SaintAnthonyOne, Sep 16, 2016
"Granny Nanny Train ah Come, Walk in Deh". Step in
and jump to the pulsating indigenous Maroons' Drumbeats. The Moore Town Maroons
Granny Nanny Cultural Group."
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This Maroon performance group sing this song while they do their traditional dance around a circle. Two drummers are seated inside the circle. Some audience members dance along with The Moore Town Maroons Granny Nanny Cultural Group.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a 2016 YouTube video of Jamaica's Moore Town Maroons Granny Nanny Cultural Group performing the song "Granny Nanny Train Ah Come (Walk In Deh)" (also found as "Maroon Train Ah Come (Walk In Deh)."
This post also showcases a sound file of another Jamaican Maroon song "Granny Nanny Come Oh" and provides some information about Queen Nanny who is also known as "Granny Nanny".
I've searched online, but haven't found any words for these Jamaican Maroon call & response songs.
Please add to the folkloric record by sharing these songs' lyrics and by sharing any information you may have about when these songs were first sung and whether they are religious songs or social resistence/protest songs or both. Also, are the composer/s of these songs known?
The content of this post is presented for cultural, historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the Maroon cultural groups for helping to keep alive the music legacy of the Jamaican Maroons.Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click the tags given below for more information about Jamaica's Maroons and about Jamaica's Granny Nanny.
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YOUTUBE SOUND FILE
The Granny Nanny Cultural Group- Topic, January 6, 2017
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE MAROON QUEEN NANNY (GRANNY NANNY)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_of_the_Maroons
"Queen Nanny, Granny Nanny or Nanny or Nanny of the Maroons
(c. 1686 – c. 1755), was an 18th-century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She
led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons.[1]
In the early 18th century, under the leadership of Nanny, the Windward Maroons
fought a guerrilla war over many years against British authorities in the
Colony of Jamaica in what became known as the First Maroon War.
Much of what is known about her comes from oral history, as little textual evidence exists. According to Maroon legend, Queen Nanny was born in what is today Ghana of the Akans people.[2] According to the oral tradition and at least one documentary source, she was never enslaved.[2] ...
During the years of warfare, the British suffered significant losses in their encounters with the Windward Maroons of eastern Jamaica. Maroons attributed their success against the British to the successful use of supernatural powers by Nanny, but historians argue that the Maroon mastery of guerrilla warfare played a significant role in their success. Having failed to defeat them on the battle field, the British sued for peace, signing a treaty with them on 20 April 1740.[2] The treaty stopped the hostilities, provided for state sanctioned freedom for the Maroons, and granted 500 acres of land to Nanny and her followers. The village built on the land grant still stands and today is called Moore Town. It is also known as the New Nanny Town. Modern members of the Moore Town celebrate 20 April 1740 as a holiday.
In 1975, the government of Jamaica declared Nanny as their
only female national hero celebrating her success as a leader, military
tactician and strategist.[3] Her image is also on the Jamaican $500 note which
is called a Nanny in Jamaican slang.
[...]
According to Maroon oral history, Nanny's success in
defending her people against overwhelming British forces was often attributed
to her mysterious supernatural powers. According to legend, Nanny had magical
powers, and could catch bullets and then redirect them back at the people who
shot at her.[1]
[...]
Some claim that Queen Nanny lived to be an old woman, dying
of natural causes in the 1760s. The exact date of her death remains a mystery.
Part of the confusion is that "Nanny" is an honorific title*, and many
high-ranking women were called that in Maroon Town. However, the Maroons are
adamant that there was only one "Queen Nanny."[24]
According to Maroon oral history, Nanny's remains are buried
at "Bump Grave" in Moore Town.[25]
Nanny is celebrated in Jamaica and abroad:
The government of Jamaica declared Queen Nanny a National Hero in 1975. Colonel C.L.G. Harris of Moore Town, then a Senator in Jamaica's upper house, was the driving force behind the move to recognise Nanny as a National Heroine.[25]
Her portrait is featured on the $500 Jamaican dollar bill,
which is colloquially referred to as a "Nanny".[26]
Nanny is celebrated every October on Jamaican National Heroes
Day.[27]
Nanny's Monument is located in Moore Town, Portland,
Jamaica.[28]
Nannyville Gardens, a residential community located in
Kingston, Jamaica, was founded in 1977 and named after her.
The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery,
Resistance and Abolition at Yale University in the United States uses Nanny's
portrait in its logo. The Center sponsors research and conferences on slavery
in the Americas."
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*Regarding the sentence given above that "Nanny" is an honorific title*, and many high-ranking women were called that in Maroon Town", in Jamaican Maroon culture, the word "Nanny" originated from the Akan word "Nana".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-nana-means-in-akan-culture-its-use.html#:~:text=%5Bin%5D%20%22the%20Twi%20language,venerable%20Ancestress%20and%20venerable%20Ancestor.%22
for a 2014 pancocojams post entitled "What "Nana" Means In Akan
Culture & The Use Of The Word In Jamaican Maroons & By African
Americans".
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