D Kern, Mar 22, 2011 OMEGA INSTITUTE FOR HOLISTIC STUDIES
Baba Olatunji and the dancers and drummers from our class perform Fanga at Omega Institute in August of 1993.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This is an update of Part IV of a four part of a 2024 pancocojams series on the "Funga Alafia" song and dance.
This post presents some information and comments about the West African Fanga dance. This post also showcases five YouTube videos of Fanga dance performances in the United States. These videos are given in no particular order.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-real-origin-of-song-funga-alafia_26.html
for Part I of this 2024 pancocojams series. That post is a complete reprint of my 2019 pancocojams post entitled "The REAL Origin Of The Song "Funga Alafia" - Hint: It Isn't A Liberian Song, Or A Nigerian Song, Or A Traditional African Song."
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/memories-of-singing-song-funga-alafia.html for Part II of this 2024 pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video of African American dancer Nana Malaya Rucker and two djembe drummers performing "Funga Alafia". Selected comments from that video's discussion thread are included in that post..
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/what-is-origin-of-word-funga-in-song.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents my speculations about the word "funga" in the song "Funga Alafia" as well as information about the history of the fanga dance in the United States. In addition, that post presents all of the visitor comments and my replies from Part I and Part II of the 2019 pancocojams series about "Funga Alafia". (Part III of the 2019 pancocojams series doesn't have any comments as of the publication date for this 2024 post.)
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the West African cultures in Sierra Leone and Liberia for providing the basic blueprint for the United States versions of the Fanga dance beat and movements.
Thanks to Asadata Dafor, Pearl Primus, Babatunde Olantunji and other early choreographers and drummers of the Fanga dance. Thanks also to LaRocque Bey for composing the song "Funga Alafia. Thanks to all those who are featured in these showcase videos, the publishers of these videos on YouTube, and all those who are quoted in this post..
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CORRECTING MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "FUNGA ALAFIA"
I first wrote about the song "Funga Alafia" on this pancocojams blog in 2019.
I decided to revisit this subject because of the relatively widespread inclusion of "Funga Alafia" in school curriculums in the United States and in other non-West African nations and also because of the widespread misinformation about where this song comes from.
Even if people prefer later arrangements of a particular song, I believe it's important to document and share that song's provenance (origin/source).
If possible, it's important to know who composed the song - if not the actual composer/s than which population it came from. It's also important to know what the original words were, which tune and tempo was originally used and what performance activities, if any, where used while singing or chanting the composition.
Knowing where the song came from can help determine the overall meaning of the song itself as well as the meanings of specific words/phrases (including slang and colloquial expressions).
Knowing the provenance of a song can also help instill and reinforce group self-esteem and personal esteem in people from that particular population.
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BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "FUNGA ALAFIA"
This write-up is reprinted from an 2024 update to Part I of a 2024 pancocojams series about "Funga Alafia".https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-real-origin-of-song-funga-alafia_26.html
1. The song "Funga Alafia" was composed by African American drummer and dancer LaRocque Bey in Harlem (New York City) in 1959 or 1960. At that time LaRocque Bey was a drummer with the New York City based group of Babatunde Olatunji drummers and dancers.
2. The word "funga" is a folk processed form of the word "fanga" from Vai (West African language) or from the Mandinka (West African language).
"Funga" is pronounced like the English word "fun" + "gah".
3. The word "alafia" (aalafia) is a loan word in the Yoruba language. "Aalafia" was derived from the Hausa (Nigeria) word "lafiya" which means "good health". The Hausas derived the word from the Arabic word "al-afiyah" which means "health" / "inner peace".
4. The word "ase" is from the Yoruba (Nigeria, West Africa) language. The word “"ase" means power,” “authority,” “command,” “energy,” or “that which creates and sustains "life." People in the United Srates often (incorrectly) use the spelling "ashe" or "ashay" for this Yoruba word. in the United States. "ase" is pronounced "AH-shay" and is often used as a synonym for the word "amen".
5. The English words that are spoken in the song "Funga Alafia" and their accompanying gestures weren't part of the original song.
6. The tune for the song "Funga Alafia" is the same tune for the American song "Little Liza Jane"
(Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELNIe_D79xs for a sound file of Nina Simone singing "Little Liza Jane".)
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE FANGA DANCE
Quote #1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanga_(dance)
"Fanga is a dance "interpretation of a traditional Liberian invocation to the earth and sky".[citation needed] The dance originated in Liberia[1][2] or Sierra Leone.[2]
The first performance of a version of Fanga in the United States may have been by Asadata Dafora in 1943;[2][3][4] Marcia Ethel Heard believes that Pearl Primus hid Dafora's influence on her work.[5]
The dance was written by Primus in 1959 in conjunction with the National Dance Company of Liberia.[citation needed] Fanga was one of the dances through which Primus sought to stylize and perpetuate African dance traditions by framing dance as a symbolic act, an everyday practice, and a ceremony.[6] It was then further popularized by Primus' students, sisters Merle Afida Derby and Joan Akwasiba Derby.[3][2]
Babatunde Olatunji described Fanga as a dance of welcome from Liberia and he, and many others, used a song created by LaRocque Bey to go with the rhythm and dance, assisted by some of the students in his Harlem studio, during the early 1960s. Bey used words from the Yoruba and Vai languages (alafia = welcome; ashe = so be it; fanga = drum) and an African American folk melody popularized by American minstrels (Li'l Liza Jane).[7]"
-snip-
This Wikipedia excerpt is reformatted to increase its readability.
The definitions that are given for the words "alafia", "ashe", and "fanga" aren't their original meanings. Also, the Yoruba word "ashe" is correctly spelled "ase" in English.
For information about these words, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/what-is-origin-of-word-funga-in-song.html for the pancocojams post "What Is The Origin Of The Word "Funga" In The Song "Funga Alafia"? (Part III: information & comments)
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Quote #2
from AKOGUNOFYORUBALAND, May
8, 2020
[ comment], https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/what-is-origin-of-word-funga-in-song.html "The REAL Origin Of The Song "Funga Alafia" - Hint: It Isn't A Liberian Song, Or A Nigerian Song, Or A Traditional African Song" [Part I of this series]
"Hello.I saw the video(s) on YouTube and I had to search for the meaning of what they were saying 'Fanga Alafia' and the 'ase' that follows.
My comments:
1-The closest thing to the word 'Fanga' in Yoruba nation is
'Fanda' which means 'majestic'. Let me use the word in Yoruba then I'll
translate it. *mo yan Fanda be oba* meaning I am walking majestically like a
king.
2 - So if I say 'Fanda Alafia' means majestic peace or a
kingly peace. Depending on sentence or message I want put down.
3- Ase is a response used by traditional worshipers of
Yoruba nation after saying prayers maybe during festivals,sacrifice(s)...
example, when saying a prayer to some who is about leaving town *wa lo re wa bo
re* meaning- you will go in peace and return in peace. The response of the
traveller will be 'ase' meaning so be it.
4- Looking at the way the dancers move there body in one of
the presentations by Baba Olatunji( not sure I get the name correctly), it was
majestic. So to say Fanda/Fanga Alafia means welcome is not correct. Except
there other words that was said before or after the chant-like song.
Note: During the era of human continental-reshuffling;
languages, character,culture, tradition and stuffs were only verbally passed to
children and grandchildren and non of these attribute were written down for
actual learning. So it is basically what brains could pick and transmit was
been said to each other. And along the line, the original sound and lettering
went missing.
If say FANGA was substituted for FANDA, I will say to you
that the origin of 'FANDA ALAFIA' 'ASE' is from the Yoruba nation. But like you
said that Fanga could be traced to the people of Liberia...
On a final note, I will say if the words were not pronounced
in the exact way due to poor documentation and communication gap from source to
the children, then the exact word will be 'FANDA ALAFIA' 'ASE'. If I am to
reconstruct this word it will be *ni ajo to nlo yii, wa yan FANDA ninu ALAFIA
o* then the response will be *ASE* . I just said a prayer that could have been
said to one subject in the re-shuffling menace. Saying "In this journey
you are about to embark on, you will walk majestically in peace" and
response will be "so be it".
I have only made my comments/observation as a Yoruba man not
based on any research. Thank you.
Thank you for your research on Fanga Alafia. I hope one day
we will all agree on who we really are. God bless you."
-snip-
Read the "Basic Information" section above for some information about these West African words.
Based on the information that is presented in Part III of this pancocojams series [https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/what-is-origin-of-word-funga-in-song.html]. the word "Fanga" is found in Dioula and Vai and perhaps some other West African languages where it means "power" or "force' [in the spiritual sense of the word". As such, "fanga" may have the same or the very similar meaning of the Yoruba word "ase".
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ADDITIONAL SHOWCASE VIDEOS.
These videos are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 -Pearl Primus Performance of Fanga Dance
Robert Damm, Mar 29, 2020
Primus performed the Fanga Dance for a TV broadcast entitled “Pearl Primus: Omowale (Child Returns Home).”
I. The first part of the video was Primus speaking a dramatic monologue through which she translates the meaning of the dance:
Oh earth, Oh earth, you embrace the bones of our ancestors.
Help me, lend me your strength. Help me welcome my guests.
And drums, drums, lend me your voice. Help me welcome my guests.
Sky and earth, sky and earth. Sky, help me, bless me. Help me welcome my guests.
Then like the darting bird, I will search their hearts to see if there’s anger.
And when I find none, into the yard to find a fowl for their table.
Welcome from my heart to you, all that is good in me.
From my head, all I can think of for your comfort.
You’re welcome!
[Transcribed by the Robert J. Damm].
II. The second part of the video (starts at 3:41) was a performance of the Fanga Dance accompanied by three drummers.
III. Dramatic reading of "Inpinuzya" (starts at 8:42)
For more information about fanga, see these journal articles:
"The Origins of the Fanga Dance"
First appeared in the Music Educators Journal, Volume 102, Number 1 (Sept. 2015)
National Association for music Education
https://ir.library.msstate.edu/bitstr...
"Fanga: Drum , Dance, & Rhythm"
First appeared in Percussive Notes, Volume 50, Number 6 (Nov. 2012)
Percussive Arts Society, Inc. Web: www.pas.org. Reprinted by permission.
https://ir.library.msstate.edu/bitstr...
"Fanga Alafia: History and Meaning"
First appeared in Orff Echo, Volume 43, No. 2 (Winter 2011)
American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Chagrin, OH. Used by permission.
https://ir.library.msstate.edu/bitstr...
-snip-
Notice that Pearl Primus' adaptation of the Fanga dance differs from Babatunde Olantunji's and some other versions of that dance. Some information about this is included in Part III of this 2024 pancocojams series.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - "Fanga" - "Welcome"
stagepresencehouston, Nov 22, 2010
Debbie Allen Dance Institute Houston 2009
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4 - Fanga Alafia
Kenna Cottman, Apr 4, 2020
The Voice of Culture/ WE WIN Fanga Alafia. This one is truly a Baye Fall fabric of sources: Pearl Primus, Kpele of Liberia, New Orleans, Baba Chuck Davis, Artie Thompson, Tamiko French, and more. www.voiceofculture.org
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 - Fanga- Welcome Dance (Walkthrough)
Fanga, Alafia Ase Ase!
Pearl Primus
Babatunde Olatunji
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This concludes the December 2025 update for Part IV of this four part 2024 pancocojams series.
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