tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post8355119027837764046..comments2024-03-28T07:58:41.643-04:00Comments on pancocojams: Some Information About The Mardi Gras Indian's Traditional Song "Iko Iko" (with lyrics for three versions of that song) Azizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-26055860932436706532023-09-24T18:11:17.543-04:002023-09-24T18:11:17.543-04:00Anonymous, thanks for your comment about the langu...Anonymous, thanks for your comment about the language spoken by Mardi Gras Indians and thanks for referring that book to visitors of this blog who are interested in this subject.<br /><br />I appreciate it. Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-48239611056693450182023-09-24T17:51:25.460-04:002023-09-24T17:51:25.460-04:00The “Indian language” is, as you say, a smattering...The “Indian language” is, as you say, a smattering of this and that. Fact is, New Orleans was full of Italians from the early 1800’s on, and “Giacomo, fine non n’e” literally means, “James, there is no end.” That is probably what they were imitating, certainly at least the “Giacomo” part. Check out a great book on the history of Italians in New Orleans and their food culture, “Creole Italian” by Justin Nystrom. He goes into all that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-38615716102143328672021-02-21T15:12:38.930-05:002021-02-21T15:12:38.930-05:00I haven't found the lyrics to the version of &...I haven't found the lyrics to the version of "Jokomo" that Danny Barker recorded in 1946 under the group name Danny Barker and his Creole Cats. <br /><br />If anyone knows these lyrics, please share them in that YouTube discussion thread or here at pancocojams.<br /><br />By the way, the summary to that YouTube sound file gives a link to a web page on my no longer available cocojams.com cultural website. That website had general information about Mardi Gras Indians as well as some lyrics and comments about certain Mardi Gras Indian songs. However, I don't recall my cocojams website having any lyrics for any Danny Barker songs.<br /><br />Here's that summary from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deQP1VeCi4s&ab_channel=MaddyTube" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deQP1VeCi4s&ab_channel=MaddyTube</a>, excluding that cocojams link:<br />" "Jockamo" ( Chocko Mo ) is a Mardi Gras Indian chant, from the African-American community of New Orleans and dating back to times when French (and/or various Creole French dialects) was spoken as commonly as English. The song itself is not really (or not entirely) in French ~ Indian "language" is a mysterious patois that only a few initiates understand. Or maybe nobody really knows it at all, but the members of the various tribes want the rest of us to believe that they are indeed custodians of an ancient secret language." Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-38243674724826129472021-02-21T13:41:02.376-05:002021-02-21T13:41:02.376-05:00Here's a children's version of "Iko I...Here's a children's version of "Iko Iko" that I found in 2007 on a "streetplay: Girl Games Clap And Rhymes Archive" website for children's rhymes. The link for that website is no longer viable. <br /><br />"My grandmother and your grandmother, sittin by the fire<br />My grandmother says to your grandmother, gonna set your flag on fire<br />Talkin bout hey now, hey now, iko iko anay<br />Talkin bout fena, ana lay, talkin bout fena lay.<br /><br />My fat boy and your fat boy, sittin by the fire<br />My fat boy says to your fat boy, gonna set your flag on fire<br />Talkin bout hey now, hey now, iko iko aney<br />Talkin bout fena, ana lay, talkin bout fena lay.<br />-By Anonymous on Monday, May 1, 2000<br />-snip-<br />I'd like to emphasize that this example shows how childen might misunderstand, mishear, or misremember words to a song, rhyme, or chant and then change those words to ones that make sense to them. In that example "feena ne" was changed to fena lay" and "flag boy" was changed to "fat boy".<br /><br />This streetplay example isn't meant to suggest that this was he way that Mardi Gras Indian adults sung or chanted "Iko Iko".Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-37264108069961382012021-02-21T13:06:45.113-05:002021-02-21T13:06:45.113-05:00Here's a link to a very long Mudcat (folk musi...Here's a link to a very long Mudcat (folk music forum) discussion thread entitled "Jacomo finane? What does that mean?" <a href="https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=23200" rel="nofollow">https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=23200.</a><br /><br />The comments on that discussion thread (including some comments that I wrote in 2007) were published from Jul 11, 2000 to Dec. 19, 2015. <br />(That comment section is still open which means that new comments can be added.)<br /><br />Here's one comment from that discussion thread that was posted by a person who lives/ed in New Orleans, Louisiana.<br /><br />Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean?<br />From: PoppaGator<br />Date: 04 Apr 07 - 02:53 PM<br /><br />..."I don't think we can "nail down" any definitive meanings for any of this stuff (unfamiliar words, etc.) that comes from the Mardi Gras Indians. As someone mentioned above, today's Indians themselves no longer know what all the words and phrases mean!<br /><br />This stuff is ancient, and comes from a culture that has had very little (if any) written history, just an oral tradition passed along in a dead language that may or may not have evolved from Creole French patois, long-lost African vocabularies, and maybe a little bit of Italian picked up from New Orleans' Sicilian-immigrant population (a possible, if unlkely, source for a refernce to "Giacomo" the Carnivale jester.)<br /><br />A few random footnotes:<br /><br />Uptown tribes tend to pronounce it "fee-nah-nay," but downtown Indians say "fee-on-day." The two different pronunciations also both appear on commerical recordings. That alone should put some doubt on any attempt at an "accurate" translation!<br /><br />Sugarboy Crawford made the first commercial recording based on a Mardi Gras Indian chant, but by no stretch of the imagination did he "write" Jock-A-Mo/Iko Iko."...<br />Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.com