VARIOUS ARTISTS
Martinique: Cane Fields and City Streets
Rounder
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Tombstone Feast: Funerary Music of Carriacou
Rounder
· Rounder Records releases two more titles in the Caribbean Voyage series of recordings by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax.
Alan Lomax's reputation as a folklorist and ethnomusicologist was already well established when he went to the Caribbean in the spring of 1962 to record indigenous musical forms and ceremonies. Underlying this journey was Lomax's hope and belief that recording local music and rituals would help promote the idea of pan-Caribbean unity amongst a diverse group of island states, about to be released from colonial domination, by showcasing the similarities that existed between them all as descendants of African people.
The Martinique recording is the best of the two, if only because it is more accessible and listener-friendly than the Tombstone Feast CD. French Creole influences point at times to an obvious link between the music of Martinique and that of Louisiana Cajun bands. In other recorded examples the music most closely approaches early predecessors of reggae and zouk. Tombstone Feast is an important collection of spiritual songs from the island of Carriacou that focus on burial rites – the appeasement of ancestral spirits and the role of those spirits in providing guidance to the living.
Liner notes for both CDs are extensive, technical and indispensable. They provide excellent descriptions of such things as the composition of the Big Drum ensemble – a cut, or solo, drum and two boulas – and the musical structure of the various songs. Some of the associated rituals are also described in detail. These recordings will challenge your listening skills, but the time and effort will ultimately be worth it.
MARTINIQUE: 4/5
TOMBSTONE FEAST: 4/5
BRUCE POLLOCK
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