Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision- August 31, 2018
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series about South African gumboot dancing and historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority steppin(g).
Part II presents my comments about some similarities and differences between historically Black Greek letter organizations (BGLO) stepping and South African gumboot dancing.
Five videos of South African gumboot dancing and five ideos of historically Black Greek letter organizations step show performances are also showcased in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/08/was-south-african-gumboot-dancing.html for Part I of this series. Part I quotes four passages that I've found about the early influence of South African gumboot dancing isicathulo and historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority steppin(g) or the early influence of African American movement arts such as pattin Juba and tap dancing on South African gumboot dancing.
This post also includes my correction of a misinterpretation of a comment that I wrote about step shows and pattin Juba which is cited on the Wikipedia page for "Pattin Juba".
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The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in the videos that are embedded in this post, and thanks to all the publishers of these YouTube videos.
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SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOUTH AFRICAN GUMBOOT DANCING AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STEPPIN[G]*
*These comments can also be applied to performances that are done by non-African American step teams
Pancocojams Editor's Disclaimer: I'm a (long inactive) member of a historically] Black Greek Letter Organization (BGLO) - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc (Gamma Zeta chapter, 1967). However, the only sorority related performances that I participated in were two shows when I was pledging in late 1960s. Those performances were more like a dance routine* than what step shows were like in the 1990s when I began to attend those performances as an observer. And based on my direct observations, as well as descriptions in various books but particular Elizabeth C. Fine's book SoulStepping, and based on watching numerous YouTube videos, it's apparent that BGLO step shows have changed considerably since the 1990s.
I know nothing about South African gumboot dancing beyond what I've read and beyond a number of YouTube videos that I've watched of those performances.
I'm not a dancer, a choreographer, or a dance historian. Consequently, I'm asking for help in describing both of these dance forms and I need help in documenting their similarities and differences. Additions and corrections are very welcome. Please add your thoughts about this subject in the comment section below. Thanks!
-snip-
*Read my description of those dance performances in the comment section below.
Both South African Gumboot dancing (isicathulo) and historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority steppin[g] [henceforth referred to as "stepping"] are percussive, syncopated, choreographed group dances that involve foot stomping.
Quoted in http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bakalang.htm]
..."gumboot dance, ... is characterised by loud.. stepping in gumboots, the clapping of hands and slapping of the boots (Muller 1999:93)
"Gumboots" is a term for Wellington (rubber boots). In the United States, South African"gumboot dancing" is almost always referred to as "boot dancing".
Here's my general comments/observations about stepping:
[These comments are given in no particular order and aren't meant to be a comprehensive description of stepping then and now.]
Like gumboot dancing, stepping" is also percussive, syncopated, choreographed group performance art characterized by loud foot stomps alternating with individual hand claps which sometimes are done under a leg that is lifted up. Stepping originated among historically Black (African American) university based Greek lettered fraternities & sororities and usually occurs at competitive "step shows", fraternities against fraternities and sororities against sororities. Each fraternity & sorority has its own distinctive way of stepping. Some organizations usually step with props such as canes which are twirled, thrown between team members, and rhythmically hit on the ground. However, other fraternities or sororities never use canes. One of those organizations which never uses canes, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., has distinctive hopping movements, and actually prefers the reference "hops" rather than "steps" to describe their routines.
After at least 1990, an increasing number of step teams utilize props, other than canes or staffs ("props" meaning movable or carried objects used on stage), Also, after at least 1990, it has become standard for step teams to perform their step routines as part of skits which often have comedic elements. Often step team members wear costumes that reflect those themes, although after the beginning of the step routine, the costume may be discarded to reveal other clothing, often in the group's signature colors. It also has become common for some step teams to use a self-made video as a way of introducing their teams' theme for that particular show.
A stepping routine may be performed by the entire group at the same time, by one member of the step team followed by the rest of the team, or by a portion of the step team. In stepping, the performers rarely if ever touch another member of their step team- except in the performance of gymnastic/acrobat routines such as lifts.
Steppers almost always have an erect posture, except when they bend down to rhythmically tap canes or staffs. Their routines are usually done in horizontal or vertical lines and these performers utilize much of the stage in performing their routines. Prior to the 1990s, I recall seeing a step master standing to the side of vertical lines of steppers, like a military drill sergeant. I rarely see that nowadays. Instead, sometimes during portions of a step routine, a lead stepper stands in front of the step team or portions of the team.
Body patting (one's own chests and thighs) is an integral part of many step routines. However, body patting doesn't have to be included in a step routine. Traditionally, group [not call and respond] chants (and also singing for certain fraternity or sorority step teams) are still an integral part of step routines. However, it appears to me that there's much less chanting since the 1990s than their previously was (in the 1970ss and 1980s).
BGLO fraternities and sororities have certain distinctive routines. BGLO fraternities and sororities have distinct moves (such as the Kappa shimmy, the Q hop, and members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., holding their hand up in imitation of a mirror, and flicking their hair back, in homage to their image as "pretty girls"). Members of step routines routinely include their hand gestures and signature calls in their routines. Members of most fraternities often include "hard" facial expressions such as "mean muggin'" while they perform their step routines. Step teams and their audiences also incorporate BGLO calls and organizational hand gestures [signs] in step performances.
Traditionally, stepping is a performed without any live musical instruments or any recorded music. That is still the case, but it has become standard to include brief clips of recorded music (usually from R&B/Hip Hop genres) and R&B/Hip Hop dancing during portions of a group's step show. Acrobatic/gymnastic movements have also become a standard part of BGLO step routines.
Fraternity step team embers may wear hard soled shoes or construction boots, sometimes spray painted in one of the fraternity's signature colors (such as Omega Psi Phi, Inc. members wearing gold sprayed boots. Sorority step teams often perform in high heels. The term "Wellingtons" or "wellies" is unknown in the United States, and rubber boots are never worn during performances. Furthermore, slapping the top of one's shoe or [construction] boots isn't done in stepping.
Audiences during step shows are very loud, and boisterous, shouting approval or criticism, and making hand gestures and signature calls for the organization that is performing or for their competitive organizations.
Here are some general comments/observations about gumboot dancing:
Traditionally gumboot routines were performed by males only. However, there are a number of YouTube South African videos of combined male and female gumboot groups.
From the videos that I've watched, it appears that gumboot performers traditionally perform their routines standing in one place in a horizontal line. However, some videos of gumboot dancing such as those cited earlier show dancers utilizing more of the "dance stage". Some videos show a lead dancer or alternating dancers standing in front of the rest of the group.
It appears to me that traditionally, gumboot dancers have a bent at the waist posture while performing their routines. That said, I've noticed some gumboot dancers who have a much more erect posture than most gumboot dancers whose videos I've seen (as in video #3). I don't know if this indicates a change in the traditional posture or not.
Apart from staged productions like the show Gumboots, gumboot dancing also appears to be performed without any live musical instruments or recorded music. I don't know if gumboot dance performances are competitive. I also don't know whether gumboot dance troupes have distinctive, signature moves, colors, gestures, songs, and calls that are incorporated into their gumboot routines like step teams do. From watching YouTube gumboot videos, it doesn't appear that gumboot dance groups utilize any props, including canes.
Based on the videos that I've watched of gumboot dancing and in the articles that I've read about that performance art, body patting doesn't appear to be as integral a part of gumboot dancing as it is in many BGLO stepping routines. Instead of doing any chest patting, gumboot dancers rhythmically slap the top or sides of their Wellington boots.
Bells may be added to the gumboots to enhance the rhythmic sound of the boot stomping and the boot slapping.
Video #1 and Video #3 given below shows the gumboot dance groups singing traditional [?] African songs prior to or while they do their gumboot routines. Many of the gumboot videos I've watched include some occasional vocalizations, but that the vocalization is usually done by one performer. It appears to me that that performer who may be giving directions to the rest of group. And what appears to me to be more traditional performances, that "lead dancer" is usually standing in the same line as the other dancers, and not standing in front of the other dancers.
For male performers only pants but no tops appears to be the most traditional attire. Based on the videos that I've seen, most male and female gumboot dancers now (2018) wear pants and tee shirt, or overalls (work uniforms). Miners hard hats appear to be worn by gumboot dancers, although some gumboot dance groups wear bandanas instead of hard hats.
Gumboot dance performances don't appear to be centered around any skits, but there may be some comedic elements incorporated into that routine to appeal to audiences.
Unlike stepping, facial expressions-hard (tough) or otherwise-don't appear to be an element of gumboot performances.
I've seen some videos of gumboot dancers incorporating popular dance moves into their performances and even including some brief snippets of American R&B/Hip Hop songs (video #5 below). However, I don't know how common this is.
I'm not sure if the performances are competitive or not.
It appears that audiences for gumboot dance performances are also loud and boisterous.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html
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SHOWCASE STEPPING VIDEOS
Example #1: Alpha Phi Alpha Steps
Willy R·Uploaded on Nov 2, 2006
DI Step Show
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Example #2: Kappa Alpha Psi, Xi Chapter - Howard Homecoming Step Show 2012
Hu Reaction, Published on Oct 23, 2012
Kappa Alpha Psi Xi Chapter performing at the Howard University Homecoming Step Show 2012
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Example #3: DST WINS 2013 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 step show @Atlgreekpicnic [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.)
Atlanta Greek Picnic, Published on Jun 10, 2013
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Example #4: Omega Psi Phi, Alpha Chapter - Howard 2016 Step Show
Kaelan Laurence, Published on Oct 25, 2016
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Example #5: Sigma Gamma Rho WINS 2017 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 Step show (Official Video) #AGP2017 #DewXAGP
Atlanta Greek Picnic, Published on Jun 29, 2017
The Ladies of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc WIN the 2017 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 Step show Friday June 23rd, Morehouse College. Sponsored by Mountain Dew.
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SHOWCASE GUMBOOT VIDEOS
Example #1: South Africa 32: Gold Mine Dance
Yaiyasmin, Published on Dec 26, 2009
In Gold Reef City the zulu dancers showed us a mine dance with helmets, boots and kaching kaching!
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Example #2: Gumboot Dancers in South Africa
Mycompasstv, Published on Oct 28, 2009
Gumboot dancing is a century old tradition which originated during the mining era of Johannesburg, South Africa. Dancers wearing gumboots, create rhythms by slapping boots and bodies, using voices and stamping their feet.
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Example #3: Hilton College Gumboot Dance troupe
paphiwe, Published on Apr 29, 2011
2008 Hilton College gumboot troupe in action
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Example #4: Gumboot Dance
Waterford Kamhlaba, Published on Apr 16, 2013
On the 8th of March, His Majesty, King Mswati III of Swaziland visited Waterford Kamhlaba in celebration of the 50th Anniversary. Some Waterford students performed a gumboot dance for His Majesty.
A video by
Iwani Zoe Mawocha
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Example #5: Togetherness Gumboots Dancers
simon moabi, Published on Nov 30, 2013
Togetherness was established in 2006 with the primary aim of organizing young people from different backgrounds in and around Ratanda Area. Currently has a membership of 15, and specialise mainly in Gumboots Dancing.
The group has won many hearts in the communities of Gauteng and its surroundings. We have performed for dignitaries and in many other special occasions and were happy with feedbacks
The group has won several awards in Gumboots Dancing, e.g. Gauteng Dance Showcases, TAXIDO's Mazibuye Emasisweni Festival, Masakhane Arts Festival and few others.
The Groups Mission is to expose young people's talents, and the Vision is to be well recognized around Southern Africa and abroad.
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Visitor comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label South African gum boot dancing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South African gum boot dancing. Show all posts
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
The Influences Of American Minstrelsy & Early 20th Century Black Dances On South African Gumboot Dances
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Revision: April 6, 2022: These changes include this title change and removal of content about American influences on historically Black Greek letter stepping and strolling
Original title: "Was South African Gumboot Dancing REALLY The Main Source Of The Movements For Historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity & Sorority Stepping?"
****
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about South African gumboot dancing and historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority steppin(g).
Part I presents excerpts about the early influence of African American movement arts such as pattin Juba and tap dancing on South African gumboot dancing.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/08/similarities-differences-between-south.html for Part II of this series. Part II presents my comments about some similarities and differences between historically Black Greek letter organizations (BGLO) stepping and South African gumboot dancing.
Five videos of South African gumboot dancing and five videos of historically Black Greek letter organizations step show performances are also showcased in that post.
****
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Portions of this post were previously published in the following pancocojams post:
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-origins-of-south-african-gumboot.html "The Origins Of South African Gumboot Dancing
and
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/correcting-record-south-african-boot.html Correcting The Record - South African Boot Dancing Isn't The Direct Source Of Fraternity & Sorority Stepping
****
SOME SOUTH AFRICAN INFLUENCES AND SOME BLACK AMERICAN INFLUENCES UPON SOUTH AFRICAN GUM BOOT DANCES
These excerpts are given in no particular order. Numbers are given for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bakalang.htm
..."For most Bhaca* migrants to eGoli**, the City of Gold, work and leisure were continually controlled by structures of authority and surveillance in the form of mine bosses, managers and police. In this context, all space was public. There was little room for individual expression or privacy. The nature of this experience gave rise to the particular aesthetic of gumboot dance performance, regardless of who now performs the dance (Muller 1999: 91).
The gumboot style of dance draws on a variety of dance sources: Bhaca* traditional dances such as ngoma; minstrel performance; popular social dances such as those that accompanied jazz music performance in the 1930s and 40s. The jitterbug, for example, and most obviously, the tap dance popularised through films of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Gumboot dancers may have been influenced by touring black tap dance groups (Muller 1999: 100). Erlmann (1991: 99-100) argues that isicathulo or gumboot dance was developed around mission stations in KwaZulu Natal with the introduction of footgear to African peoples by missionaries in the late 19th century (Mulller 1999: 92):
Isicathulo means shoe, boot or sandal; it also refers to a boot dance performed by young boys since the first contact with Europeans (Muller 1999: 94).
In their search for aesthetic models and expressions of self-conscious urban status, v [sic: we've?] first became interested in the dances and songs developed in and around the mission stations. Interestingly, it was on rural mission stations that isicathulo, one of the first urban working-class dance forms, developed. Tracey maintains that the original isicathulo dance was 'performed by Zulu pupils at a certain mission where the authorities had banned the local country dances.' The name isicathulo, shoe, boot or sandal, reflects the introduction of footgear at the missions, the sharp sound of boots and clicking of the heels contrasted with the muffled thud of bare feet in more rural dances such as indlamu-Zulu (Erlrnann 1991: 99).
Coplan (1985: 78) argues that schools picked up new urban influenced rural dances, even though missionaries forbade them. One such dance, is cathulo (shoe) was adopted students in Durban; from there it spread to dock workers who produced spectacular rhythmic effects by slapping and pounding their rubber Wellington boots in performance. All this rhythm made it popular with mine and municipal labourers elsewhere, especially Johannesburg. There it became the 'gumboot' dance, divided into a series of routines and accompanied by a rhythm guitar. By 1919, gumboot had filtered back into school concerts. It soon became a standard feature of urban African variety entertainment, and a setting for satirising characters and scenes drawn from African work life.
What clearly distinguishes all gumboot dance from earlier rural practices is its use of footgear for its performance. Pre-colonial dance forms are generally thought to have been performed barefoot. One Zulu name given to gumboot dance, isicathulo, provides the first indication of innovation. The root of the word cathama means to walk softly, quietly and stealthily. It has been incorporated into two kinds of black performance culture in South Africa: isicathamiya and isicathulo. The first is the style of music and dance performance recently made famous by Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In this context it means to walk softly and stealthily, like a cat. The second refers to the opposite, gumboot dance, which is characterised by louder stepping in gumboots, the clapping of hands and slapping of the boots (Muller 1999:93)
Perhaps the most revealing source, however, is the dance as practised by these older Bhaca dancers and transmitted to their sons in KwaZulu Natal. Unlike the autonomy of many dance forms in the Western world, gumboot dance engages and comments on the exigencies of everyday experience in mine culture (Muller 1999: 98)."...
-snip-
* "The Bhaca people or amaBhaca are an ethnic group in South Africa, mainly found in the small towns of the former Transkei homeland, Mount Frere, Umzimkhulu and surrounding areas - a region that the amaBhaca call kwaBhaca, or "place of the Bhaca". (The Bhaca people or amaBhaca are an ethnic group in South Africa, mainly found in the small towns of the former Transkei homeland, Mount Frere, Umzimkhulu and surrounding areas - a region that the amaBhaca call kwaBhaca, or "place of the Bhaca". (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
While the amaBhaca are often considered to be part of the more populous Xhosa people, they maintain an independent kingdom and distinct culture."...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaca_people
**"EGoli"= Johannesburg, South Africa
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Excerpt #2:
From South African Music: A Century of Traditions in Transformation, Volume 1 by Carol Ann Muller (Google book), p. 161, and 163 (162 isn't available in the Google Book version).
Carol Ann Muller writes that gumboot dancing (South African term isicathulo) first began in the Christian missions that were established for Black South Africans. The gumboot dancing in the mines is a significant development of that dance but not the only form of that dance.
Here are some quotes from that book:
"Isicathulo means shoe, boot, or sandal; it also refers to the boot dance performed by young boys since the first contact with Europeans. It is defined as “a modern rhythmic dance adopted by certain Christian natives, in which dancing is both individual and in groups. (Cockrell 1987, 422)....
p. 163
"The other cultural influence that shaped gumboot dancing was the minstrel shows, performed in Durban by American and English troupes beginning in the nineteenth century. Jonney Hadebe, one of the members of Blanket Mkhize's gumboot team explains the early history of gumboot dance in a program note written for the South African Railway's gumboot dancers:
In 1896, subsequent to watching white men tap dancing and clapping their hands, the amaBaca decided to make a dance of their own. They called it the gumboot dance. The dance was a rhythmically performed act of dancing, clapping hands, and slapping the calve muscles-the calf muscles being protected by rubber gumboots.
In the year 1896, the group consisted of eight members, six dancers, and two playing musical instruments. In those days the soles of the gumboots were cut off and the dancers wore shoes....
I have been a gumboot dancer for the past twenty-three years. (Jonny Hadebe, ca. 1978)
.... (p. 165)
It is quite feasible that the amaBaca saw minstrel shows performed by white black-faced minstrels in 1896. It is not clear, however, if it is tap dancing or simply the complex footwork of minstrel performers that impacted upon those men in that year....
Tap dancing is also reported to have been extremely popular at the Bantu Men's Social Center in Johannesburg in the 1930s. (Phillips ca. 1938, 297). This would have been the more sophisticated gumboot dancing that Hadebe subsequently discusses."
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Excerpt #3
From Elizabeth C. Fine's book SoulStepping: African American Step Shows (University of Illinois Press, 2007):
p. 78
The rubber boot or gumboot dancing... is an excellent example of the complex relationships between African and African American music and dance. Gumboot dancing (isicathulo), one of the first urban working-class dances in South Africa, may have been developed in rural missions by Zulu pupils who were not allowed to perform traditional dances. The word isicathulo, Hugh Tracey notes, means “shoe”. When the students danced the shoes that missions required them to wear created louder sounds than did bare feet. Around the time of World War I “rural, urban, mission, and working-class performance traditions” intermingled in isicathulo, which “as a step-dance” was closely related if not identical to other dance forms that had evolved earlier among farm laborers and inhabitants of the rural reserves.” (3)
Erlmann suggest that isicathulo dancers “frequently indulge in sophisticated solo stepping, prototypes of which had been available to migrant workers, from the mid-1920s through Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire movies as well as touring black tap dance groups.” Indeed, South Africans were exposed to African American music and dance traditions as early as 1890, when Orpheus M. McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers spent almost five years touring South Africa. In subsequent years, black South Africans came to the United States. One, the famous “ragtime composer Reuben T. Caluza, renowned “as a skilled isicathulo dancer”, enrolled in Virginia’s Hampton Institute in 1930 to earn a B.A. in music. Caluza and three other students from Africa formed the African Quartette performing both songs and dances along the East Coast.
They even sang for Franklin D. Roosevelt Quartet member Dwight Sumner wrote that in their summer tour of 1931 the “African Quartette sang Zulu songs, under the direction of Mr. Caluza, and also gave African folk dances.” It is likely that Caluza shared his talents with students. If so, members of fraternities and sororities could have incorporated some gumboot movements into stepping. Caluza went on to earn a masters degree at Columbia University in 1935, where again he could have shared gumboot dancing with students.
Malone notes that during the 1970s and 1980s gumboot dancing “was introduced in North American urban areas and showcased by many of the dance companies that performed styles of traditional African dances.” Evidence from Erlmann, however, suggest the possibility if a much earlier exposure to gumboot dancing and, conversely, the incorporation of African American influences into South African dances. Caluza’s story is only one small example of the continuous interactions among Africans and African Americans that created a complex interaction between music and dance forms on both continents"...
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This concludes Part I of this three part pancocojams series.
Latest Revision: April 6, 2022: These changes include this title change and removal of content about American influences on historically Black Greek letter stepping and strolling
Original title: "Was South African Gumboot Dancing REALLY The Main Source Of The Movements For Historically Black Greek Letter Fraternity & Sorority Stepping?"
****
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about South African gumboot dancing and historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority steppin(g).
Part I presents excerpts about the early influence of African American movement arts such as pattin Juba and tap dancing on South African gumboot dancing.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/08/similarities-differences-between-south.html for Part II of this series. Part II presents my comments about some similarities and differences between historically Black Greek letter organizations (BGLO) stepping and South African gumboot dancing.
Five videos of South African gumboot dancing and five videos of historically Black Greek letter organizations step show performances are also showcased in that post.
****
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Portions of this post were previously published in the following pancocojams post:
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-origins-of-south-african-gumboot.html "The Origins Of South African Gumboot Dancing
and
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/correcting-record-south-african-boot.html Correcting The Record - South African Boot Dancing Isn't The Direct Source Of Fraternity & Sorority Stepping
****
SOME SOUTH AFRICAN INFLUENCES AND SOME BLACK AMERICAN INFLUENCES UPON SOUTH AFRICAN GUM BOOT DANCES
These excerpts are given in no particular order. Numbers are given for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bakalang.htm
..."For most Bhaca* migrants to eGoli**, the City of Gold, work and leisure were continually controlled by structures of authority and surveillance in the form of mine bosses, managers and police. In this context, all space was public. There was little room for individual expression or privacy. The nature of this experience gave rise to the particular aesthetic of gumboot dance performance, regardless of who now performs the dance (Muller 1999: 91).
The gumboot style of dance draws on a variety of dance sources: Bhaca* traditional dances such as ngoma; minstrel performance; popular social dances such as those that accompanied jazz music performance in the 1930s and 40s. The jitterbug, for example, and most obviously, the tap dance popularised through films of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Gumboot dancers may have been influenced by touring black tap dance groups (Muller 1999: 100). Erlmann (1991: 99-100) argues that isicathulo or gumboot dance was developed around mission stations in KwaZulu Natal with the introduction of footgear to African peoples by missionaries in the late 19th century (Mulller 1999: 92):
Isicathulo means shoe, boot or sandal; it also refers to a boot dance performed by young boys since the first contact with Europeans (Muller 1999: 94).
In their search for aesthetic models and expressions of self-conscious urban status, v [sic: we've?] first became interested in the dances and songs developed in and around the mission stations. Interestingly, it was on rural mission stations that isicathulo, one of the first urban working-class dance forms, developed. Tracey maintains that the original isicathulo dance was 'performed by Zulu pupils at a certain mission where the authorities had banned the local country dances.' The name isicathulo, shoe, boot or sandal, reflects the introduction of footgear at the missions, the sharp sound of boots and clicking of the heels contrasted with the muffled thud of bare feet in more rural dances such as indlamu-Zulu (Erlrnann 1991: 99).
Coplan (1985: 78) argues that schools picked up new urban influenced rural dances, even though missionaries forbade them. One such dance, is cathulo (shoe) was adopted students in Durban; from there it spread to dock workers who produced spectacular rhythmic effects by slapping and pounding their rubber Wellington boots in performance. All this rhythm made it popular with mine and municipal labourers elsewhere, especially Johannesburg. There it became the 'gumboot' dance, divided into a series of routines and accompanied by a rhythm guitar. By 1919, gumboot had filtered back into school concerts. It soon became a standard feature of urban African variety entertainment, and a setting for satirising characters and scenes drawn from African work life.
What clearly distinguishes all gumboot dance from earlier rural practices is its use of footgear for its performance. Pre-colonial dance forms are generally thought to have been performed barefoot. One Zulu name given to gumboot dance, isicathulo, provides the first indication of innovation. The root of the word cathama means to walk softly, quietly and stealthily. It has been incorporated into two kinds of black performance culture in South Africa: isicathamiya and isicathulo. The first is the style of music and dance performance recently made famous by Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In this context it means to walk softly and stealthily, like a cat. The second refers to the opposite, gumboot dance, which is characterised by louder stepping in gumboots, the clapping of hands and slapping of the boots (Muller 1999:93)
Perhaps the most revealing source, however, is the dance as practised by these older Bhaca dancers and transmitted to their sons in KwaZulu Natal. Unlike the autonomy of many dance forms in the Western world, gumboot dance engages and comments on the exigencies of everyday experience in mine culture (Muller 1999: 98)."...
-snip-
* "The Bhaca people or amaBhaca are an ethnic group in South Africa, mainly found in the small towns of the former Transkei homeland, Mount Frere, Umzimkhulu and surrounding areas - a region that the amaBhaca call kwaBhaca, or "place of the Bhaca". (The Bhaca people or amaBhaca are an ethnic group in South Africa, mainly found in the small towns of the former Transkei homeland, Mount Frere, Umzimkhulu and surrounding areas - a region that the amaBhaca call kwaBhaca, or "place of the Bhaca". (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
While the amaBhaca are often considered to be part of the more populous Xhosa people, they maintain an independent kingdom and distinct culture."...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaca_people
**"EGoli"= Johannesburg, South Africa
****
Excerpt #2:
From South African Music: A Century of Traditions in Transformation, Volume 1 by Carol Ann Muller (Google book), p. 161, and 163 (162 isn't available in the Google Book version).
Carol Ann Muller writes that gumboot dancing (South African term isicathulo) first began in the Christian missions that were established for Black South Africans. The gumboot dancing in the mines is a significant development of that dance but not the only form of that dance.
Here are some quotes from that book:
"Isicathulo means shoe, boot, or sandal; it also refers to the boot dance performed by young boys since the first contact with Europeans. It is defined as “a modern rhythmic dance adopted by certain Christian natives, in which dancing is both individual and in groups. (Cockrell 1987, 422)....
p. 163
"The other cultural influence that shaped gumboot dancing was the minstrel shows, performed in Durban by American and English troupes beginning in the nineteenth century. Jonney Hadebe, one of the members of Blanket Mkhize's gumboot team explains the early history of gumboot dance in a program note written for the South African Railway's gumboot dancers:
In 1896, subsequent to watching white men tap dancing and clapping their hands, the amaBaca decided to make a dance of their own. They called it the gumboot dance. The dance was a rhythmically performed act of dancing, clapping hands, and slapping the calve muscles-the calf muscles being protected by rubber gumboots.
In the year 1896, the group consisted of eight members, six dancers, and two playing musical instruments. In those days the soles of the gumboots were cut off and the dancers wore shoes....
I have been a gumboot dancer for the past twenty-three years. (Jonny Hadebe, ca. 1978)
.... (p. 165)
It is quite feasible that the amaBaca saw minstrel shows performed by white black-faced minstrels in 1896. It is not clear, however, if it is tap dancing or simply the complex footwork of minstrel performers that impacted upon those men in that year....
Tap dancing is also reported to have been extremely popular at the Bantu Men's Social Center in Johannesburg in the 1930s. (Phillips ca. 1938, 297). This would have been the more sophisticated gumboot dancing that Hadebe subsequently discusses."
****
Excerpt #3
From Elizabeth C. Fine's book SoulStepping: African American Step Shows (University of Illinois Press, 2007):
p. 78
The rubber boot or gumboot dancing... is an excellent example of the complex relationships between African and African American music and dance. Gumboot dancing (isicathulo), one of the first urban working-class dances in South Africa, may have been developed in rural missions by Zulu pupils who were not allowed to perform traditional dances. The word isicathulo, Hugh Tracey notes, means “shoe”. When the students danced the shoes that missions required them to wear created louder sounds than did bare feet. Around the time of World War I “rural, urban, mission, and working-class performance traditions” intermingled in isicathulo, which “as a step-dance” was closely related if not identical to other dance forms that had evolved earlier among farm laborers and inhabitants of the rural reserves.” (3)
Erlmann suggest that isicathulo dancers “frequently indulge in sophisticated solo stepping, prototypes of which had been available to migrant workers, from the mid-1920s through Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire movies as well as touring black tap dance groups.” Indeed, South Africans were exposed to African American music and dance traditions as early as 1890, when Orpheus M. McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers spent almost five years touring South Africa. In subsequent years, black South Africans came to the United States. One, the famous “ragtime composer Reuben T. Caluza, renowned “as a skilled isicathulo dancer”, enrolled in Virginia’s Hampton Institute in 1930 to earn a B.A. in music. Caluza and three other students from Africa formed the African Quartette performing both songs and dances along the East Coast.
They even sang for Franklin D. Roosevelt Quartet member Dwight Sumner wrote that in their summer tour of 1931 the “African Quartette sang Zulu songs, under the direction of Mr. Caluza, and also gave African folk dances.” It is likely that Caluza shared his talents with students. If so, members of fraternities and sororities could have incorporated some gumboot movements into stepping. Caluza went on to earn a masters degree at Columbia University in 1935, where again he could have shared gumboot dancing with students.
Malone notes that during the 1970s and 1980s gumboot dancing “was introduced in North American urban areas and showcased by many of the dance companies that performed styles of traditional African dances.” Evidence from Erlmann, however, suggest the possibility if a much earlier exposure to gumboot dancing and, conversely, the incorporation of African American influences into South African dances. Caluza’s story is only one small example of the continuous interactions among Africans and African Americans that created a complex interaction between music and dance forms on both continents"...
****
This concludes Part I of this three part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Pattin Juba, Hambone, And The Bo Diddley Beat
Edited by Azizi Powell
[Latest Revision August 22, 2018]
This pancocojams post provides information about the history of and descriptions of pattin[g] juba, hambone, and the Bo Diddley beat. Videos of pattin Juba are also included in this post.
This post also includes text examples of the Hambone song. The Addendum to this post provides comments and an example of the retention of pattin juba in some historically Black fraternity and sorority stepping routines.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in the video, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT PATTIN JUBA
From https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0812201000 Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America's Creole Soul, Roger D. Abrahams, 2010, p. 46
"The contribution of black dancers to New Orleans history centered on old Congo Square, located between what is now the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium and Rampart Street. There, in the nineteenth century, African dancing was visible to the public. Blacks danced in circles, miniature citadels of spirit and certainty. Kongo competed with other African people in the formation of local culture. Prominent among these were the Yoruba, Mande, and Fon. But the Bakongo were singularly influential in dance. Numerous dances named “Congo” were recorded in nineteenth-century Louisiana along with the Kongo derived bamboula..Whole systems of motions and gestures crossed the Atlantic and took root in the city and parishes. An immediate example is nzuba, a thigh slapping dance from kingdom of Kongo. The name derives from the Ki-Kongo verb “to slap” zuba. With a lightly creolized title “juba” or “patting juba” is spread up the river and diffused far and wide. Among the Black Hawk Spiritualist churches of African American New Orleans, it is one of the steps that come back from the past when people dance in the spirit."...
****
CORRECTION OF WIKIPEDIA PAGE ON JUBA DANCE THAT CITES A PAGE FROM MY COCOJAMS.COM WEBSITE [Update August 22, 2018]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba_dance includes this sentence: "Modern variations on the dance include Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley Beat" and the step-shows of African American Greek organizations.[1].[This is the end of quote as of August 22, 2018. An earlier version of this sentence read "African American and "Latino Greek organizations"]
That sentence is footnoted as #1 and cites a post on my voluntarily deleted cocojams.com cultural website. As of August 22, 2018 that footnote leads to an early cocojams.com post on the song “Jim Along Josie”. Previously, the wayback.com machine linked to an early cocojams.com post on the song "Hambone". The "Jim Along Josie" page doesn't mention "pattin Juba" or "Hambone", but the "Hambone" page noted that some* stepping routines that are performed by historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities include body chest and thigh body patting which can be considered a contemporary form of pattin Juba (hamboning). Because all step show routines don't include body patting, it's a misinterpretation of my comments to indicate that I said that that step-shows are modern variations of the Juba Dance, Hambone, and/or the Bo Diddley beat
*The bold font is used here to emphasize this point.
The Addendum on stepping below includes additional comments and a YouTube example of body patting in a stepping routine.
****
HAITIAN JUBA DANCING
It's interesting to note that body patting isn't a feature of Juba dancing in Haiti as shown in this video of that dance filmed in 1936-1937
Haitian Djouba Dancing
Cunya jele muePublished on Nov 15, 2012
This clip is from a field recording done by the American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax during his trip to Haiti in 1936-1937. This scene was filmed in Carrefour DuFort/Kalfou Difó, at a dance held by a Sosyete Djouba, which is an old traditional mutual aid and communal work society once prevalent in the Haitian countryside. This is an excellent example of djouba drumming and dancing -also known as danse Matinik. The tanbou djouba (or tanbou Matinik) was a barrel drum, headed with a goatskin, and played laid down on the floor in a "transverse-heeled style" by the tanbouyé. Two kata sticks provide the accompanying rhythm, and are played on the back of the tanbou by the katalyé. The dance is led by a Komandyé, who first demonstrates his dancing prowess by executing steps in front of the assembled dancers and audience. Then the dance is executed, which is a figure dance in the form of a square Contredanse, with the komandyé calling out the changes in figures for the couples. NOTE - the music playing here is NOT actually djouba. The original field recording did not have audio, and the music heard here is actually a Kongo rhythm played by the same drummers at the same event, and with the djouba instrumentation. The sosyete played both djouba and kongo as part of their traditional repertoire
****
AFRICAN ROOTS OF BODY PATTING - Traditional Jola dancing
Ulf Jägfors, Uploaded on Sep 29, 2006
This video shows traditional Jola body patting and dances by girls from Mlomp, Casamance region, Southern Senegal. It was recorded at The Akonting Center for Senegambian folkmusic, Mandinari, Gambia July 2006
****
VIDEOS OF PATTIN JUBA (HAMBONE)
Video #1: Derique McGhee @ Lincoln Center 8-12-10
Derique McGhee @ Lincoln Center 8-12-10
Uploaded by newsriffs on Aug 13, 2010
"The International Body Music Festival, offered this performance of traditional African American Hambone. When the man takes your drums away, this is the alternative."
****
Example #2: Traditional Hambone
Uploaded by atn151 on Aug 28, 2008
Dry Branch Fire Squad founding member Ron Thomason performs traditional Hambone at the Gettysburg Bluegrass festival, 2008.
****
Example #3: hambone - Steve McCraven
mycompasstv, Uploaded on Oct 26, 2011
Great hambone technique from Archie Shepp's drummer Steve McCraven.
Recorded in Tunisia at the Tabarka International Jazz Festival.
video: Stephen Smith
****
THE BO DIDDLEY BEAT
The rock & roll singer/musician Bo Diddley used this beat so much in his records that it became known as the "Bo Diddley" beat. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Diddley to read more about Blues and R&B singer, musician, song writer Bo Diddley. Here's an excerpt from that Wikipedia page:
"He [Bo Diddley] recorded for Chicago's Chess Records subsidiary label Checker. Bo Diddley is best known for the "Bo Diddley beat", a rhumba-based beat (see clave) also influenced by what is known as "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:
One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four" etc."
-snip-
Bo Diddley used the "Hambone" beat in so many of his songs that the beat was referred to as the "Bo Diddley Beat". Here's a video of one of his hit songs "Bo Diddley":
BO DIDDLEY 1965
SURFSTYLEY4, Uploaded on Mar 20, 2011
-snip-
Here are the lyrics to that song:
Bo Diddley
(Ellas McDaniel) 1955
Bo Diddley bought his babe a diamond ring,
If that diamond ring don't shine,
He gonna take it to a private eye,
If that private eye can't see
He'd better not take the ring from me.
Bo Diddley caught a nanny goat,
To make his pretty baby a Sunday coat,
Bo Diddley caught a bear cat,
To make his pretty baby a Sunday hat.
Mojo come to my house, ya black cat bone,
Take my baby away from home,
Ugly ole mojo, where ya bin,
Up your house, and gone again.
Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley have you heard?
My pretty baby said she wasn't for it.
From www.stlyrics.com/songs/b/bodiddley598/bodiddley335168.html
-snip-
Ellas McDaniel is Bo Diddley's real name.
****
LYRICS - HAMBONE
(Like other folk songs, there are multiple versions of the song "Hambone". Here are two of those versions. These versions aren't presented in any particular order. Notice the similarities between example #2 and Bo Diddley's song.)
HAMBONE (Example #1)
Hambone Hambone pat him on the shoulder
If you get a pretty girl, I'll show you how to hold her.
Hambone, Hambone, where have you been?
All 'round the world and back again.
Hambone, Hambone, what did you do?
I got a train and I fairly flew.
Hambone, Hambone where did you go?
I hopped up to Miss Lucy's door.
I asked Miss Lucy would she marry me.
(in falsetto) "Well I don't care if Papa don't care!"
First come in was Mister Snake,
He crawled all over that wedding cake.
Next walked in was Mister Tick,
He ate so much it made him sick.
Next walked in was Mister Coon,
We asked him to sing us a wedding tune,
Now Ham-....
Now Ham....
-Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes, "Step It Down, Games, Plays, Songs & Stories From The Afro-American Heritage (Athens, Ga; University of Georgia Press, 1972, pps 34-36)
-snip-
Notice the similarities between this song and the song "Frog Went A Courtin."
****
HAMBONE (Example #2)
Hambone! Hambone!
Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I'm going again
What you gonna do when you come back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track
Hambone
Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa's gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don't sing
Papa's gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don't shine
Papa's gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone
Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I'm going again
I just skinned an alley cat
To make my wife a Sunday hat
Took the hide right off a goat
To make my wife a Sunday coat
Hambone, hambone
Where's your wife
Out to the kitchen, cooking beans and rice
Hambone
Hambone
Hambone, hambone
Trying to eat
Ketchup on his elbow, pickle on his feet
Bread in the basket
Chicken in the stew
Supper on the fire for me and you
Look at him holler, look at him moan
That hambone just can't hambone
Hambone
Hambone
Hambone Lyrics
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
PERKINS, CARL / WALKER, WAYNE P.
Source: http://www.cduniverse.com/tennessee-ernie-ford-hambone-lyrics-6008330.htm
-snip-
Notice the similarities between this song and the song "Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry".
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT STEPPIN & A VIDEO OF STEPPIN; (Revised August 22, 2018)
"Steppin" is an African American movement art. When other American groups (including Latino/a groups) perform steppin, they are basing their performance on a tradition that originated with African Americans. That said, steppin could also be influenced by various African dance traditions, particularly the traditions of South African gumboot dancing.
That said, an argument could be made that South African gumboot dancing was influenced by historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority stepping. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/correcting-record-south-african-boot.html
Here's one excerpt from that post that quotes passages from Elizabeth C. Fine's book SoulStepping: African American Step Shows :
p. 78
The rubber boot or gumboot dancing... is an excellent example of the complex relationships between African and African American music and dance. Gumboot dancing (isicathulo), one of the first urban working-class dances in South Africa, may have been developed in rural missions by Zulu pupils who were not allowed to perform traditional dances. The word isicathulo, Hugh Tracey notes, means “shoe”. When the students danced the shoes that missions required them to wear created louder sounds than did bare feet. Around the time of World War I “rural, urban, mission, and working-class performance traditions” intermingled in isicathulo, which “as a step-dance” was closely related if not identical to other dance forms that had evolved earlier among farm laborers and inhabitants of the rural reserves.” (3)
Erlmann suggest that isicathulo dancers “frequently indulge in sophisticated solo stepping, prototypes of which had been available to migrant workers, from the mid-1920s through Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire movies as well as touring black tap dance groups.” Indeed, South Africans were exposed to African American music and dance traditions as early as 1890, when Orpheus M. McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers spent almost five years touring South Africa. In subsequent years, black South Africans came to the United States. One, the famous “ragtime composer Reuben T. Caluza, renowned “as a skilled isicathulo dancer”, enrolled in Virginia’s Hampton Institute in 1930 to earn a B.A. in music. Caluza and three other students from Africa formed the African Quartette performing both songs and dances along the East Coast.
They even sang for Franklin D. Roosevelt Quartet member Dwight Sumner wrote that in their summer tour of 1931 the “African Quartette sang Zulu songs, under the direction of Mr. Caluza, and also gave African folk dances.” It is likely that Caluza shared his talents with students. If so, members of fraternities and sororities could have incorporated some gumboot movements into stepping. Caluza went on to earn a masters degree at Columbia University in 1935, where again he could have shared gumboot dancing with students.
Malone notes that during the 1970s and 1980s gumboot dancing “was introduced in North American urban areas and showcased by many of the dance companies that performed styles of traditional African dances.” Evidence from Erlmann, however, suggest the possibility if a much earlier exposure to gumboot dancing and, conversely, the incorporation of African American influences into South African dances. Caluza’s story is only one small example of the continuous interactions among Africans and African Americans that created a complex interaction between music and dance forms on both continents"...
****
Here's one example of a steppin routine that includes body patting that is performed by a historical Black Greek lettered fraternity:
Alpha Phi Alpha Steps
Willy R·Uploaded on Nov 2, 2006
DI Step Show
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome!
[Latest Revision August 22, 2018]
This pancocojams post provides information about the history of and descriptions of pattin[g] juba, hambone, and the Bo Diddley beat. Videos of pattin Juba are also included in this post.
This post also includes text examples of the Hambone song. The Addendum to this post provides comments and an example of the retention of pattin juba in some historically Black fraternity and sorority stepping routines.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in the video, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT PATTIN JUBA
From https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0812201000 Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America's Creole Soul, Roger D. Abrahams, 2010, p. 46
"The contribution of black dancers to New Orleans history centered on old Congo Square, located between what is now the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium and Rampart Street. There, in the nineteenth century, African dancing was visible to the public. Blacks danced in circles, miniature citadels of spirit and certainty. Kongo competed with other African people in the formation of local culture. Prominent among these were the Yoruba, Mande, and Fon. But the Bakongo were singularly influential in dance. Numerous dances named “Congo” were recorded in nineteenth-century Louisiana along with the Kongo derived bamboula..Whole systems of motions and gestures crossed the Atlantic and took root in the city and parishes. An immediate example is nzuba, a thigh slapping dance from kingdom of Kongo. The name derives from the Ki-Kongo verb “to slap” zuba. With a lightly creolized title “juba” or “patting juba” is spread up the river and diffused far and wide. Among the Black Hawk Spiritualist churches of African American New Orleans, it is one of the steps that come back from the past when people dance in the spirit."...
****
CORRECTION OF WIKIPEDIA PAGE ON JUBA DANCE THAT CITES A PAGE FROM MY COCOJAMS.COM WEBSITE [Update August 22, 2018]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba_dance includes this sentence: "Modern variations on the dance include Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley Beat" and the step-shows of African American Greek organizations.[1].[This is the end of quote as of August 22, 2018. An earlier version of this sentence read "African American and "Latino Greek organizations"]
That sentence is footnoted as #1 and cites a post on my voluntarily deleted cocojams.com cultural website. As of August 22, 2018 that footnote leads to an early cocojams.com post on the song “Jim Along Josie”. Previously, the wayback.com machine linked to an early cocojams.com post on the song "Hambone". The "Jim Along Josie" page doesn't mention "pattin Juba" or "Hambone", but the "Hambone" page noted that some* stepping routines that are performed by historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities include body chest and thigh body patting which can be considered a contemporary form of pattin Juba (hamboning). Because all step show routines don't include body patting, it's a misinterpretation of my comments to indicate that I said that that step-shows are modern variations of the Juba Dance, Hambone, and/or the Bo Diddley beat
*The bold font is used here to emphasize this point.
The Addendum on stepping below includes additional comments and a YouTube example of body patting in a stepping routine.
****
HAITIAN JUBA DANCING
It's interesting to note that body patting isn't a feature of Juba dancing in Haiti as shown in this video of that dance filmed in 1936-1937
Haitian Djouba Dancing
Cunya jele muePublished on Nov 15, 2012
This clip is from a field recording done by the American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax during his trip to Haiti in 1936-1937. This scene was filmed in Carrefour DuFort/Kalfou Difó, at a dance held by a Sosyete Djouba, which is an old traditional mutual aid and communal work society once prevalent in the Haitian countryside. This is an excellent example of djouba drumming and dancing -also known as danse Matinik. The tanbou djouba (or tanbou Matinik) was a barrel drum, headed with a goatskin, and played laid down on the floor in a "transverse-heeled style" by the tanbouyé. Two kata sticks provide the accompanying rhythm, and are played on the back of the tanbou by the katalyé. The dance is led by a Komandyé, who first demonstrates his dancing prowess by executing steps in front of the assembled dancers and audience. Then the dance is executed, which is a figure dance in the form of a square Contredanse, with the komandyé calling out the changes in figures for the couples. NOTE - the music playing here is NOT actually djouba. The original field recording did not have audio, and the music heard here is actually a Kongo rhythm played by the same drummers at the same event, and with the djouba instrumentation. The sosyete played both djouba and kongo as part of their traditional repertoire
****
AFRICAN ROOTS OF BODY PATTING - Traditional Jola dancing
Ulf Jägfors, Uploaded on Sep 29, 2006
This video shows traditional Jola body patting and dances by girls from Mlomp, Casamance region, Southern Senegal. It was recorded at The Akonting Center for Senegambian folkmusic, Mandinari, Gambia July 2006
****
VIDEOS OF PATTIN JUBA (HAMBONE)
Video #1: Derique McGhee @ Lincoln Center 8-12-10
Derique McGhee @ Lincoln Center 8-12-10
Uploaded by newsriffs on Aug 13, 2010
"The International Body Music Festival, offered this performance of traditional African American Hambone. When the man takes your drums away, this is the alternative."
****
Example #2: Traditional Hambone
Uploaded by atn151 on Aug 28, 2008
Dry Branch Fire Squad founding member Ron Thomason performs traditional Hambone at the Gettysburg Bluegrass festival, 2008.
****
Example #3: hambone - Steve McCraven
mycompasstv, Uploaded on Oct 26, 2011
Great hambone technique from Archie Shepp's drummer Steve McCraven.
Recorded in Tunisia at the Tabarka International Jazz Festival.
video: Stephen Smith
****
THE BO DIDDLEY BEAT
The rock & roll singer/musician Bo Diddley used this beat so much in his records that it became known as the "Bo Diddley" beat. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Diddley to read more about Blues and R&B singer, musician, song writer Bo Diddley. Here's an excerpt from that Wikipedia page:
"He [Bo Diddley] recorded for Chicago's Chess Records subsidiary label Checker. Bo Diddley is best known for the "Bo Diddley beat", a rhumba-based beat (see clave) also influenced by what is known as "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:
One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four" etc."
-snip-
Bo Diddley used the "Hambone" beat in so many of his songs that the beat was referred to as the "Bo Diddley Beat". Here's a video of one of his hit songs "Bo Diddley":
BO DIDDLEY 1965
SURFSTYLEY4, Uploaded on Mar 20, 2011
-snip-
Here are the lyrics to that song:
Bo Diddley
(Ellas McDaniel) 1955
Bo Diddley bought his babe a diamond ring,
If that diamond ring don't shine,
He gonna take it to a private eye,
If that private eye can't see
He'd better not take the ring from me.
Bo Diddley caught a nanny goat,
To make his pretty baby a Sunday coat,
Bo Diddley caught a bear cat,
To make his pretty baby a Sunday hat.
Mojo come to my house, ya black cat bone,
Take my baby away from home,
Ugly ole mojo, where ya bin,
Up your house, and gone again.
Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley have you heard?
My pretty baby said she wasn't for it.
From www.stlyrics.com/songs/b/bodiddley598/bodiddley335168.html
-snip-
Ellas McDaniel is Bo Diddley's real name.
****
LYRICS - HAMBONE
(Like other folk songs, there are multiple versions of the song "Hambone". Here are two of those versions. These versions aren't presented in any particular order. Notice the similarities between example #2 and Bo Diddley's song.)
HAMBONE (Example #1)
Hambone Hambone pat him on the shoulder
If you get a pretty girl, I'll show you how to hold her.
Hambone, Hambone, where have you been?
All 'round the world and back again.
Hambone, Hambone, what did you do?
I got a train and I fairly flew.
Hambone, Hambone where did you go?
I hopped up to Miss Lucy's door.
I asked Miss Lucy would she marry me.
(in falsetto) "Well I don't care if Papa don't care!"
First come in was Mister Snake,
He crawled all over that wedding cake.
Next walked in was Mister Tick,
He ate so much it made him sick.
Next walked in was Mister Coon,
We asked him to sing us a wedding tune,
Now Ham-....
Now Ham....
-Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes, "Step It Down, Games, Plays, Songs & Stories From The Afro-American Heritage (Athens, Ga; University of Georgia Press, 1972, pps 34-36)
-snip-
Notice the similarities between this song and the song "Frog Went A Courtin."
****
HAMBONE (Example #2)
Hambone! Hambone!
Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I'm going again
What you gonna do when you come back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track
Hambone
Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa's gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don't sing
Papa's gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don't shine
Papa's gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone
Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I'm going again
I just skinned an alley cat
To make my wife a Sunday hat
Took the hide right off a goat
To make my wife a Sunday coat
Hambone, hambone
Where's your wife
Out to the kitchen, cooking beans and rice
Hambone
Hambone
Hambone, hambone
Trying to eat
Ketchup on his elbow, pickle on his feet
Bread in the basket
Chicken in the stew
Supper on the fire for me and you
Look at him holler, look at him moan
That hambone just can't hambone
Hambone
Hambone
Hambone Lyrics
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
PERKINS, CARL / WALKER, WAYNE P.
Source: http://www.cduniverse.com/tennessee-ernie-ford-hambone-lyrics-6008330.htm
-snip-
Notice the similarities between this song and the song "Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry".
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT STEPPIN & A VIDEO OF STEPPIN; (Revised August 22, 2018)
"Steppin" is an African American movement art. When other American groups (including Latino/a groups) perform steppin, they are basing their performance on a tradition that originated with African Americans. That said, steppin could also be influenced by various African dance traditions, particularly the traditions of South African gumboot dancing.
That said, an argument could be made that South African gumboot dancing was influenced by historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority stepping. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/correcting-record-south-african-boot.html
Here's one excerpt from that post that quotes passages from Elizabeth C. Fine's book SoulStepping: African American Step Shows :
p. 78
The rubber boot or gumboot dancing... is an excellent example of the complex relationships between African and African American music and dance. Gumboot dancing (isicathulo), one of the first urban working-class dances in South Africa, may have been developed in rural missions by Zulu pupils who were not allowed to perform traditional dances. The word isicathulo, Hugh Tracey notes, means “shoe”. When the students danced the shoes that missions required them to wear created louder sounds than did bare feet. Around the time of World War I “rural, urban, mission, and working-class performance traditions” intermingled in isicathulo, which “as a step-dance” was closely related if not identical to other dance forms that had evolved earlier among farm laborers and inhabitants of the rural reserves.” (3)
Erlmann suggest that isicathulo dancers “frequently indulge in sophisticated solo stepping, prototypes of which had been available to migrant workers, from the mid-1920s through Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire movies as well as touring black tap dance groups.” Indeed, South Africans were exposed to African American music and dance traditions as early as 1890, when Orpheus M. McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers spent almost five years touring South Africa. In subsequent years, black South Africans came to the United States. One, the famous “ragtime composer Reuben T. Caluza, renowned “as a skilled isicathulo dancer”, enrolled in Virginia’s Hampton Institute in 1930 to earn a B.A. in music. Caluza and three other students from Africa formed the African Quartette performing both songs and dances along the East Coast.
They even sang for Franklin D. Roosevelt Quartet member Dwight Sumner wrote that in their summer tour of 1931 the “African Quartette sang Zulu songs, under the direction of Mr. Caluza, and also gave African folk dances.” It is likely that Caluza shared his talents with students. If so, members of fraternities and sororities could have incorporated some gumboot movements into stepping. Caluza went on to earn a masters degree at Columbia University in 1935, where again he could have shared gumboot dancing with students.
Malone notes that during the 1970s and 1980s gumboot dancing “was introduced in North American urban areas and showcased by many of the dance companies that performed styles of traditional African dances.” Evidence from Erlmann, however, suggest the possibility if a much earlier exposure to gumboot dancing and, conversely, the incorporation of African American influences into South African dances. Caluza’s story is only one small example of the continuous interactions among Africans and African Americans that created a complex interaction between music and dance forms on both continents"...
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Here's one example of a steppin routine that includes body patting that is performed by a historical Black Greek lettered fraternity:
Alpha Phi Alpha Steps
Willy R·Uploaded on Nov 2, 2006
DI Step Show
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