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 Part IV of a four part 2024 pancocojams series on the song "Funga Alafia".
This post presents 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 and thanks to publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE FANGA DANCE
The following quote is given as Excerpt #2 in Part III of this pancocojams series.
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-
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.
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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 Part IV of this four part 2024 pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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