Two Videos Of Jamaica's Revivalist Music & Dancing (with selected comments)

Rant Jamaica, Jan 9, 2017

Kumina is both a dance and an African derived religion in Jamaica that is primarily based on african immigrants from the Congo-Angola region in west-central Africa. The region provided Jamaica with the 3rd largest African population in the country. This video gives some insight into Kumina. Please enjoy.  I am not sure where the original source of this clip is from. If anyone knows this documentary or new reports please forward the information. I would like to get my hands on a copy. Thanks!!
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Since I published this pancocojams post I have learned that the term "Pocomania" is considered offensive and that "Kumina" should be used as a referent for the  Jamaican dance form and not a referent for certain Revivalist churches. Because of that I've changed the title of this post and I changed some of the references in this post.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: Dec. 8, 2021

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series about Revival churches in Jamaica.

This post showcases two YouTube videos of Revivalist music and dancing. Selected comments from the discussion threads for these videos are included in that post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/10/video-of-history-of-revival-church-in.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I showcases two videos about the Revival church in Jamaica. The first video presents information about the history of that Christian denomination and the second video showcases Zion Sacred Heart Christian Church, a Jamaican Revival church. 

Click fo https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/10/2010-video-about-watt-town-revival.html  for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II showcases a YouTube video of Jamaica's Revival churches. Part II also provides a complete reprint of Part II of a 2015 Jamaican Gleaners' three part series on Kumina.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and religious purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks to the producers of these embedded videos, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on Jamaican Revival churches. Click the "Jamaican Revivalist Religion" tag for more posts in this series, including "General Information About Jamaica's Revivalists Religious Denominations (with YouTube video: "Who are Zion Revival people ?") http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/04/general-information-about-jamaicas.html and "Seven Videos Of Jamaican Revivalists Thanksgiving Tables (with information & comments)" http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/04/seven-videos-of-jamaican-revivalists.html .

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DEFINITION OF KUMINA (DANCE)

[Pancocojams Editor's Note: The following definition of Kumina includes a reference to that performance tradition 

I am quoting this description for some, but not all of its content. The little I know about Kumina, I gleaned from online reading. As a community folklorist, I have no way of authenticating what is written about Kumina. Re-reading this definition, I noted that it indicates that Kumina originating in the "Congo region of West Africa". The Congo is in Central Africa and there is no "Congo region of West Africa". Also, I am concerned that that description refers to enslaved Africans as "indentured Africans". In spite of these serious concerns, it's likely that that description(whose scholarly source isn't given) contains some accurate information which is why I'm leaving it in this post. 

From https://www.flickr.com/photos/28320522@N08/8167027918
"Kumina, also spelt Cumina, is a dance-music ritual centred on communication with the ancestors. It is said to have originated in the Congo region of West Africa and as such has the greatest African retention of all the Jamaican folk dances. Indentured Africans who came here in the 1840s to 1860s, many of whom settled in St. Thomas, where the practice is strongest, are said to have been the carriers or stimulants.

The motions and positions used in the dance are exclusively African style. Kumina ceremonies are usually associated with wakes and entombment, but can also be performed at birth, anniversaries and thanksgivings.

The drums play an integral part in the dance ritual. The lead drummer is afforded respect for his competence in playing the variety of rhythms which control the many spirits and deities…The drummers sit on the body of the drums using both hands and feet, while a player beats the “Catta” sticks in a steady rhythm on the back of one of the drums. Shakas and grater are other instruments used in Kumina ceremonies.

The dancers move in a circular pattern anti-clockwise around the drummers in the centre inching their feet along the ground with the back held in an almost erect posture. The hips, rib cage, shoulders and arms become involved as spins, dips and breaks in the body movements occur throughout the dance "
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Here's a quote from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumina
"Kumina is also known as Pukkumina or Pocomania, although the latter term is largely pejorative.^[4] It is a form of Jamaican Revivalism."

However, Jake Wumkes in  "Mystic Medicine: Afro-Jamaican Religio-Cultural Epistemology and the Decolonization of Health" (2020). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 
https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/8311 differentiates "Kumina" from the form of Revivalism that has been referred to as "Pocomania" which was established in 1861.  

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BRIEF NOTE ABOUT JAMAICA'S REVIVAL CHURCHES
From http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/the-rise-of-revivalism-in-jamaica_122140?profile=1470 "The rise of Revivalism in Jamaica" by Shalman Scott, January 21, 2018

"Revivalists are known widely as Revival Zion, Zionist, Revival, and Pocomania — [These churches are] a blend of Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal beliefs and practices with modified African beliefs and practices added.
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO #1

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. bcom11, 2017

"this make me so happy to see. jamaicans preserving our african roots. we need more learning about this."

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2. Tosto Amico, 2017
"so they came from the anterior of congo?they are  singing about mayi ndombe(the  dark / black water). i think somebody from kongo  can understand what they are saying i think that they are bakongo.."

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Reply
3. ProudMommy: SoRaya😍, 2020
"We have Akan ancestry yes but not just.... we are as Congolese as we are Ghanaian. Let's not give only one credit. Congo deserves such since it singlehandedly influenced the entire western hemisphere. Literally every black population in the western hemisphere has Congolese roots among others."

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4. zak Du 209, 2017

"she sing like akan ashanti"

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Reply
5. Mavoungou Kelanou, 2019
"Nope, that's a Bakongo rhythm. And I can understand some of the things she said, for example the yétu na yétu in the song."

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Reply
6. omalone11, 2018
"Mansueki Milandu any idea what song they are singing"
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"Mansueki Milandu" appears to be another screen name for Mavoungou Kelanou.

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Reply
7. Mavoungou Kelanou, 2021
"@omalone11  due to the time they have spent in Jamaica, I guess there is a modification and evolution of the language but what I've been able to understand is Kumina which means arrived, ma ndombé (mama wa ndombi) which means black mother (a female divinity in the Kongo kingdom) and yetu na yetu which means between us/among us.

I will show the video to my mother who can speak a very good Kongo language and I'm sure she will tell me more about what she understands."

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8. Sean Reid, 2019
"This is so beautiful , but I think the government should do more in educating and preserving our culture ."

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9. H, 2019
"The killing of the goat was done for my grandfather's funeral. Is this practice specific to Kumina or do the ashanti and yoruba do it too?"

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10. Steve Ghany, 2020
"Yes it is done in the yoruba tradition as well here in trinidad we offer a goat for many diffrent aspects as well as for our ancestors"

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11. Marilyn Lawson, 2020
"Three Jamaican folk dances I remember learning about. are Brukkings, Ettu, and Kumina!"

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Reply
12. Jamaican Drilla, 2021
"Don't forget Dinki mini"

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13. Marilyn Lawson, 2021
"@Jamaican Drilla , thank you so much for the reminder."

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14. Mavoungou Kelanou, 2020
"Kumina means arrived.

Ma Ndombé (mama wa ndombi) means black mother which is a female divinity in the Kongo kingdom.

Yetu na Yetu means between us

That's what I understand in this song.

I'm happy to know that I got my bakongo people in Jamaica. I love Jamaicans ❤"️

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Reply
15. Noemi Jazzmine, 2020
"Same I’m congolese and I can pick out similarities in our cultures"

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Reply
16. carsty, 2021
"sorry what language is this, slaves came from Congo? my Congolese friend dont know dis"

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Reply
17. Mavoungou Kelanou, 2021
"@carsty  they are using some kikongo words. Congo is big and we have so many languages. Maybe your Congolese friend is not from the Kongo tribe or he simply don't speak the language."

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Reply
18. carsty, 2021
"@Mavoungou Kelanou  apologies i meant she is not aware of slaves coming fron Congo just west africa or maybe its just, not on about the language"

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19. Mavoungou Kelanou, 2021
"@carsty  ooh ok I get you.

They mostly took slaves in west and Central Africa."

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20. Jamaican Drilla, 2021
"It's sad that Christianity  is/was forced on us but we still preserve our cultural. And another thing I notice when I was small and when I used to travel to my grand parents house in  St Mary I used to experience this on the regular and I was so comfortable with it as to going to Sunday school and that always made me wonder...."

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21. Bianca Bonner, 2020
"The woman dem inna myal to the end"

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VIDEO #2 : Kumina jamaican tradition of African origin

Michael Taylor, Jan 31, 2015

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO #1

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. Keisha Unfiltered, 2016
"Good kumina music but the ladies arent doing kumina dance at all."

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2. William A, 2016
"Hi Michael, did you film these musicians by yourselves?? These drummers play in a very similar way to our bèlè drummers in Martinique. You need to see the similarities, it is incredible!! Thanks for your answer. William (UK)"

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Reply
3. Eduardo Pereira, 2021
"Black people in Venezuela, French Guiana and some states in Brazil play drums very similar to bèlè and kumina, with 2 drums and sticks... There are black communities in Brazil, Gouadeloupe, Honduras and Cuba that uses 2 or 3 horizontal drums too, but with no sticks..."

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4. Eduardo Pereira, 2021
" @The Bossman  According to SlaveVoyages.org database, 174,000 african people arrived with life in Martinique as slaves: about 50,000 from Bight of Benin, 37,000 from West Central Africa (Congo-Angola-Gabon), 35,000 from unspecified ports, 21,000 from Bight of Biafra, 11,000 from Gold Coast, 9,000 from Senegambia, 4,000 from Windward Coast (Liberia), 3,000 from Sierra Leone, 1,000 from Indian Ocean Coast."

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5. Mansueki Milandu, 2018
"Bakongo people of Jamaica"

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6. Real Men Wear Black, 2018
"Bantu!"

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7. Niveau Za Nda, 2019
"I'm African , from the Bakongo tribe and there is no way you can convince me that these people are not Bakongo , the rhythm, the language, dances are so similar to my culture."

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8. Luna Lea, 2019
"My spirit must remember this music, because it always calls me as a small girl in Jamaica and still.🇯🇲🧜‍♀️🌻💚"

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9. Lataisha Roseman, 2020
"I grew up in St. Thomas parish of Jamaica and I didn’t appreciate this music and knew the significance of it until i was as an adult. This is beautiful African music passed down from the ancestors from the mother land (Africa)"

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Reply
10. Sanique Osbourne, 2020
"Same me grow up in st Thomas"

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11. Lataisha Roseman, 2020
"Sanique Osbourne where in St. Thomas?"

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12. Anigye3 AmbassadorOfMyBloodline, 2020
"Same I'm from Trinityville"

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13. Lataisha Roseman, 2020
" @Anigye3 AmbassadorOfMyBloodline  I'm from the bush. LOL. Pear Tree River."

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14. Anigye3 AmbassadorOfMyBloodline, 2020
"@Lataisha Roseman  Trinityville ah bus too, love it, bless up"

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15. David Comma, 2021
"Similar to Jamaican Kumina Drumming is Trinidad Orisha Drumming .Check Youtube  Orisha Drumming in Trinidad"
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There are a number of YouTube videos entitled "Orisha Drumming In Trinidad". Here's a link to one from 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enkgTkD-1q0&ab_channel=FireHouse

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16. natalia Taylor, 2021
"Tear tambo drum"

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17. Lisa Williams, 2021
"I just came back from St. Mary in Jamaica about a week ago, and this was at my uncle's set up(wake), i must of danced all night. Lets never forget our roots

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This concludes Part II of this three part pancocojams series on Jamaica's Revivalist churches.

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