man, however, was so sure of the powers of his own spirits, and their friendliness toward him, to ignore this danger, he was faced with the edict of the ancestors that no man might reveal more than half of what he knew. Moreover, with many the mere replaying of the songs which named important gods, or ancestors, or invoked the spirit of magic - Obia - brought much consternation, and there was little willingness to repeat these sacred names.

Many of the texts, therefore, had to be worked out by playing and replaying the songs after we returned from the field. When it is recognised that many of them are in the esoteric Kromanti language, unknown to all but the initiated adult men, and that even the secular language of the Bush-Negroes because of its use of elision and circumlocution, added to differences in basic vocabulary, is not understandable to Coastal Negroes, it must be evident that much that is tentative is contained in these texts. Nevertheless, despite our many misgivings about them, and our decision to refrain at this time from giving translations, it was found that the texts were sufficiently accurate to enable the two Fanti and one Ashanti informants from the Gold Coast of West Africa with whom we have had an opportunity to go over them to give us partial, and in some instances even full translations of a number of these songs - particularly those in the Kromanti group - with the accompanying comment often of ‘This word is proper Fanti’, or ‘This any Fanti on the coast will understand’, or ‘This is ours, but I can't get all the sense’, or ‘This is an Adansi expression. The Ashanti use it today.’ As a check on these African translators, we made it a point to read to each informant all the songs, including those which by internal evidence showed them not to be of Twi origin, as for example those invoking the Dahomean Snake god Dangbe, (pronounced in Suriname Dagowe), or the rainbow serpent Aido-Wedo, or the Bantu god Zambi. In all these instances we were told ‘That's not ours’ before we had more than pronounced a few phrases.

An experience in the Gold Coast, among the Ashanti, during the summer of 1931, provides another example of the tenacity of the culture of the Bush-Negroes and the purity of its Africanisms, and suggests the problems that need to be met before a definitive rendering of the texts can be essayed. In the village of Asokore we came upon a group of the older generation who could remember Seketi dances (pronounced by them Sekete), and one informant proceeded to sing a refrain to one of them which is the same as the Bush-Negro song No. 82. But whereas the Bush-Negro sings,

Mamba semba go na Semene
Mamba people go to Semene,

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the Ashanti sing,

Amamasem be go no asem ne

Distinguishing themselves they will ease matters today.

It can be seen from this illustration that other translations given may upon analysis show similar tendencies to inject into traditional words meanings based on current speech, for it must be borne in mind that for the Bush-Negro it was a new experience to be objective about the songs he sang. Songs contained words which came from the ancestors, or were improvisations on an event that was remembered as lore, or not remembered at all; or else symbolised, in the idiom of song, some event of more recent origin. Until such time, therefore, as we have definite internal and external evidence, derived from an analysis of the component elements of the language, to corroborate these translations, or definitely to controvert them, a sound methodology requires that the songs be treated in their present form, with all the elements that require study indicated.

In a separate discussion treating of the culture of the Bush-Negroes, a full analysis of the Twi translations will be undertaken. In this section they will be indicated in footnoote form for the respective songs.

The Town Negro music presented no similar problem. In most instances the singers dictated the words of the songs and gave us the proper classifications. Nevertheless, the same process of checking and rechecking songs by playing them to others was carried on as in the Bush. Where the singers were vague about the meanings of phrases, or knew no translation, we have so indicated. It must be remarked that at times the Town Negroes were also baffled by the request to explain the meaning of a song, never having had to assume an analytical attitude towards the words they sang. It was evident that this led to some improvisation of meaning. All instances which showed hesitancy on the part of the informants are noted.

Because of the fact that the style of singing differs with the individual singers, another table is given showing the singer of each song, so that a future student interested in this aspect of the music may have the information available.¹ Names do not occur, for we have substituted numbers, the reason for this substitution lying in the wish of the singers to remain anonymous.

1 Appendix III.