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Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, And More Artist Performing At The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (documented in the award winning film "Summer of Soul")



SeacrhlightPictures,  Jun 16, 2021

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten–until now. SUMMER OF SOUL shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present. The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension and more. “Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised),” is the first official project under the recently announced Onyx Collective brand. The winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival will be released theatrically by Searchlight Pictures and will begin streaming on Hulu in the U.S. on July 2, 2021. The film will also stream internationally through the Star offering on Disney+ on a date to be confirmed.

**** Edited by Azizi Powell This pancocojams post presents some information about the award winning 2021 documentary "Summer Of Soul" (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Several YouTube videos of that documentary are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all of those who performed during the six week Harlem Cultural Festival that is documented in the "Summer Of Soul" film.  Thanks also to Questlove and all those who are associated with this 2021 documentary about those concerts. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
**** INFORMATION ABOUT "THE SUMMER OF SOUL..." CONCERTS Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1 From "Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a 2021 American documentary film directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.[3]

The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021 where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. It received a limited theatrical release in the United States on June 25, 2021 before being released theatrically by Searchlight Pictures and via streaming on Hulu.

It received acclaim from critics with praise aimed at the footage restoration. It has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the 6th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards with a total of a leading and sweeping six awards at that ceremony. It also won Best Documentary at the 75th British Academy Film Awards, Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards, and was also nominated for the Best Music Film at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

Synopsis

The documentary examines the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which was held at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in Harlem and lasted for six weeks. Despite having a large attendance and performers such as Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Blinky Williams, Sly and the Family Stone and The Chambers Brothers, the festival was seen as obscure in pop culture, something that the documentarians investigate."...

****
Excerpt #2
From https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/29/2088529/-Black-Kos-Tuesday-s-Chile-Congrats-on-Oscar-win-for-Summer-of-Soul by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez, March 29, 2022
"Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein won a well deserved Oscar for Best Documentary feature this year. From my perspective, Harlem won as well.

The Harlem of the Renaissance, the Harlem of the Apollo Theatre, the Harlem of Malcolm’s mosque and the Abyssinian Baptist Church —  a Harlem that was home to the Negro Ensemble Company, the Black Arts Movement, the Schomburg Library, Striver’s Row, the Harlem River Houses and Carver Projects. Marcus Garvey Park was Mount Morris Park in 1969 when the Harlem Cultural Festival took place on Sundays at 3 PM, from June 29 to August 24, 1969.

An event that would have been lost to history, except in the memories of the many thousands who attended, had not Hal Tulchin’s film of the event that had never acquired a producer been given daylight and a successful premiere at Sundance, which I wrote about for #BlackMusicSunday in 'Summer of Soul' is a musical celebration of Black joy.  I pointed out that the film “represents a sweeping range of Black music genres, including gospel, R&B, jazz, salsa, blues, and African drumming, as well as pop and rock. More importantly, it is not simply a series of performances; The  film is about music that is inextricably linked to the lived political, cultural, and historical experience of Black people, not only from Harlem, but in the Black diaspora.”

Important also is that the film unites a diverse Harlem — East and West, Black American and Puerto Rican. The absurd artificial and false dividing line of 5th Avenue — with one side as “Black Harlem” and the other as “Spanish Harlem,” dissolves when you watch the film.”…

****
ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF "SUMMER OF SOUL...."

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

SHOWCASE VIDEO #2:  SUMMER OF SOUL | Soul Searching | Featurette



SearchlightPictures, June 17, 2021 In Theaters and on Hulu July 2 In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten–until now. SUMMER OF SOUL shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present. The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Ray Baretto, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach and more. Summer of Soul premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. It will stream on Hulu in conjunction with Disney’s new BIPOC Creator Initiative; Searchlight Pictures will release it theatrically. **** SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: SUMMER OF SOUL | Mongo Santamaría & Style in Harlem Clip



SearchlightPictures, July 1, 2021
Now on Hulu

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten–until now. SUMMER OF SOUL shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present. The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Ray Baretto, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach and more. Summer of Soul premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. It will stream on Hulu in conjunction with Disney’s new BIPOC Creator Initiative; Searchlight Pictures will release it theatrically.

*****

SHOWCASE VIDEO #4: Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ tells long-forgotten story of Harlem Cultural Festival | Nightline



ABC News, July 13, 2021
Some of the world’s greatest Black musicians performed at the concert series, which occurred at the same time as Woodstock in the wake of MLK’s death. The documentary is now streaming on Hulu. **** SHOWCASE VIDEO #5: Still Black, Still Proud: Unpacking the Untold Story of Harlem's 'Summer of Soul'

The Root, June 30, 2021

"There is going to be an unearthing of Black stories like never before." —Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

****
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Information About And Five YouTube Videos Of Local String Bands In Vanuatu, Melanesia (2005-2020)



Scott Wilson, Feb. 27, 2012

Some Video footage of the Le Lagon Wedding String Band in Vanuatu **** Edited by Azizi Powell This pancocojams post presents some information about string bands in the Melanesia nation of Vanuatu. Five videos of string bands from Vanuatu are also included in this post. This is a very small sample of the number of Vanuatu string bands on YouTube. Update: April 2, 2022- Bonus video. The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all the musicians and singers who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to all those who quoted in this post. -snip-
This is part of an ongoing post about Vanuatu. Click the links found below for previous and subsequent posts on this subject.
**** INFORMATION ABOUT VANUATU STRING BANDS These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

EXCERPT #1 From https://nathannothinsez.blogspot.com/2013/09/vanuatu.html Vanuatu, 06 September 2013 "Vanuatu is a group of islands in the South Pacific that became an independent republic in 1980. Through most of the 20th Century, the islands were jointly controlled by France & England. One of the most popular types of music on Vanuatu is the String Bands. Many of the String Bands come from the island of Espiritu Santo, a large mountainous island in the north of Vanuatu, but every island & every village has their local bands.

The String Band sound is based on Polynesian music. It came to Vanuatu towards the end of World War II. The musicians play string instruments (guitars, ukuleles, one-string bass) & percussion (drums or tambourine). The songs are sung by a single person or by the whole band in chorus.

In the 1960s, the songs mainly criticized the occupation by the colonial powers, in the 1970s they followed the uprising against these powers, & in 1980 they celebrated independence. Today, the compositions of the String Bands may recall a national, local or personal event. A song may deal with the development of tourism or with economic problems in rural areas; it may denounce the ubiquitous influence of Australia or the compliance of local politics; it may have been written for a wedding or in the wake of some natural disaster. But these songs also preserve the memory of an extraordinarily pretty girl, a successful hunting party, or the end of a relationship.

These songs have a “historical storage function,” allowing an event to be kept alive & passed on from generation to generation. Everyone knows these songs. They are sung in Bislama (the everyday language of Vanuatu), English, French or one of the regional languages. The songs are one of the archipelago’s cultural treasures, often passed on from village to village,& from island to island.”… **** EXCERPT #2 From https://books.google.com › books

The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culturehttps://books.google.com › books

Janet Sturman · 2019 · ‎Music
"In the 1970s, a local musical style called string band grew up. It is a blend of local, Western, and Polynesian musical styles."....

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EXCERPT #3
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This excerpt includes several entries from the jujumas.blogspot.com.]

1) From http://jujumamas.blogspot.com/2012/11/vanuatu-string-band-music.html "I have visited Vanuatu several times now and every time I go I make sure to pick up a few CDs of Vanuatu String Band music. Dokowia, Tokosowia, Lautano II, Jipijiroa and Dausake are just to name a few. These bands are always produced by Bistaveos Productions I had noticed and so are their video clips which I love to view on YouTube. One day during our stay in Port Vila we decided to seek out Bistaveos Productions to meet the people who make the music we love so much.

Posted 1st November 2012 by Ona Filloy

** 2) From http://jujumamas.blogspot.com/2012/11/joe-bong.html "It wasn't long before Joe Bong turned up and what a great guy he turned out to be. Joe does so much for the arts in Vanuatu. In fact he is the Head of the Music Federation and the Arts Association of Vanuatu which he himself formed. He is the owner of Bistaveos Productions which produce all the music and videos from Vanuatu. But alas when we met Joe some rivals who wanted to start their own music studio had helped themselves to most of his gear! He could still manage a smile and a laugh with us."

Posted 11th November 2012 by Ona Filloy

** 3) From http://jujumamas.blogspot.com/2012/11/string-band.html "Joe's real name is Joe Tjiobang but everyone calls him Joe Bong. Joe invited us up to his recording studio which was is situated directly behind the Port Vila Police Station. His recording studio had been emptied out as well.....right under the nose of the coppers. Joe is obviously very resourceful though and had managed to find some gear and a sound engineer was busy recording a string band when we arrived!

Posted 12th November 2012 by Ona Filloy ** BONUS VIDEO ( Added April 2, 2022)
Vanuatu, villagers dancing with string band in Lambot village, Gauia Island, Banks Islands


SDA Music Ministries, Jun 6, 2009

Have a fun with Lambot villlage people

****

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Excerpt Of a 2017 Journal Article About Music In Port Vila, The Capitol City Of Vanuatu (Melanesia)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt of the 2017 journal article by Monika Stern entitled "Is Music a “Safe Place”? The Creative and Reactive Construction of Urban Youth through Reggae Music (Port Vila, Vanuatu)." This excerpt is given without most of the footnotes numbers and their text.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Monika Stern and all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
This is part of an ongoing post about Vanuatu. Click the links found below for previous and subsequent posts on this subject.

****

JOURNAL EXCERPT
From https://journals.openedition.org/jso/7852

Journal de la Société des Océanistes

[…]

144-145 | 2017 : Urbanisation en Mélanésie

[…]

Is Music a “Safe Place”? The Creative and Reactive Construction of Urban Youth through Reggae Music (Port Vila, Vanuatu)

[…]

Monika Stern

p. 117-130

" […]

Music as a “way out”?

Today in Port Vila, music plays a crucial role for many young men. It is one of the most readily available tools for them to cope with the lived experience of marginalization and keep themselves “safe” (to use their expression).

[…]

The life of young people in the settlements and their marginalization

The population of the Melanesian archipelago of Vanuatu is currently very young. According to the last national census of 2009, 66% of the population was under 30 (National Census, 2009). However, as Buchlotz has pointed out, youth is not a clear, nor a universal category. It depends not on age criteria but on context:

“In a given culture, pre-adolescent individuals may count as youth, while those in their 30s or 40s may also be included in this category. And youth as a cultural stage often marks the beginning of a long-term, even lifelong, engagement in particular cultural practices, whether its practitioners continue to be included in the youth category or not.” (Bucholtz, 2002: 526)

Thus, today in Port Vila, “youth” cannot be defined by age or family situation (marriage, children). My observations show that if a person spends time with groups of peers who consider themselves “young people” and participates in their activities and networks, he or she is regarded as such. Thus, though musicians are often described as “young”, in fact, they may be of very different ages. As one of my friends (at the time he was around 30) told me, music is the activity of his youth, when he is older, he will have to find a different occupation because “music is for youth”. More than ten years later, in his 40s, he is still a famous musician and seems to have no desire to stop (though he is also a celebrated author, visual artist and curator). Although music is seen mainly as an activity for youth, for some people it is their main activity (even though it is not lucrative) throughout their life.

 13 Although some needs like school fees are starting to make the cash economy increasingly important.

14 In 2009, according to the National Census, the capital of Port Vila had a population of 44,039, (...)

Unlike in rural areas where life is structured around a subsistence economy,13 the rapidly growing development of the capital Port Vila14 has given rise to such social changes as unemployment, increases in school fees and the cost of living, insalubrious and overcrowded housing, etc. These common consequences of urban development have in recent decades led to the appearance of a certain precariousness characterized by forms of poverty and social fragility in part of the urban population (Mitchell, 2004; Kraemer, 2013).

However, unlike in more “developed” countries (according to capitalist economic norms), poverty in Vanuatu is a highly nuanced concept. Indeed, whether it be the politician Ralph Regenvanu, the writer Paul Tavo or young musicians, many ni-Vanuatu refute the label of “poor country” established by foreign criteria. They base this on an assumption of abundance, asserting that in their country there are no homeless people thanks to family support structures, no famine and constitutionally inalienable access to ancestral lands that anyone can use should their urban situation become too precarious. Kraemer (2013: 81-86) however calls into question this notion of universal rights to family land in the everyday life of second or third generations residing in town, particularly in the case of the young who express their marginalization not only with regard to the urban elites but also concerning this access to their ancestral lands.

18The young people concerned in this paper are mostly males (because the urban music scene in Port Vila is predominantly masculine) and most of them are from second and sometimes even third generations of migrants from the rural areas of Vanuatu islands. Many of them have no fixed income, although they have access to other kinds of activities paid for in various forms (cash, services, meals, cigarettes, kava, alcohol, cannabis, etc.). Most of them live off the incomes of their extended families with whom they live, often without such basic services as water, electricity, sanitation, and paved roads. However there are a very small number of musicians who are from emerging middle-class families and/or have a steady paid job.

While the difficult living conditions of these young people have already been noted (Mitchell, 2004; Lindstrom, 2011; Kraemer, 2013; Wittersheim and Dussy, 2013), in recent years an important new factor has appeared: a particular kind of hunger influenced by contemporary perspectives of masculinity. This hunger is closely connected to urbanization, its monetary system, social organization and marginalization of youth - particularly young boys because of the public nature of their everyday lives. Urban girls and children are not affected by this phenomenon to the same extent, as their lives are structured more domestically, in and around the home and the preparation of food. For young urban boys, finding food is difficult.

[…]

More and more, increasingly younger boys are taking daily refuge in the streets, among their peers and in the “ghetto”, often returning home very late at night. Thus, young boys in different areas of the town are building special places for themselves where they can gather together, storian (talk), eat and find refuge if they encounter problems. They call these makeshift shelters (an abandoned house, a shed built from local natural materials or sheets of corrugated iron), “ghettos”, a name probably taken from reggae songs even if its meaning is totally different from that of the Jamaican ghettos called shanty towns or those of big American cities like New York:

“ahhh, ghetto is, today in Vanuatu…for me, ghetto is a little house or a place where boys, boys and girls get together, everyday to smoke or chat (stori). To enjoy their day in the ghetto.” (Interview with Tio Masing, Koncerners Band, 1 November 2012)

Young boys have thus created their own spaces. Though Tio speaks about ghettos as mixed spaces, for boys and girls, in reality, they are mostly used by young boys. According to testimonies gathered, many districts have their own ghettos visited by the local young. Though some of them have names like Ohlen Hole, 95 Colombia, Dark Kona (“Dark Corner”), Waet Kona (“White Corner”), 74 Dark Street, Cornwall Street, or Grass House, most of them are just called the “ghetto”. Although they are not frequented only by “artists”, these are privileged places to meet, talk, and exchange. They are sites of mutual inspiration and influences, places in which to create something together. It is also here that they often articulate their experience of marginalization.

[…]

Creating musicians’ networks

[…]

The young people of Port Vila, particularly those born in the city, are becoming increasingly detached from their parents’ island of origin, customary life and sometimes even family networks (Kraemer, 2013). Young boys are building their own exchange networks around cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, but also for some of them church activities, internet or associative activities and musical practices.

Today in Port Vila there are many different kinds of music: Christian choirs, string bands with falsetto male voices accompanied by string instruments, “traditional” dance and music,20 and pop music dominated by the reggae style. Each of these genres creates its own networks, as evidenced, for example, by the organization of Fest’Napuan in which separate days managed by different people from the festival committee are devoted to string band, pop and religious music respectively. Even if there may sometimes be bridges formed between different musical styles, music practices, like other leisure activities (Wittersheim, 2014: 140), have the power to generate a sense of belonging and differentiation.

I suggest that music is one of the ways through which young people in Vanuatu imagine their own new networks and communities. How important is this “reggae community” myth in Port Vila? If young people believe that reggae culture connects them to Jamaica and African reggae communities, does this help them to construct a local reggae community across or beyond those more familiar Melanesian social norms such as family and island of origin?21

22 People in Vanuatu are used to speaking about people from outside cities as « islanders » as opposed (...)

When islanders22 first started migrating to Port Vila they chose to settle according to their island of origin. As the city expanded and after years of migrations, intermarriages took place and some settlements became increasingly mixed with people originating from different islands (Lindstrom, 2011: 257; Kraemer, 2013).

Today urban identifications appear to have altered. While Wittersheim (2006: 68) described a transfer of identification from island of origin to province23 of origin, it would seem now that island or province of origin is not always a crucial factor. It can be replaced or enriched with that of the city area of residence (Kraemer, 2013) or, as we will see, regardless of origin or living place, by leisure or artistic practices. As Lind (2012: 23) states when analysing the case of the Veanu string band, this urban social mix is reflected by music in which can be read not only kinship relations, but also social relationships based on a sharing of the same musical taste. Thus, for instance, the most famous reggae band of the early 2000s, Naio, brought together young boys from the same island in the south of the archipelago, Tanna. By contrast, many members of today's reggae groups come from different islands of origin and, though they may sometimes be from the same city areas, this is not always the case.

In addition, Vanuatu is a Christian country and for a long time the church has also been a factor in community building. It is in the new churches that some people find answers, fill gaps or appease their dissatisfaction with how the country is governed by politicians (Eriksen, 2009: 78, 79). However, some young boys are very critical of the church... Some of these young people are therefore looking for new opportunities to develop networks outside their family and church membership, and music offers them this possibility.

For music enables the creation of new networks. A band is often experienced as a second family, with new networks of close or more distant friends: sound engineers, members of other bands and music associations. In my own experience of playing in the local band, we all became a family and were connected not only by the pleasure of playing music together, by obligations linked to our music activities (rehearsals, performances, organisation, etc.) but also by our presence and support in each other’s important life events outside music: the birth of a baby, marriage and death ceremonies, illness, etc. While our band formed something like a close family, our own networks, friends and families, along with other musicians or local music activists became an extended family for all of us. Thus, family, island or even city district of origin and relations with neighbours can be replaced or enriched by social networks and friendships created through music activities.

In Port Vila, music is what connects musicians and the different actors of the music world and enables the exchange of various services. Musicians exchange performances and musical entertainment at fund-raising events, borrow each other’s sound equipment and musical instruments, circulate digital recordings or share the stage at public shows. Musicians and music lovers form an active and reactive community with influence on the city. I have developed elsewhere the idea that, via digital technologies, music in Port Vila circulates through its own networks outside the official music industry market (Stern, 2014). Because most young people have no leisure budget, they acquire their music (in the form of MP3 or MP4 files, mostly on their mobile phones) for free, through their networks, unaware of any copyright system.

Technologies such as mobile phones or Internet facilitate the creation and communication of these new networks. Mobile phones enable easy communication for gatherings (for example, rehearsals or meetings). The Internet is itself a space for exchanges and the creation of networks via different discussion groups or forums, which can then be extended even beyond the country. Thereby the “myth” of a musical community is continuously reactualized and is omnipresent in the construction and transformation of new forms of sociability in Port Vila. Other kinds of events allow the creation of more structured networks: music festivals, associations and youth centres.

Institutionalizations: music festivals, studios, associations

[…]

In the 90s, two major events were created: la Fête de la Musique introduced in Vanuatu by the Alliance Française and Fest’Napuan, an annual national music festival (which also made a public access rehearsal studio available). The same period saw the emergence of ngos like Wan Smolbag Theatre (http://visit.wansmolbag.org/​) and Further Arts (http://www.furtherarts.org/​) that were closely involved in the development of musical practices. These associations provided musical instruments, classes and rehearsal studios, thus making music more accessible to young people. The number of local bands increased significantly during the 2000s, as did the development of digital technologies, recordings and home studios.

The Fest’Napuan festival, which is generally a great success and has a very good public image, nevertheless at times provokes accusations of causing problems and violence. The association’s work is then to neutralize those aspects considered negative and to nurture those seen as positive. Fest’Napuan thus has its own rules. For example, the association has forbidden the sale of alcohol on the festival site and provides its own security service.25 This desire of associations to neutralize the “bad” sides of youth through art is also reflected in the development of a discourse about musicians, or more generally artists, having a duty to set a good example.

For musicians, playing in big festivals like Fest’Napuan or the Fête de la Musique, releasing an album or having the opportunity to go on an international tour affords them a certain power of expression and also enhances their image in the eyes of their community. Appearing in public gives musicians a sense of responsibility. A lot of musicians told me that they have to set an example because they appear in public and then everyone watches them in their everyday life. The creation of associations which support musical activities provides informal musicians’ networks with a space and the possibility to be more organized and structured and offers musicians the opportunity for their voices to be heard more widely.

Music as the political voice of youth

26 Even if today we hear a few committed songs in string band music too, they remain a minority.

According to several Port Vila reggae musicians, they see themselves as strongly committed to creating the country's future, unlike string band musicians whom they consider less committed because of their songs’ lyrics which are mostly about love and women.26 For many of these musicians, music is the only form of expression for conveying messages.

“Music is a part of life […] it’s a kind of civil resistance, you play music to get a message over. […] When you preach by talking, it’s difficult to get people to listen to you, so it’s better to use music. And civil resistance comes mainly from young people who find it difficult to get into the official system. Our economic system excludes many young people because they don’t have sufficient school education, so when they need to assert themselves the only way to be heard by those inside the system is through music. So the young from outside the system, if they know how to play music, can make themselves heard by those inside the system.” (Interview with Lopez Adams, Ants in Tokyo band, 6 November 2012)”…

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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

What "Jawn" REALLY Means (video, definition, article excerpts, & sentences with this word)



TOON215, Jan 10, 2020

In this episode of Slang 101 we go over what the word "JAWN" means. Voice over by TOON DOLLAZ Basic Animation by TOON DOLLAZ
****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video about the African American Vernacular English word "Jawn" and includes several comments about this word from this video's discussion thread. 

This post also presents excerpts of two online articles about the word "jawn" as well as a few examples of sentences that include that word.

The content of this post is presented for etymological and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown person/s who coined the word "jawn" and thanks to African Americans from Philly (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) for sharing that word with the rest of the world. Thanks to TOON DOLLAZ for his YouTube video that is embedded in this post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THE VIDEO THAT IS EMBEDDED IN THIS POST
These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.
1. King Vegeta215, 2019 
"Good Jawn Bro! Keep it up! You putting Philly on the map "

**
2. suedefringe, 2019
"I pronounce it like dawn/Dawn ...but with a J .......  J/awn"

**
Reply
3. TOON215, 2019
"Thanks for commenting. Yup thats right, sounds the same :) like DAWN, JAWN, PAWN, LAWN, SPAWN. As long as you got that (AWN) part right your good 🙏🙏🙏😊"

**
4. CptKnots, 2019
"In Ohio they say mug and in virgina beach they say jank"
-snip-
This commenter means that "mug" and "jank" are slang terms that has the same meaning in those places as the word "jawn". 

**
Reply
5. TOON215, 2019
"Dam that’s soo dope. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge 😊💯🤜🏽"

**
6. Rob Monroe, 2020
"Ay yo, that jawn was on point!"

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SOMEADDITIONAL ONLINE QUOTES ABOUT THE WORD "JAWN" & EXAMPLES OF SENTENCES WITH THE WORD "JAWN"
These quotes and/or sentence examples are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

QUOTE #1
From https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jawn
"Jawn

Philly slang for a person, place, or thing (Jawn).

I cant find that jawn anywhere.

Did you see that movie? That jawn was horrible.

Yeah, I got the same jawn from Macy's.

That new Jawn that moved in down the block is HOT!

Gimme that jawn!

by Pab(Philly native) February 13, 2012

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QUOTE #2
From  https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jawn
"Origin: Philadelphia

A word used in substitution for a place, thing, or person. But it's never, under any circumstance, used by a dude to describe another dude.

I was just at that jawn the other day!

Why you ain't got my jawn but i let you hold it?

Yo, that jawn tight!

You got your jawn on you?

by mrallen422 August 18, 2021

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QUOTE #3
From 
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-enduring-mystery-of-jawn-philadelphias-allpurpose-noun The Enduring Mystery of ‘Jawn,’ Philadelphia’s All-Purpose Noun

According to experts, it’s unlike any word, in any language.

BY DAN NOSOWITZ, MARCH 24, 2016
"Taylor Jones, a PH.D. Student at the University of Pennsylvania, was unfamiliar with the bizarre stew of linguistic quirks in Philadelphia when he first started school there. An army brat, it seems like Jones grew up everywhere but eastern Pennsylvania. But one of his first interactions with legendary Penn linguist Bill Labov started him on the road to understanding his new city.

[...]

The word “jawn” is unlike any other English word. In fact, according to the experts that I spoke to, it’s unlike any other word in any other language. It is an all-purpose noun, a stand-in for inanimate objects, abstract concepts, events, places, individual people, and groups of people. It is a completely acceptable statement in Philadelphia to ask someone to “remember to bring that jawn to the jawn.”

It is a word without boundaries or limits. Growing up in the suburbs just west of the city, I heard it used mostly to refer to objects and events. In the 2015 movie Creed, a character asks a sandwich maker to “put some onions on that jawn.” But it can get much more complex. It can refer to abstract nouns such as theories; a colleague of Jones routinely refers to “Marxist jawn.” It can also refer to people or groups of people. “Side-jawn,” meaning a someone with whom the speaker cheats on his or her significant other, “is a uniquely Philly thing as far as I can tell,” says Jones. “And not something you want to be.”

Jawn” can be singular: “pass me that jawn.” It can be plural, and in a couple of different ways. “Jawns” is fine, but you can also modify “jawn” elsewhere. “You can say ‘jawns,’ but more often it’s going to be, like, ‘Where’d you get them jawn,’” says Jones. It can be negative or positive or neutral depending on context.

It is a magical word, and did not come about in a vacuum. The rise of “jawn” dovetails with breakthroughs in the study of American linguistics itself. What we know about our ever-evolving speech patterns can, in part, be seen through this one weird word.

SO LET’S START AT THE beginning: Where does “jawn” come from?

“The consensus is that it came from ‘joint,’ and from New York,” says Jones. Ben Zimmer, a linguist and language columnist who’s written and talked about “jawn” before, agrees, writing in an email that “‘jawn’ evidently developed as a Philly variant of ‘joint’ in the ’80s,” following the release of the popular 1981 single “That’s the Joint” by Funky Four Plus One, an early hip-hop group from the Bronx.

This infuriates Philadelphians, who generally are very proud of their city and culture and most certainly do not want to think that one of their city’s most distinctive words might have a New York origin. Jones told me that he once expressed the New York consensus theory on the local Philadelphia CBS affiliate and “people were furious, writing angry tweets.” Sorry Philadelphians, but the linguists are pretty sure “jawn” comes from New York. Luckily, it’s far outstripped its roots since its move south."...
-snip-
As to that author's position that there are no other English words like "jawn", notice that  comment #4 which is given above from the discussion thread for the embedded video about "Jawn" indicates that in certain areas of the United States some people use the word "mug" or the word "jank" the same way that some people in Philadelphia use the word "jawn".
-snip-
Update March 31, 2022: 
Here's a comment that I just happened upon which includes a slang meaning for the word "joint" which has the sane meaning as the word "jawn":

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e1WxqNBm7U&ab_channel=PetitePrincess92
Let's Start The Dance bt PetitePrincess92, Jul 27, 2008

spatton55, 2013
"Two of the best dancers doing this joint, too! Ladies, you are rockin it!"

****
QUOTE #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-siC9cugqA&ab_channel=IGN Summer of Soul - Official Trailer (2021) Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder

[Part of the introduction to the trailer for the 2021 documentary Summer Of Soul] "A Questlove Jawn" 
-snip-
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Soul
"Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a 2021 American documentary film directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.[3]

The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021 where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. It received a limited theatrical release in the United States on June 25, 2021 before being released theatrically by Searchlight Pictures and via streaming on Hulu.

It received acclaim from critics with praise aimed at the footage restoration. It has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the 6th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards with a total of a leading and sweeping six awards at that ceremony. It also won Best Documentary at the 75th British Academy Film Awards, Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards, and was also nominated for the Best Music Film at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
-snip-
Questlove was born and raised in Philadelphia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questlove

****
QUOTE #5
From https://www.pennlive.com/life/2016/07/talk_in_philly_accent.html What's a jawn? Here's how to talk like you're from Philadelphia

Updated: May. 22, 2019, 4:07 p.m. | Published: Jul. 25, 2016, 5:53 p.m.

By Sean Adams
"Just in time for the Democratic National Convention, here's a list of Philly slang and turns of phrase that might come in handy if you visit the City of Brotherly Love.

From Fishtown to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, here's some Philly vocabulary that will come in handy next time you're in town!

[…]

'Jawn'

Meaning: an all-purpose pronoun, i.e. a nearby thing

"Yo, pass me that jawn."

****
QUOTE #6
Comment from the discussion thread for a sound file of  the R&B song “Follow Me” by Aly us

Justin De Senso, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_fdOPvmBrI&ab_channel=oODJFriendlyOo
"My jawn right here. Run miles to this jam."

****
QUOTE #7
From  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zEcsIfe6lU&t=23s&ab_channel=Geneas
Pineapples’ Spritz,  2020
"I played swing swing so different 😂 I played the daddy outside shooting dice jawn 😂😂 I’m sitting here like what the hell y’all talm bout 😂"
-snip-
This comment refers to the African American hand clap rhyme “Rockin Robin” (Tweeleelee) that includes a line about “daddy outside shooting dice”.
-snip-
"what the hell y'all talm bout" is an African American Vernacular English way of saying "what the hell are you talking about". This suggests that the commenter didn't like the version of this hand clap rhyme that the two young African American women shared in that vlog. Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_You_Talmbout for information about the 2015 song "Hell You Talmbout" by Janelle Monáe.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.


Introduction to Melanesia And The Melanesian Nation Of Vanuatu (information & five videos)



Rove & Beyond,Jan 14, 2020

Our latest travel film "DEAR NEIGHBOUR" takes you on a personal journey through Vanuatu's most remote Islands & tribes in a trip organised by Vanuatu Tourism. Vanuatu had everything we could wish for: beautiful & welcoming locals, stunning & diverse landscapes, amazing adventures and an abundance of emotions. This made for some unique experiences and unforgettable moments, that will forever be cherished and remembered as memories. -snip- Here's one comment from this video's discussion thread:

E L A I Tamani, 2021
"Dear Neighbor,

You've experienced my Vanuatu and loved it for who She is ,and for that we are no longer neighbors ,but Brother and Sister. 💖"

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information Melanesia and the Melanesian nation of Vanuatu and showcases several videos of 
ni-Vanuatu (the people of  Vanuatu).

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
This is part of an ongoing post about Vanuatu. Click the links found below for previous and subsequent posts on this subject.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT MELANESIA
From 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesia
"Melanesia … is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to Tonga in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea and a few thousand islands.

The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. It also includes the French colonial collectivity of New Caledonia and parts of Indonesia – notably the provinces of Papua and West Papua. Almost all of the region is in the Southern Hemisphere; only a few small islands that aren't politically considered part of Oceania—specifically the northwestern islands of Western New Guinea—lie in the Northern Hemisphere.

The name Melanesia (in French, Mélanésie) was first used in 1832 by French navigator Jules Dumont d'Urville: he coined the terms Melanesia and Micronesia along the preexisting Polynesia to designate what he viewed as the three main ethnic and geographical regions forming the Pacific.

Etymology and name ambiguity

The name Melanesia, from Greek μέλας, black, and νῆσος, island, etymologically means "islands of black [people]", in reference to the dark skin of the inhabitants.

The concept among Europeans of Melanesia as a distinct region evolved gradually over time as their expeditions mapped and explored the Pacific. Early European explorers noted the physical differences among groups of Pacific Islanders. In 1756, Charles de Brosses theorized that there was an "old black race" in the Pacific who had been conquered or defeated by the peoples of what is now called Polynesia, whom he distinguished as having lighter skin.[1]: 189–190  In the first half of the nineteenth century, Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent and Jules Dumont d'Urville characterized Melanesians as a distinct racial group.[2][3] : 165 

Over time, however, Europeans increasingly viewed Melanesians as a distinct cultural, rather than racial, grouping. Scholars and other commentators disagreed on the boundaries of Melanesia, descriptions of which were therefore somewhat fluid. In the nineteenth century, Robert Henry Codrington, a British missionary, produced a series of monographs on "the Melanesians," based on his long-time residence in the region. In his published works on Melanesia, including The Melanesian Languages (1885) and The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folk-lore (1891), Codrington defined Melanesia as including Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and Fiji. He reasoned that the islands of New Guinea should not be included because only some of its people were Melanesians. Also, like Bory de Saint-Vincent, he excluded Australia from Melanesia.[4]: 528  It was in these works that Codrington introduced the Melanesian cultural concept of mana to the West.

Uncertainty about the best way to delineate and define the region continues to this day. The scholarly consensus now includes New Guinea within Melanesia. Ann Chowning wrote in her 1977 textbook on Melanesia that there is no general agreement even among anthropologists about the geographical boundaries of Melanesia. Many apply the term only to the smaller islands, excluding New Guinea; Fiji has frequently been treated as an anomalous border region or even assigned wholly to Polynesia; and the people of the Torres Straits Islands are often simply classified as Australian aborigines.[5]: 1 

In 1998, Paul Sillitoe wrote: "It is not easy to define precisely, on geographical, cultural, biological, or any other grounds, where Melanesia ends and the neighbouring regions ... begins".[6]: 1  He ultimately concludes that the region is a historical category which evolved in the nineteenth century from the discoveries made in the Pacific and has been legitimated by use and further research in the region. It covers populations that have a certain linguistic, biological and cultural affinity – a certain ill-defined sameness, which shades off at its margins into difference.[6]: 1 

Both Sillitoe and Chowning include the island of New Guinea in the definition of Melanesia, and both exclude Australia. Most of the peoples of Melanesia live either in politically independent countries, or in areas administered by France, or in a country (West Papua) that currently has an active independence movement. Some have recently embraced the term 'Melanesia' as a source of identity and empowerment. Stephanie Lawson writes that the term has "moved from a term of denigration to one of affirmation, providing a positive basis for contemporary subregional identity as well as a formal organisation".[7]: 14  The author Bernard Narokobi has written that the concept of the "Melanesian Way" as a distinct cultural force could give the people of the region a sense of empowerment. This concept has in fact been used as a force in geopolitics. For instance, when the countries of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji reached a regional preferential trade agreement, they named it the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Geography

A distinction is often made between the island of New Guinea and what is known as Island Melanesia, which consists of "the chain of archipelagos, islands, atolls, and reefs forming the outer bounds of the sheltered oval-shaped coral sea".[14]: 5  This includes the Louisiade Archipelago (a part of Papua New Guinea), the Bismarck Archipelago (a part of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands), and the Santa Cruz Islands (a part of the country called Solomon Islands). The country of Vanuatu is composed of the New Hebrides island chain (and in the past 'New Hebrides' has also been the name of the political unit located on the islands). New Caledonia is composed of one large island and several smaller chains, including the Loyalty Islands. The nation of Fiji is composed of two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and smaller islands, including the Lau Islands.

The names of islands in Melanesia can be confusing: they have both indigenous and European names. National boundaries sometimes cut across archipelagos. The names of the political units in the region have changed over time, and sometimes have included geographical terms. For example, the island of Makira was once known as San Cristobal, the name given to it by Spanish explorers. It is in the country Solomon Islands, which is a nation-state and not a contiguous archipelago. The border of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands separates the island of Bougainville from nearby islands like Choiseul, although Bougainville is geographically part of the chain of islands that includes Choiseul and much of the Solomons.

[…]

Genetic studies

[…]

The frequent occurrence of blond hair among these peoples is due to a specific random mutation, different from the mutation that led to blond hair in peoples indigenous to northern regions of the globe. This is evidence that the genotype and phenotype for blond hair arose at least twice in human history.[16]"...

****
INFORMATION ABOUT VANUATU
From 
https://www.britannica.com/place/Vanuatu
"Vanuatu, country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, consisting of a chain of 13 principal and many smaller islands located about 500 miles (800 km) west of Fiji and 1,100 miles (1,770 km) east of Australia. The islands extend north-south for some 400 miles (650 km) in an irregular Y shape. The Torres Islands are the northernmost group. Southward from the Torres group, the main islands are Vanua Lava and Santa Maria (Gaua) in the Banks Islands group, Espiritu Santo, Aoba (Ambae), Maéwo, Pentecost, Malakula, Ambrym, Épi, Éfaté, Erromango, Tanna, and Anatom. Some 200 miles (320 km) to the southeast of Anatom, two uninhabited islands, Hunter and Matthew, are claimed by both Vanuatu and France (as part of New Caledonia).

[…maps]

Formerly the jointly administered Anglo-French condominium of the New Hebrides, Vanuatu achieved independence in 1980. The name Vanuatu means “Our Land Forever” in many of the locally used Melanesian languages. The capital, largest city, and commercial centre is Port-Vila (Vila), on Éfaté.

[…]

People

The indigenous population, called ni-Vanuatu, is overwhelmingly Melanesian, though some of the outlying islands have Polynesian populations. There are also small minorities of Europeans, Micronesians, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Roughly three-fourths of the population lives in rural areas, but since independence the urban centres of Luganville and Port-Vila have drawn a significant number of people attracted by better opportunities. More than 100 local Melanesian languages and dialects are spoken; Bislama, an English-based Melanesian pidgin, is the national language and, along with English and French, is one of three official languages.”…

****
ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS
With the exception of the first embedded video, the videos in this post are given in chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only. 

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: 
market port vila



atoll21, Feb 27, 2010

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: 
The people of Vanuatu

 

VIPictures, Jan 13, 2017

Meet the welcoming, warm people of Efate, Vanuatu

[...]

Song: Jah Love Is Evermore

Artist: Stan & the Earth Force

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #4: 
Walking Around Port Vila In Vanuatu



aroundtheentireworld, 
, July 2018

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #5: Vanuatu's 40th Independence Celebrations at Pacific Adventist University, 2020



ReelNesian, Jan 14, 2021

Music by: Naio Band of Vanuatu - Long God Yumi Stanap **** Thanks for visiting pancocojams. Visitor comments are welcome.

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Examples Of Shanties That Were First Shared By Black Shantymen: Stormalong (video, information, & some lyric examples)



Seán Dagher, Dec 1, 2020

Alfred Bulltop Stormalong* is a legendary sailor. There are many stories about him (all true) and many songs about him. This version features some of the verses with the best news for sailors (a pay raise, good food, lots of rum, good weather) to raise everyone's spirits. Stormalong – Lyrics 1. Stormalong and around we'll go. Storm, Stormalong! Oh Stormalong and around we'll go. Stormalong, me Johnny! 2. Old Stormy was a captain bold. A grand old man of the days of old. 3. Old Stormy loved a sailor's song. His voice was true and his heart was strong. 4. But now Old Stormy's dead and done. We marked the place where he was gone. 5. I wish I was Old Stormy's son. I'd build a ship of a thousand ton. 6. I'd sail this wide world round and round With gold and silver I'd be found. 7. I'd fill her up with Jamaican rum. I'd give out drinks to everyone. 8. We'd all drink as much as a sailor can. And bloody great bottle for the shantyman. 9. I'd feed you well and I'd raise your pay. I'd fill your cups three times a day. 10. For fifty years we'd sail the seas. We'd have no gales, but a good stiff breeze. -snip- "Alfred Bulltop Stormalong" isn't necessarily the name of the captain in all of the Stormalong shanties.

**** Edited by Azizi Powell This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of one version of the shanty "Stormalong". This post also includes some information about the character "Stormalong" and some text (word only) examples of Stormalong shanties. The content of this post is presented for folkloric and entertainment purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all shantymen and singers of these shanties, Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to Seán Dagher for sharing a version of that shanty on YouTube.  -snip-
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on African Americans and West Indians chanties (shanties). 

Click 
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/03/information-about-sea-shanty-collector.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Information About Sea Shanty Collector Stan Hugill And Information About Harding, A West Indian Man Who Was The Source For A Number Of Shanties".

Also, click the tags given below for previous posts and subsequent posts on this subject.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT STORMALONG AND LYRIC VERSIONS OF STORMALONG

These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Excerpt #1
http://www.contemplator.com/sea/stormalong.html
Information

This shanty  was originally sung around the pumps and later used as a capstan shanty. According to Hugill there is no doubt it is of African-American* origin. It dates to at least the 1830s and 40s.*

Hugill lists several shanties of the "Stormalong family;" Mister StormalongStormy Along, JohnStormalong, Boys, StormyWay Stormalong JohnWalk Me Along, Johnny (Storm and Blow) and Yankee John, Stormalong. Most of these were halyard shanties, but Mister Stormalong and Storm Along, John were also sung at the pumps. In most of the Stormalong songs there was a pattern of praising the dead seaman or praising the son of the dead seaman.

Lyrics
Stormie's gone, the good old man,
To my aye storm a-long!
Oh, Stormie's gone, that good old man;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

They dug his grave with a silver spade,
To my aye storm a-long!
The shroud of finest silk was made;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

They lowered him with a golden chain,
To my aye storm a-long!
Their eyes all dim with more than rain;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

He was a sailor bold and true,
To my aye storm a-long!
A good old skipper to his crew;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

Of captain brave, he was the best,
To my aye storm a-long!
But now he's gone and is at rest;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

He lies low in an earthen bed,
To my aye storm a-long!
Our hearts are sore our eyes are red;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

He's moored at least and furled his sail,
To my aye storm a-long!
No danger now from wreck or gale;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long.

Old Storm has heard the angel call,
To my aye storm a-long!
So sing his dirge, now one and all;
Aye, aye, aye, Mister Storm a-long
-snip-
The referent "African American" here may include Black people living in or from the "West Indies" (the Caribbean). 

****
Excerpt #2
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This discussion thread started 02 Oct 01 - 01:47 PM with a commenter Guest MudWeasel asking “. Who was this fella? I caught one reference to him as a "semi-lengendary" maritime figure.”]

1. From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=39676
Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: Harry Basnett
Date: 02 Oct 01 - 04:31 PM

Hi MudWeasel.accoring to A.L.Lloyd, Stormalong was "the blusterous old skipper who stands his ground alongside Davy Jones and Mother Carey among the mythological personages of the sea. Some took him to be an embodiment of the wind, others believed he was a natural man..." ( Folk Song In England, 1967 ). All the best, Harry.

**
2. Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Oct 01 - 04:49 PM

I've wondered about this, too, MudWeasel. The lyrics in the Digital Tradition are one of several versions found in Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas, which has about ten pages on this series of songs. What makes me wonder, is that the Stormalong mentioned in these songs does not seem to be the tall-tale character "Old Stormalong" I've heard about in children's stories. I think the legend may have been corrupted by Walt Disney and his ilk.

I found a story called "Old Stormalong, the Deep-Water Sailorman" in Botkin's Treasury of American Folklore. The story was taken from Here's Audacity! American Legendary Heroes by good old Frank Shay (1930). The story includes lyrics similar to what we have in the Digital Tradition*, so Shay apparently sees a connection. [Shay is best known for his book called My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions.

Here's what Shay says in his American Sea Songs and Chanteys (1948):

OLD STORMALONG is the only heroic character in the folklore of the sea: he was born, like the great clipper ships, in the imaginations of men. There is a legend, told in prose, of the time he was quartermaster of the Courser, the world's largest clipper. Stormy was taking his vessel from the North Sea through the English Channel, which was just six inches narrower than the Courser's beam. He suggested that if the captain sent all hands over to plaster the ship's side with soap he thought he could ease her through. It was a tight passage but the ship made it, the Dover cliffs scraping all the soap off the starboard side. Ever since, the cliffs at that point have been pure white and recent observers say the waves there are still foamy from the Courser's soap.

-Joe Offer-

 * https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=5561

STORMALONG

Old Stormy he is dead and gone
To me way you Stormalong!

But now he's dead an' gone to rest,
Ay! Ay! ay! Mister Stormalong!

Of all ol' skippers he was best,
But now he's dead an' gone to rest,

He slipped his cable off Cape Horn,
Close by the place where he was born.

Oh, off Cape Horn where he was born,
Our sails wuz torn an' our mainmast gorn.

We'll dig his grave with a silver spade.
His shroud of finest silk was made.

We lowered him down with a golden chain,
Our eyes all dim with more than rain.

He lies low ln his salt-sea bed,
Our hearts are sore, our eyes wuz red.

An able searnan bold an' true,
A good ol' skipper to his crew.

 He's moored at last an' furled his sail,
No danger now from wreck or gale.

Old Stormy heard the Angel call,
So sing his dirge now one an' all.

Oh, now we'll sing his funeral song,
Oh, roll her over, long an' strong.

Old Stormy loved a sailors' song,
His voice was tough an' rough an' strong.

His heart wuz good an' kind an' soft,
But now he's gone 'way up aloft.

For fifty years he sailed the seas,
In winter gale and summer breeze.

But now Ol' Stormy's day is done;
We marked the spot where he is gone.

So we sunk him under with a long, long roll,
Where the sharks'll have his body, an' the divil have his soul.

An' so Ol' Stormy's day wuz done,
South fifty six, west fifty one.

Ol' Stormy wuz a seaman bold,
A Grand Ol' Man o' the days of old.

From Shanties of the Seven Seas, Hugill

**
3. Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 02 Oct 01 - 05:09 PM

In "The Shanty Book" Richard R. Terry writes:

Who Stormy was is undiscoverable, but more than a dozen shanties mourn him.

Joanna Colcord, in "Songs of American Sailormen" notes:

Bullen says of the next shanty, "it embodies all of the adoration that a sailor used to feel for a great seaman, gives it expression, as it were, though i have never been able to learn who the antitype of Stormalong could have been. I suspect that he was just the embodiment of all the prime seamen the sailor had ever known, and in this song he voiced his heart's admiration."

Keep those silver spades polished -- Tom
-snip-
Here's some information about Bullen:
From https://www.qaronline.org/blog/2021/08/20/did-you-know-sea-shanties-were-important-part-sailing
"Frank Bullen (1857-1915), a shantyman and author, compiled a book of shanties titled “Songs of Sea Labor.” According to Bullen, lyrics changed quite readily and were often left up to the imagination of the caller. There would be a starting verse or two and fixed phrases for the chorus. “Many a Shantyman was prized in spite of his poor voice because of his improvisations. Poor doggerel they were mostly and often very lewd and filthy…much opportunity for laughter.”  Many of Frank Bullen’s travels took him to the West Indies and the southern United States where he credits finding new shanties in the harbors."
-snip-
"Tom" is this commenter's first name.

**
4. Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: Madam Gashee
Date: 02 Oct 01 - 05:48 PM

According to Stan Hugill "Perry calls him 'Old Storm an' Blow', a name found more usually in Negro versions"
-snip-
Since the mid 1960s the word "Negro" is no longer used referent for Black people in the United States. 

**
5. Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 02 Oct 01 - 07:36 PM

A bit more on Old Stormalong and his exploits:

According to "A Treasury of American Folklore" (B.A. Botkin, Ed., Crown Publishers, NY, NY, 1944) Old Stormalong was the greatest, boldest and strongest of the deep-water sailors in the age of mast and canvas. He first arrived on ship with his trunk bearing the initials A.B.S. He claimed they stood for Alfred Bulltop Stormalong, but the captain took one look and declared: "A.B.S. Able-Bodied Sailor. By your size and strength they should measure the talents of all other seamen." And so it's been ever since.

A man of prodigious size and strength, he was every inch a legend among his fellow salts. Said one: "He took his whale soup in a Cape Cod dory...his fav'rite meat was shark. He like ostrich eggs for breakfast and then he would lie back on the deck and pick his teeth with an eighteen foot oar."

Stormalong was a big man and he liked to serve on a ship to match. By all accounts, he was the most loyal of sailors...until a bigger ship passed his way. In a trice, he was over the side with his trunk and making steadily for his new berth aboard a better ship.

The last ship her served aboard was the Courser, "her rigging so immense that no living man could taker her in at a single glance. Her masts penetrated the clouds and the top sections were on hinges so they could be bent over to let the sun and moon pass."

Among other exploits, he was credited with making the Cliffs of Dover white, the result of soaping the sides of his ship so that it could just squeak through the English Channel. He also dug the Panama Canal by virtue of piloting his mighty ship across the Isthmus during a mighty hurricane.

Not coincidentally, Old Stormalong met his end as the Age of Sail was slipping beneath the waves, overtaken by the coming of the steamships, a mode of travel he could neither respect nor abide.

(and with that, I'll be a-weigh, hey!)

**
6. Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Oct 01 - 07:46 PM

Nice summary, Mountain Dog. I was going to do that, but didn't get around to it. Still, I don't see the connection between the Stormalong of the stories, and the Stormalong of the chanteys.

**
7.  
Subject: Lyr Add: OLD STORMY
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 04:14 PM

Charles Nordhoff, in "Seeing the World," (issued under other titles at various times in the 19th c.) tells of the "mythical personage 'Old Stormy,'"

The foreman of the gang of English and Irish sailors who worked at screwing cotton in Mobile Bay, the "chanting-man" (later referred to as the chantey man with reference to another chantey) leads, and the work gang provided the chorus:

Lyr. Add: OLD STORMY

Old Stormy, he is dead and gone,
Chorus- Carry him along, boys, carry him along,

Oh! carry him to his long home,
Chorus- Carry him to the burying-ground.

Oh! ye who dig Old Stormy's grave,
Chorus- Carry him along, boys, carry him along,

Dig it deep and bury him safe,
Chorus- Carry him to the burying-ground.

Lower him down with a golden chain,
Chorus- carry him along, boys, carry him along,

Then he'll never rise again,
Chorus- Carry him to the burying-ground.

Grand chorus- Way-oh-way-oh-way- storm along,
Way- you rolling crew, storm along stormy.

Nordhoff says, "The English and Irish sailors, who, leaving their vessels here, remain until they have saved twenty or thirty pounds, then ship for Liverpool, London, or whatever port may be their favorite, there to spend it all away, and return to work out another supply. Screwing cotton is, I think, fairly entitled to be called the most exhausting labour that is done on shipboard."

The copy of the book that I have (given to a boy) bears an inscription by a ship's captain, Capt. McNeil Bryd- "The romance of the sea is buried in the coal-bunkers." Dec. 18, 1868.

The line, 'Lower him down with a golden chain,' is present in a number of burying songs of both blacks and Appalachian and Ozark whites; where it originated (along with bury him with a silver spade) is unknown although it is often attributed to black slaves or to the West Indies.

Hugill remarks on its presence in blackface minstrel songs. My guess is that it is from one of the Old Order white denominations.

**
8.  
Subject: RE: Hist. Origins: Stormalong?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 May 11 - 08:34 AM

Then there's this old minstrel song which may be derived from a stevedore worksong or not:

As sung by J. Smith of White's Serenaders at the Melodeon, New York City, from White's New Ethiopian Song Book, published by T.B. Peterson & Bros., Philadelphia, US, © 1854, p. 71,

Storm Along Stormy

O I wish I was in Mobile bay,
Storm along, Stormy.

Screwing cotton all de day,
Storm along, Stormy.

O you rollers storm along,
Storm along, Stormy.

Hoist away an' sing dis song,
Storm along, Stormy.

I wish I was in New Orleans,
Storm along, Stormy.

Eating up dem pork an' beans,
Storm along, Stormy.

Roll away in spite ob wedder,
Storm along, Stormy.

Come, lads, push all togedder,
Storm along, Stormy.

I wish I was in Baltimore,
Storm along, Stormy.

Dancing on dat Yankee shore,
Storm along, Stormy.

One bale more, den we'be done,
Storm along, Stormy.

De sun's gwan down, an' we'll go home.
Storm along, Stormy.

****
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