Ric Silver (Who is Credited As Being The First Choreographer Of The Electric Slide Line Dance) Shared These Comments About That Dance In A 2012 Pancocojams Discussion Thread

Ric Silver - Dec 30, 2006

The Original choreography for The Electric Slide - Music(Electric Boogie) by permission of Marcia Griffith in good faith for using my Choreography in her earlier videos without permission -snip-
Comments are turned off.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - The Electric Slide - Single Line version (original choreography)

Ric Silver, Mar 17, 2007

This is not the best video - some of the younger kids got camera shy and made some mistakes - so pls disregard

Music(Electric Boogie) by permission of Marcia Griffith in good faith for using my Choreography in her earlier videos without permission
-snip-
Comments are turned off.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two YouTube videos that were posted by Ric Silver who is credited as being the first choreographer of the dance that is widely known as "The Electric Slide".

This post also showcases a 2018 YouTube video of Marcia Griffiths' "Electric Boogie" that shows people doing that line dance.

The focus of this post are comments that Ric Silvers added to the discussion thread for the pancocojams post that I published on January 5, 2012 " The History Of The Electric Slide (information & video)"  https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/history-of-electric-slide.html

As of August 30, 2025 at 5: 42 PM EDT, there are a total of 16 comments in the comment section for that 2012 pancocojams post. 

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Bunny Wailer for composing the song "Electric Boogie". Thanks to Marcia Griffiths for her hit song "Electric Boogie". Thanks to Ric Silvers for choreographing "The Electric Slide" and thanks to other people for their choreography of versions of that dance. Thanks to the R&B group Cameo for their song "Candy" which has become one of the songs that the Electric Slide line dance is performed to in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in some other nations. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/selected-videos-of-electric-slide.html for Part II of this 2012 pancocojam series entitled "Selected Videos Of The Electric Slide".

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YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MARCIA GRIFFITHS' "THE ELECTRIC BOOGIE"

MarciaGriffiths, Apr 7, 2018  #ElectricBoogie

This is the Official Promo Video.

 Audio:    • Marcia Griffiths - Electric Boogie (Audio) 

 Copyright: (C) 1990 The Island Def Jam Music Group

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ADDENDUM TO THE JANUARY 2012 POST ON THE ELECTRIC SLIDE [PART I]
Added on August 30, 2025
From August 20, 2025 through August 30, 2025 I published a number of pancocojams posts on African American (soul; urban, and zydeco) line dances. Click the African American line dances tag below for the links for those posts.

As part of this energy, I was led to revisit this post on the Electric Slide. 

Based on the comments that Ric Silver shared in the discussion thread for the 2012 pancocojams post on the Electric Slide https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/history-of-electric-slide.html , it appears that at one point I had added and then eventually removed information in that post about Ric Silver being the first person to choreograph the line dance that is widely known as "The Electric Slide".

Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on the Electric Slide dance that I retrieved on August 30, 2025:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Slide

"The Electric (better known as The Electric Slide) is a four wall line dance. Choreographer and dancer Richard L. "Ric" Silver claims to have created the dance in 1976.[1]

Dance popularity is sometimes attributed to its setting to Marcia Griffiths and Bunny Wailer's song "Electric Boogie", which was written and recorded for the first time in December 1982.[2][3][4]

There are several variations of the dance. The original choreography has 22 steps,[5] but variants include the Freeze (16-step), Cowboy Motion (24-step), Cowboy Boogie (24-step), and the Electric Slide 2 (18-step). The 18-step variation became popular in 1989 and for ten years was listed by Linedancer Magazine as the number-one dance in the world

The original dance was choreographed to be danced in two lines facing each other and in the course the opposite dancers circle each other.[1]

Controversy

In 2007, Silver filed DMCA-based take-down notices to YouTube users who posted videos of people performing the 18-step dance variation. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit on behalf of videographer Kyle Machulis against Silver, asking the court to protect Machulis's free speech rights in recording a few steps of the dance in a documentary video posted to the Internet.[6] On May 22, 2007, the EFF came to an agreement to settle the lawsuit: the settlement states that Silver will license the Electric Slide under a Creative Commons noncommercial license[7] and will also post the new license on any of his current or future websites that mention the Electric Slide.

The NPR reporter Patricia Meschino wrote: "Broadway Choreographer Ric Silver created the popular line dance the Electric Slide for the song-a routine Wailer nimbly demonstrates in a 1989 video".[8]

In recent decades, there has been some controversy regarding the creation year of the Electric Slide line dance. Silver claimed that he received a demo of the song 'Electric Boogie' in 1976, which he used to create his dance steps.[9] Yet according to Marcia Griffiths, the song 'Electric Boogie' was written for her by Bunny Wailer in early 1980s.[10]"...

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COMMENTS FROM RIC SILVER THAT HE SENT TO THAT PANCOCOJAMS POST'S DISCUSSION THREAD

This section also includes several replies/comments from Azizi Powell, pancocojams editor and one question directed to Ric Silvers from a pancocojams visitor.

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. NYCsDancerApril 15, 2016 at 2:13 PM

"I want to thank you for giving me credit for the dance - I have had many complaints because people say How could I have created the dance in 1976 when the song wasn't released until 1982 - well - it was recorded by Bob Marley and his band with Marcia singing and sent to DJs in NYC as a demo (one side pressing) to get feedback - I happened to be a very good friend of one of those DJs and one night as I entered the club on 42nd st. he said he had gotten in a new record that he was sure I was going to love - I did - and as I was leaving that night he handed me the 45 and I took it home and put in on the shelf - a few months later I was asked by my bosses at Vamps Disco to give a re-opening party and "Could I create a dance to premier at that party" - so I pulled the record off the shelf and created the dance - which took off immediately - the club had been designed for Professional Dancers Only - and so I had to create something that was challenging enough for them to enjoy - soon we had lines around the block wanting to get into the club - and the owners decided to open the doors to the general public - at which time I had to pear down the dance to the basics as it would have been too difficult for the average dancer - and so I only taught the 1st couple of sections of the dance - a gentleman from the Chicago area learned the dance correctly - but upon returning home found the dance too simple to have a repeated step (13-16 are supposed to be repeated) and so while teaching the dance he decided to drop the repeat and the dance ended up going around the world as an 18 step dance instead of a 22 step dance which is was originally created as - because my birthday is Jan 22nd - and I wanted it to have 22 steps to honor that"

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2.Azizi Powell, April 15, 2016 at 2:50 PM

"Thank you, NYCsDancer, for your comment which adds information about the creation of the dance now known as "The Electric Slide".

 Are you Ric Silver? If so, I'm honored that you shared that information on this blog.

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia's page on the Electric Slide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Slide:

"The Electric (better known as The Electric Slide) is a four wall line dance set to Marcia Griffiths' song "Electric Boogie". Choreographer Ric Silver created the dance in 1976 from a demo of the Marcia Griffiths recording and the original choreography has 22 steps.[1]"...

Thanks again!"

**

3. Azizi Powell, April 15, 2016 at 2:53 PM
"Here's another excerpt that I found on Ric Silver and the Electric Slide (Electric Boogie): http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7492263

..."Mr. RICHARD SILVER (Choreographer, Creator of Electric Slide): It's a series of grapevines to the right, back to the left then straight back and then you step forward and touch and step back and touch and you repeat that step, which is what everybody has forgotten. They don't do the repeat step.

(Soundbite of song, "Electric Boogie")

Ms. GRIFFITHS: (Singing) And I'll teach you, teach you, teach you, I'll teach the electric slide.

MONTAGNE: There are supposed to be 22 steps to the dance because Richard Silver was born on January 22. Most people only do 18.

Mr. SILVER: When I started going to weddings to bar mitzvahs myself and getting on the dance floor to do the dance and people are coming up to me saying you're doing it wrong, I got very upset.

MONTAGNE: So what do you say? Excuse me, I invented it?

Mr. SILVER: Yes."...
-snip-
"Also, for the record (no pun intended), Ric Silver, the invention of "The Electric Slide" isn't Black."

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4. NYCsDancer, April 16, 2016 at 8:20 AM
"Yes - I am Ric Silver - but my friends know me as New York City's Dancer - hense the email address.....and for the record - I am 1/2 Portuguese and 1/2 Swamp Yankee (or at least that's what grampa told me- which I found out through Ancestry dot com means a Scottish King's descendant came to America and laid with the Indians, French and whom ever else was around to create my Grandparents. My Grandmother was an Adams - and my Father's mother was a Princess in the Azores from Villa Estrellia"

**

5. Azizi Powell, April 16, 2016 at 11:46 AM
"Thanks for sharing that information with pancocojams readers. Ric.

I mentioned that you weren't Black because I thought that you were Black since the Electric Slide is so very popular among Black people, I jumped to the conclusion that a Black person had created the choreography.

Keep on keeping on!!"

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6. Ric Silver, September 3, 2018 at 11:53 AM

"A friend of mine found a 33 1/3 rpm recording on an Island Beats label (undated-listed Radio & DJ Copy) with two versions (3:58 & 6:35 min) that I posted to You-Tube that is the closest I have found to the original Reggae beat I choreographed the dance to."

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7. Ric Silver, September 3, 2018 at 11:58 AM

"the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSdMG0rNBMo&feature=youtu.be 
or just click on my name here and it will take you there..."

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8. Azizi Powell, September 3, 2018 at 1:17 PM
"Ric Silver, thanks for sharing this link to your original audio file of "Electric Boogie", more commonly known as "Electric Slide".

Here's that link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSdMG0rNBMo&feature=youtu.be.

Thanks for your contribution to dance music!"

**
9. Sam, April 22, 2022 at 11:02 AM

"Do you know where the video was shot?"

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10. NYCsDancer, April 22, 2022 at 12:14 PM

"Which video are you speaking of? My video of me teaching the dance was shot here in Niantic, Connecticut -

Marcia shot her videos in Jamaca I believe - but I can't be sure.ears was listed by Linedancer Magazine as the number-one dance in the world"

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Blair Underwood Performs The 1950s Stroll Dance Moves In His 2024 Jennifer Hudson Show "Spirit Tunnel"

 

 

@BRIGHTANDBOLDN
@BRIGHTANDBOLDN, November 1, 2024

Blair Underwood passed the vibe check ❤️—— Jennifer Hudson spirit tunnel #shorts
-snip-

Jennifer Hudson Show

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of this pancocojams series on the Jennifer Hudson Spirit Tunnel that was performed on October 30, 2024 by actor Blair Underwood.

This pancocojams post showcases the same YouTube video of actor Blair Underwood's Spirit Tunnel that is featured in Part I of this series, but focuses on Blair Underwood performance of Stroll line dance moves for his Spirit Tunnel.

This pancocojams post also showcases two YouTube videos of The Stroll line dance and presents some information about The Stroll line dance. In addition, this post presents some comments from the discussion thread of that first embedded 1950s Stroll video.

The Addendum to this pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of Black teenagers or young adults performing a dance called "The Walk" which was an adaptation of The Stroll. That post also presents some information about The Stroll line dance. All of the comments from the discussion thread for that video are included in this pancocojams post. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/01/blair-underwoods-jennifer-hudson-show.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video short of Blair Underwood's December 2024 Jennifer Hudson Show's Spirit Tunnel. That post also includes my unofficial transcription of the lyrics to that song. Additions and corrections are welcome.

Selected comments from the discussion thread for that embedded YouTube video short is also included in that pancocojams post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.  

Thanks to Jennifer Hudson and the staff of the Jennifer Hudson Show for conceptualizing, creating, and performing celebrity Spirit Tunnels.Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. 
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/01/blair-underwoods-jennifer-hudson-show.html for the closely related pancocojams post "Blair Underwood's Jennifer Hudson Show Spirit Tunnel (video, lyrics, and comments)".

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-real-originators-of-late-1950s-line.html "The REAL Originators Of The Late 1950s Line Dance 'The Stroll' : Part I: General Information & Selected YouTube Comments" 
-snip-
[This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series on The 1950s Stroll] 

In addition, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/black-teens-and-buddy-deane-show-1957.html Black Teens And The Buddy Deane Show (Baltimore, Maryland televised weekly teenage dance show1957-1964) 

and 

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/09/negro-day-on-buddy-deane-show-1957-1964.html "Negro Day" On The Buddy Deane Show (1957-1964 Baltimore, Maryland Teen Dance Show)". 

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT THE JENNIFER HUDSON SHOW SPIRIT TUNNEL
"The Spirit Tunnel" is a pre-show feature of the Jennifer Hudson Show in which a celebrity guest or guest is/are surprised* by Jennifer Hudson staff performing short a cappella personalized self-created chants or songs, usually to the accompaniment of their hand claps and foot stomping or foot patting. The staff stands in two lines in a hallway leading to the studio. The lines face each other with space in the middle. The celebrity guests are expected to dance or strut down their Spirit Tunnel to the beat of the song or chant that the staff vocalizes. Brian Underwood performed Stroll moves for his Spirit Tunnel.  

*Most of the earliest celebrities who experienced the Jennifer Hudson Show Spirit Tunnels from September through November 2024 were surprised by that pre-show taping feature. (One guest Courtney B. Vance wasn't surprised because two months before his appearance on the Jennifer Hudson Show, his wife Angela Bassett, had experienced her own  Spirit Tunnel. As a result of the video of Angela Bassett's Spirit Tunnel and some other early Spirit Tunnels going viral on YouTube and Tik Tok, by December 2024, most celebrities who appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show were aware that they would have their own Spirit Tunnel prior to their appearance on the actual talk show.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE #4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PajBJOnRYBI

These comments are presented in relative chronological order with the oldest comments given first. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

WARNING: Comment #15 is racist and is only included in this compilation for historical and socio-cultural purposes only. Some other comments in this compilation mention or allude to the assumption that all Black people can dance better than White people or other non-Black people.

2014

1. @brucedelaplain7138
"To the poster: please sync the music with the dancing. It makes no sense otherwise. ...Okay, now that I look further, I'm not even sure this is the music they were listening to. The music (which is awesome) stops and they just keep on dancing."

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Reply
2. @rgjraccoon
"Bruce Delaplain Sorry, but this is a WYSIWIG joint.  The folks at the Iowa State University Libraries, in an abundance of caution, deleted the audio of the songs from the entire 35 minute kinescope from which this clip was taken.

I have three other videos that were culled from this kinescope.  As I remember the other videos had tiny snips of the beginning and end of the songs.  With that, I could go to Sound Forge and adjust the length of my song audio to match, as closely as I could, the length of the song in the video.  See Maybe by The Chantels on my channel for what I was up against.  One of the dancers began lip-syncing to the music at about 1 min 40 sec.  It isn't perfect, but it's about as close as consumer grade software will do.

This is the recording to which the kids danced.  The host announced the title and artist of the song at the start of the video.  No, this one isn't synced up right and probably never will be. Iowa State Libraries completely clipped the end of the song audio on this one.  What You See Is What You Get."

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3. @sierria64
"lol soul train line for 50's"

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4. @lasalleman
"Robot dancers."

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Reply
5. @JACQUELLE2001
"OK?!!"

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6. @owlcritic
"couple#2, dude, teach your girl to stroll, couple#3, yea you got it."

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Reply
7. @JeanneDeSilver
"+james garrity I love the girl in couple #2; she laughs as she strolls down the aisle. I would like it better if the couples would look at each other once in a while!"

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8. @ryanssongrs
"I guess we know where they got the soul train line from now...... Strollin"

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9. @theministersal702
"dosent anyone smile ? must be a borrrrrring dance...looks it....and so out of time.....oh well that was us then..."

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10. @jerryarnold9431
"I AM NOT A RACIST BUT ITS PRETTY STRANGE WATCHING WHITE PEOPLE TRYING TO DANCE"

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2015

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2016

11. @witheringi9492
"The guys are better dancers"

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Reply

12. @LuCas-ej1od
"yep. the girls are stiff!"

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13. @j-rich
"it os synced white people just dont have no rhythm"

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2017

14. @NathanThePrezPretlow
"WHERE  THE BLACK STUDENTS ? What kind  of  fun is this.Thank god  for  the 1960's it's  revolution is  coming.F this so call innocent  1950's.That was  a front to hide the  racism on these dance  tv shows."

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Reply
15. @nuttybar9
"Maybe they were in prison  isn't that your favorite past time."

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16. @dianemillican9227
"I was 11yrsold when I learned the stroll in 1957!I can say I had a lot more rhythm then these kids"

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Reply
17. @eddieseymour9675
"Back in the 70s when I was a kid my mom taught me how to do this, she was a teen in the 50's so she loved this dance."

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18. @KandisG
"They don't look like they are having much fun at all! Smile kids! This is as good as it gets :)"

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2018

19. @bigdancd
"Talk about your two left feet! Someone should have taught these rich white kids how to dance. They're not even with the beat. Glad Momma sent this white kid to tap and modern jazz dance classes for 7 years. Helped me a lot when I became an adult."

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2019

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2020

20.@elcruzer5514
"I insisted on playing a stroll at my Senior Prom in 1974.

My girlfriend and I had been practicing,so we thought we were height of cool.

The Stroll hadn't been heard since the 60's.and everyone else was Pogoing."

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21. @TheWizardOfTheFens
"Nobody looks like they’re having fun!....."

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2021

22. @noreenceraulo8420
"This is the saddest looking group of strollers. We used imagination & turned around without always holding hands AND we smiled!! We had fun!!"

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23. @jacquelynthompson3283
"Just so basic do u have any video of Black people doing the stroll 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️"

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2022

24. @duanemiller4083
"They don't look like they enjoy dancing."

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Reply
25. @lindalaw8368, 2023
"They had stage fright and were scared of the camera. Either that or they used LSD. Damn."

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26. @sharonreeves2949
"Bless em, so nervous, barely a smile until the ordeal is over. The lads focussing so much on getting the steps right, they hardly pay attention to their company. Its a lovely window into the time, the delightful innocence of the age, despite it being affected by knowing they were being filmed. Did you see the girl start to laugh and the boy shush her? They were obviously told not to make a sound in front of the camera. Even though its a bit arteficial, it still shows the vast difference between a school dance then and 20 years later, when I went, in the UK, and the dance round your handbags era and prog rock that killed romance forever...'Hi Ho Silver Lining' ended every school 'disco', no longer 'I Only Have Eyes For you' 😢"

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27. @cynthiapickett7403
"The girls don't look very enthusiastic, unlike the guys."

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28. @killerdillr
"This is Camel Walk but execute very tamed. They might call i The Stroll in the fifties but look up where it came from."

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2023

29. @mattsmith6741
"This  video took place at the local ABC affiliate in Des Moines Iowa. That channel 5 and the state of iowa in the background .. interesting  it’s all white kids but than again this was a local teen show in Des Moines , Iowa ."

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30. @brianparton8934
"The younger ones don't seem to enjoy this.  "All my buddies are going to razz me for dancing....on TV!"

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31. @alpha-omega2362
"nothing more than the ole Virginia Reel.."

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32. @lesterjordan1317
"Soul Train Line !!!! NOT"

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2024

33. @lorrainebowens1446
"They are said i agree mymom .uncles.aunts use to turn around doing the stoll they need black peoplle shw them how it go😢😢😮😮"
-snip-
“Said” in this comment Is probably a typo for “sad”.

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34. @johntyrone3639
"It was The Virginia Reel, that gave birth to The Stroll....:"

ADDITIONAL SHOWCASE YOUTUBE VIDEOS 

EXAMPLE #2 - The Original Stroll - February 1958

MrMemories, Feb 4, 2011

On a local television dance show in Idaho in February 1958, local teens dance to one of the biggest dance crazes out of the late-1950's called The Stroll, which originated from American Bandstand. This dance was performed in a line formed with boys on one side and girls on the other, creating an isle between them. The boy and girl in the front of the line would meet up in the middle, grab hands and stroll their way down the line, as the other kids in the line would move their way up to the front using the same dance steps that the couple moving down the line would use, but move from side to side instead. When the first couple made their way down the line, another couple would meet in the middle and stroll down the isle.

Today, a new version of The Stroll is done in the form of a group line dance, but this is how it was done originally.
-snip-
Seventeen is the name of a teenage dance show that was aired on WOI-TV Ames Iowa. The Stroll line dance was created by Black Americans in 1957.

The Stroll was popularized in 1960 by the dancers on the White teenage dancers on the hit television series American Bandstand. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any film or video clips of Black Americans doing the Stroll in the 1950s or since then, including the 2020s.

The video summary by MrMemories that is given above refers to a new version of The Stroll. I haven't found any other referent to a new version of that dance.

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EXAMPLE #3- American Bandstand 1957 & 1968 - The Stroll, The Diamonds

YouCanDanceToIt!, Feb. 3, 2018

To celebrate AB's 11th anniversary, the kids in 1968 try to do The Stroll to a clip of the kids in Philadelphia from 1957. Airdate: Aug. 17, 1968
Music: The Diamonds - "The Stroll"

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ADDENDUM -The Stroll dance origin - film + Patsy by The Diamonds

GeoSilverAway, Aug 13, 2021

The late 1950s US dance fad was created by blacks and the Stroll hit record was by the Diamonds in 1958. I believe Chuck Willis and his group used to do the step in his stage performances, creating the dance.

This 1957 movie "Let's Rock" with Julius Larosa showed this gem film of blacks doing the dance in a park.

There were other stroll recordings that weren't big hits. This Diamonds song (@2:04) from 1958 was only released in Australia, and later on this Pop Hits LP.  Jack Scott recorded it in 1960.

I'd like to find footage of black groups on stage doing their dance steps, if you have any tips. Even stage shots of Chuck Willis.
-snip-
I previously included this video in Part III of the 2022 pancocojams series about the Stroll. The link for that series is given near the beginning of this 2024 post. 
-snip-
For the historical & socio-cultural record, I'm re-printing all of the comments that have been published in this video's discussion thread (as of this pancocojams publication date of January 7, 2025).

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

2021

1. @johnnysalter7072
"Thanks, I have been curious about this."

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2. @bl00dhoney
"Wow! what a difference to those rhythmless zombies on tv"

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Reply
3. @cooldaddy2877, 2022
"I presume you are referring to the kids dancing to The Stroll by the Diamonds. Firstly, you are very rude to call them Zombies. Some background info for you. Up until that famous tv clip, the Stroll was almost exclusively a black dance and it was just becoming mainstream. Half an hour before that tv section was shot, those "zombies" were taught it for the first time....so have some respect. I wonder how you would do with only practising a "new" dance for half an hour or so before going on national tv. Secondly, the dance in this clip with the black dancers is NOT the Stroll...it is a slightly faster dance called The walk."

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Reply
4. @animosity4u85
"Yes you are right. White people dance like they just crawled up out of the grave."

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2022 

5. @cooldaddy2877
"This dance is not the Stroll....it is the Walk."

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Reply
6. @gsmoviememories9254
"Thanks. Do you know anything about Chuck Willis creating it?"

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Reply
7. @cooldaddy2877
"@gsmoviememories9254  Chuck Willis was called King of the Stroll from, I think 1957. I dont think he created it, it just evolved out of black nightclubs. Impossible to say who was first but almost certainly just a kid having some kicks."

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Reply
8. @gsmoviememories9254
"@cooldaddy2877  I can see the backup group doing this on stage."

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Reply
9. @realmofthesenses, 2023
"Whatever it('s called, looks way better than other stroll vids on YT."

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Reply
@cooldaddy2877, 2023
"@realmofthesenses  You have to understand the back story to the original Youtube vid."

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2023

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2024

10. @johnrichard6639
"I'M 79yrs DID THE STROLL, GUESS WHAT, THAT A'INT IT.  BEST WATCH BAND STAND!! DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, BUT IT ISN'T THE STROLL!!😧😟"

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Reply
11. @GSMovieMoments
"I know it's not the Stroll we learned "in school" but I guessed they were just using a different configuration. Now someone says it's The Walk." 

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12. @richardtester2859
"Did you know that the Demo of "The Stroll" was sung by Brook Benton? Brook also joined The Diamonds during their recording of the song. He helped out with the backing vocals."
-snip-
Brook Benton was an African American R&B singer. The Diamonds were a White Rock & Roll music group.

**
13. @andyhudson3495
"👍"

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Five YouTube Videos Of Fanga Dance Performances In The United States

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

Latest update- December 16, 2025

This is Part IV of a four part of a 2024 pancocojams series on the "Funga Alafia" song and dance.

 This post presents some information about the West African Fanga dance. This post also showcases 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. 

****
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.

****
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.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - "Fanga" - "Welcome"

stagepresencehouston, Nov 22, 2010

Debbie Allen Dance Institute Houston 2009

****
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

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 -  Fanga- Welcome Dance (Walkthrough)

digital rituals, Aug 2, 2024

Fanga, Alafia Ase Ase!

Pearl Primus

Babatunde Olatunji

****
This concludes Part IV of this four part 2024 pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Memories Of Singing The Song "Funga Alafia" In The United States And Elsewhere (Part II-Video & Comments)

The Kennedy Center, Oct. 9, 2013

The Millennium Stage partners with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to present some of the best D.C. area street performers in a MetroPerforms! Showcase. -snip- Total # of views for this video as of 9:48 Am ET November 27, 2024 = 625,642 Total # of discussion comments for this video as of 9:48 AM ET November 27, 2024 = 441
****
Edited by Azizi Powell

lATEST UPDATE- dECEMBER 16, 2025

This is Part II of a four part 2024 pancocojams series on the song "Funga Alafia".

This 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/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/what-is-origin-of-word-funga-in-song.html for Part III of this 2024 pancocojams series. That post presents information about the word "funga" and "fanga". That post also presents all of the visitor comments and my replies from the 2019 pancocojams series about the song "Funga Alafia".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/five-youtube-videos-of-fanga-dance.html for Part V of this pancocojams series. That post showcases five YouTube performances of the Fanga dance in the United States.

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 have sung "Funga Alafia" since that song was composed by LaRoque Bey in 1959 or 1960s in New York City. Thanks to all those who featured in this video and thanks to publisher of this showcase video on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. 
-snip-
*That 2019 post about "Funga Alafia" also consists of three posts. The links for each of those 2019 posts are given in Part III of the 2024 pancocojams series.

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTegkMJq15M

This compilation includes two comments that I added to that discussion thread as well as a few brief notes that I've added after certain comments. Those notes aren't published in that discussion thread.

Numbers are added for referencing for referencing purposes only.

2014

1. @LeviPlayinMinecraft
"amazing african song"
-snip-
"Funga Alafia" was actually composed by an African American drummer named LaRoque Bey in 1959 or 1960. Read more about this in Part I of this pancocojams series.

****
2015

2. @xbox6886
"saw this in 8th grade. 1994. Still remember this"

**
3. @jfortheday7793
"I sang this yesterday and I love this song I can’t get it out of my head"

**
4. Jimi Cyber, 2015
"Pearl Primus, (1919-1994),the anthropologist and choreographer of African dance introduced Funga to the USA. "Movements and gestures are a language as Ms. Primus spoke the dance story." Quote from Dr. DeAma Battle of Art of Black Dance and Music."

**
Reply
5. Malaya Rucker-Oparabea, 2017
"I DANCED AND TOURED WITH MS PEARL PRIMUS!!!"

**
Reply
6. Susan Kennedy, 2018
"Jimi and Malaya,I have always had great respect for Ms. Primus. Not many know about her, more people know about Ms. Dunham. I got burned out about this song in the elementary music teaching circles, but remembering that Ms. Primus introduced Funga to the US brings back its relevance for me. Thank you!"

**
7. @daniayusuf1719
"We had to sing this at school."

**
Reply
8. @rebeccaelliff4927
"Yeah"

**
Reply
9. @sodacanfactory, 2017
"Dani Yusuf i need to do this on tuesday so your not the only one"

**
Reply
 10. @thuy-anle1793, 2017
"Same. It’s stuck in my head"

**
Reply
11. @mikeg7062, 2017
"You GET to sing this at school :)"

**
Reply
12. @tonicombs7242, 2020
"It’s a right of passage"

**
Reply
13. @youtubekings3853, 2021
"wow, Americans need to sing this at school as well? I didn't know. BTW I am Singaporean"

**
Reply
14. @mikeg7062, 2021
"You GET to sing this at school :)"

**
Reply
15. @alysaidarivera6338, 2021
"Omg imagine if we all went to school together?!! Lol wow!! It was some time in the mid 90's in the bronx PS23!!❤❤"

**
Reply
16. @joaogabrielguerra2598, 2021
"Me too, in Brazil."

**
Reply
17. @TheRealJahCapone, 2021
"That childhood memory brought me to this video , glad I wasn’t the only one"

**
Reply
18. @michaelcavada9489, 2021
"Sang this in elementary in 2005. Randomly started singing it and had to look it up"

**
Reply
19. @ΑποστόληςΜπάκας, 2021
"Greece **same before some years"
-snip-
This is how this comment is written.

**
Reply
20. @katygillie1055, 2021
"Learned this in Middle school in Kansas City! Totally thought the teacher just made it up,
never knew what it meant 😂

**
Reply
21. @morganstewart3558, 2023
"Me too! Fifth grade Christmas concert ❤🎄"

**
Reply
22. @vibrationalresonance, 2023
"I'm on my dad's phone I had to do this today"

**
Reply
23. @maladaa9990, 2023
" @liquidjellybeans657 Same I’m from Macau and I remember singing this at kindergarten like 11 or 12 years ago, I’m 16 now and still remember the lyrics"

**
Reply
24. @Twdfan11, 2024
"We do it for a concert on the 23rd"

**
Reply
25. @halodiablo7268, 2024
"Same here 12 years ago 😂 ms cannon 5th grade"

**
26. @SeanPerkins05
"we learned this in music class on the drums"

**
Reply
27. @acesilva495, 2020
"Yep low high low keep the rhythm going"

**
Reply
28. @longliveliljay1670
"Same 5th grade in music class now I'm 19 i miss elementary and high school so much I missed so many chances and opportunities and didnt make the best of it. Over protective parents I didnt get to live the full high school experience, made  many mistakes, got involved in the wrong things, God how I wish I can go back in time and make everything right as well as live thru it again. Those were the best years of my life. The memories are endless and I can write many books on just the memories alone."

****
2016

29. Azizi Powell, 2016
"Alafia, Nana Malaya! 

I'm glad that I happened upon this video of your and your drummers' performance of "Funga Alafia".

I'm proud to know you.

Here's some information about this multifaceted dancer, choreographer, speaker, teacher, and entrepreneur:

Nana Malaya is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of her children is movie and television actor Lamman Rucker.

The poem "I Am the Original Dance Machine" (3:20 in this video) was written by New York City dancer/choreographer Bob Johnson, who also lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in 1969/1970 was the founder of the Pittsburgh Black Theater Dance Ensemble. Nana Malaya was a member of this esteemed dance company.

Ase, Nana Malaya!"

**
30. @kruisesimon
"I only searched this song because it was in my violin book and I know how to play it on my violin"

**
31. @victoriathomas1402
"I sing this song in honer choir."

****
2017

32. Mattdog2020
"We had a huge group of African people come and do this at my school 20 years ago."

**
33. @johara3333
"I remember this from Kwanza"

**
34. @stephanandashaelyles2716
"My name... Same pronunciation but different spelling Ashae💙💜💚💛"

****
2018

35. @nightshiin78
"Black people would come to our school ans sing that"

**
36. @rachelfenger7151
"We have to sing this in Choir, We have to dance with scarves and sing. My music teacher today literally said I want to hear those slaps and claps"

**
37. @PicklesBNuts
"My 5 year old came home singing ' Funga I love ya Ashay Ashay' lol. We worked out this is the song he is singing! Love it, thank you x

**
38. @nicolattigalaxy6108
"On my graduation day,some of our schools students need to sing this,we had a practice today,all the other students sang along and a few laughed...😅I don't understand why they thought this was funny,it's also very catchy."

**
39. @ivyhuertas1933
"I remember singing this song in second grade. Mind you I was the only white skinned student in that school"

**
40. @SunnyMackey
"We spent almost 2 years on this song at school. Not necessarily learning it, just adding new parts and repeating it"

**
41. @egotisicalbladeeenjoyer
"I am Nigerian and my school never sang our songs 😣😥😤 Only American"
-snip-
I'm wondering if this commenter is lamenting the fact that he or she never learned "Funga Alafia" since that Nigerian school only sang American songs. Ironically, "Funga Alafia" IS an American song (i.e. a song that was composed by an American. Read the following question (#42) and my reply (#44).

**
42. okallixti5065
"what's the origin of this song? is it in Yoruba? thank you"
-snip-
"Yoruba" is a traditional Nigerian language.

**
Reply
43, @dancinsagittarius
"okallixti Nigerian origin."

**
Reply
44. @azizip171, 2020
"@dancinsagittarius  & @okallixti, The song that is known as "Funga Alafia" isn't a Nigerian song. Here's some basic information about the song "Funga Alafia":

1. The song "Funga Alafia" was composed by African American drummer and dancer LaRocque Bey in Harlem (New York City) in 1959 or 1960.

2. The word "funga" is a folk processed form of the Vai (Liberia, West Africa) word "fanga".

3. The words "alafia" and "ashe" are from the Yoruba (Nigeria, West Africa) language.

4. The tune for the song "Funga Alafia" is from the American folk song "Little Liza Jane".

For more information, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-real-origin-of-song-funga-alafia.html
-snip-
That link leads to the 2019 version of Part I of this 2024 pancocojams series.  

****
2019

45. Bluegirl12865 MSP
"is it sad that I think I’m the only that had to sing this recently when I’m in 6th grade because all the comments I see are about those peoples singing it in elementary? :/

**
46. @sybriabey6118
"We had a show 2 days ago and they played this song at our school"

**
47. @sophie9870
"My music teacher makes my whole class do this on xylophone and with sticks"

**
48. @tiredpeaches
"I remember having to learn this song and then later our entire grade hade to sing it in front of the rest of the school"

**
49. @ncg8224
"This was at school back on 2010"

**
50. @higher3me
"I learned this in Philadelphia in school when I was a young girl 😂😂😂"

**
51. @Brooklyn-xc2ig
"i whatched this in music class"

**
52. @felipereyes5518
"I learned to play this song on a ukulele in music class"

**
53. @feliciacorso6620
"My son just performed this with his kindergarten class yesterday. I’m so glad they are still teaching this in schools."

**
54. @malachigrey4895
"I sang this at school in 1st or 2nd grade, I am 20 years old and it's still stuck in my head LMAO"

**
55. @topmemes7925
"In my German school  a black man sing that in a church 😂"

****
2020

56. @StreetHierarchy
"EVERYBODY had to sing this song in elementary school. At least if you went to school in the 90s."

**
57. @tashachilds4971
"My dance class danced to this song when I was about six and we sang Funga Alafia at the beginning of the dance. And as I watch the dance I realize we almost did the exact dance. Now I understand why we were the opening dance.  We had our heads wrapped and scarves tied to our fingers. SIP LEE ACO, BEST DANCE INSTRUCTOR EVER."

**
58. @joshuaknight8257
"We had a traveling group come to our elementary school in NC USA 32 years ago and I still remember this like it was yesterday"

**
59. @kylefer
"Bless these people came to my school in 1997 and performed.  Amazing they are still doing this."

**
60. @baui2257
"At my school too! I'm from the Philippines"

**
61. @maddieme8590
"We have to learn this song is music right now 2020"

**
Reply
62. @maddieme8590
"5th grade"

**
63. @Mi-Zai
"I watched this in school today it’s so funny XD"

**
64. @Thatssosade
"I remember singing this at school my friends were disrespectful saying funga Alafia your feet ashy ashy😕"

**
65. @carlotemplo5281
"It seems that this was/is a universal standard in elementary music classes all over the world.

 

Also fun fact: Malaya translates as free in Filipino. Not in the monetary sense like free food we have another word for that but freedom as a concept like free from sorrow for example."

****
2021

66. @earlylearningfitnessacadem2154
"We sang this in Elementary school late 80's early 90's in North Carolina! The words were a little different. We performed it with African dances. I was humming this today and Google led me here.

**
Reply
67. @joewhan11, 2024
"I'm from north Carolina and yes they came out and we sung this in elementary school in the 90s."

**
68. @elinachen6224
"I sang this at school Cornwall elementary school lee rd I love this song this is in africa"

**
69. @dariusrice
"I see a lot of comments about school, didn’t know it was this common.. played the African drums 4-8th grade"

**
70. @rorygustin5156
"We had to learn this in middle school. Music class, 1998 I think. Lol"

**
71. @amandaggogo
"I remember learning this from a speaker at my local library one day and my brother and I still sing it to this day. ❤️"

**
72. @PaulCashman
"I've performed this countless times on the djembe at drum-circles.  Nice to see it on the Kennedy Center stage!"

**
73. @nightmare-nightmarenightma1147
"I feel so old. My entire grade had to learn this in the first grade nearly 20 years ago."

****
2022

74. @linaluv215
"Did anybody go to Cooke Middle School? Lmao I remember  going to a college field trip where we learned this and the dance. On the school bus ride back home, one of my friends did a beat on the back of the leather school bus seat and the whole bus sang this in hip hop form 🤣🤣 we remixed it, and had the whole bus lit. Omg I will never forget that moment. That was like 17 years ago. Good memories."

**
75. @lucialight6096
"OMG y’all don’t understand how long I’ve been looking for this song. And I use to catch myself singing this song. I was in elementary when I learned it, and of course I use to mix up the words but I remember the “Ashe Ashe” part"

**
76. @donnyjackson1309
"It was 1985 Chicago. My dad decided to put the family in a new direction. I know this song and origin front to back."

**
77. @kali8968
"These people came to Astoria projects in queens New York long time ago I remember that “chant” I’m 39 now I was maybe 5 or 6☺️☺️"

**
78. @iamyanadotcom
"I learned this is 1st grade from my music teacher Mrs. Anderson. That woman introduced me to the music inside of me. Changed my life forever. Thank you, Ancestors. Asé. 💛"

**
79. @h.b.2003
"I learned this in the early 90s at a camp. It's been so long since I've heard it! Wow. My soul is happy"

**
80. @Amocoru
"I always wondered where this song came from. I remember singing this in my seventh grade chorus class and I still get it stuck in my head sometimes. I spent the day as a 39 year old man trying to figure out how I'm walking around singing Funga alafia and why. Now I know."

****
2023

81. @SonoranVibes
"At my (community neighborhood )after school program program, I would sing this song with me and it NEVER left me. This was when I was 10 years old. I am now 32. & I’m now learning about the Orishas and their importance. As a Christian. I am questioning a lot."

**
82. @lovechild519
"EXCELLENT performance Nana Malaya‼️ Keep making our people proud❣️🙏🏾😁💯💃🏾"

****
2024

83. @pineapplequeen13
"Like a ton of other commenters, I learned this when I was super young in school, but it never left my head. The song is such a sweet message transcending language and culture, and the performance here is wonderful!"

**
84. @-Kidist
"when i was in first grade my class would sing this to anyone that walked in the classroom as a greeting i loved it"

**
85. @JaeChanel116
"Okay, so I will be 40 years old this year and I remember singing this in elementary school. Wow! Thank God for Google. Now I just need a translation to know what I was singing"

**
86. @courtneylu7518
"We learned a whole dance and this song in summer camp ❤"

**
87. @loganstacer
"I heard this for the first time in first or second grade. I’m 28 years old now and this song has been stuck in my head almost my whole life but I never thought to look it up because I never even knew what they were saying. Glad I could find this now and can have it stuck in my head for the rest of my life"

**
88. @ThandokaziMeneArcher
"Have to sing this song for my kindergarten kids in China this coming weekend 😂😊"

**
89. @dstrong11
"When we had the Real singers come in from West Africa and sing this it was so spiritual!! ❤"

**
90. @cg-ny9078
"I learned this in elementary school in the 80s, New York City! Anyone else?"

**
Reply
91. @Loved4Ever "I learned in the 80's as well in Queens NY😊"

**
92. @patrickrichardson2518
"I still remember this (the song, not this specific performance) from some random week in preschool...circa 1988 - 1989."

****

2025
93. @TheRealFosterLife "I'm from Chicago and we sang it in elementary in the 80’s.

Never knew what it meant"

** Reply 94. @kweenhaize2132 "Same! Now 30yrs later it's still with me❤"

** 95. @corneliusmohr2119 "Allen Elementary School Canton Ohio, 30 years ago im listening to this with my kids"

****
This concludes Part II of this four part 2024 pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome. 

The REAL Origin Of The Song "Funga Alafia" (And What The Non-English Words To That Song Mean)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest edition - December 2, 2024

This is Part I of a four part 2024 pancocojams series on the song "Funga Alafia".

This post is a complete reprint with additional content 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." * https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-real-origin-of-song-funga-alafia.html

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 2024 pancocojams series.  That post presents additional comments about the song "Funga Alafia" from the 2019 pancocojams series about that song.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/five-youtube-videos-of-fanga-dance.html for Part V of this pancocojams series. That post showcases five YouTube performances of the Fanga dance in the United States.

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 have sung "Funga Alafia" since that song was composed by LaRoque Bey in 1959 or 1960s in New York City. Thanks to all those who featured in this video and thanks to publisher of this showcase video on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. 
-snip-
*The 2019 post about "Funga Alafia" also consists of three posts. The links for each of those 2019 posts are given in Part III of the 2024 pancocojams series. 

An earlier version of this pancocojams series was published in 2019. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/real-history-of-funga-alafia-fanga-song.html for that post and the links to the other two 2019 posts. Those posts don't include all of the latest edited content.

****
CORRECTING MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "FUNGA ALAFIA" 
I first wrote about the song "Funga Alafia" on this pancocojams blog in 2019.

I decided to revisit this subject because of the relatively widespread inclusion of "Funga Alafia" in school curriculums in the United States and in other non-West African nations and also because of the widespread misinformation about where this song comes from.

Even if people prefer later arrangements of a particular song, I believe it's important to document and share that song's provenance (origin/source).

If possible, it's important to know who composed the song - if not the actual composer/s than which population it came from. It's also important to know what the original words were, which tune and tempo was originally used and what performance activities, if any, where used while singing or chanting the composition.

Knowing where the song came from can help determine the overall meaning of the song itself as well as the meanings of specific words/phrases (including slang and colloquial expressions).

Knowing the provenance of a song can also help instill and reinforce group self-esteem and personal esteem in people from that particular population.

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BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "FUNGA  ALAFIA"
1. The song "Funga Alafia" was composed by African American drummer and dancer LaRocque Bey in Harlem (New York City) in 1959 or 1960. At that time LaRocque Bey was a drummer with the New York City based group of Babatunde Olatunji drummers and dancers. 

2. The word "funga" is a folk processed form of the word "fanga" from Vai (West African language) or from the Mandinka (West African language).

"Funga" is pronounced like the English word "fun" + "gah". 

3. The word "alafia" (aalafia) is a loan word in the Yoruba language.  "Aalafia" was derived from the Hausa (Nigeria) word "lafiya" which means "good health". The Hausas derived the word from the Arabic word "al-afiyah" which means "health" / "inner peace".

4. The word "ase" is from the Yoruba (Nigeria, West Africa) language. The word “"ase" means power,” “authority,” “command,” “energy,” or “that which creates and sustains "life." People in the United Srates often (incorrectly) use the spelling "ashe" or "ashay" for this Yoruba word. in the United States. "ase" is pronounced "AH-shay" and is often used as a synonym for the word "amen".

5. The English words that are spoken in the song "Funga Alafia" and their accompanying gestures weren't part of the original song.

6. The tune for the song "Funga Alafia" is the same tune for the American song "Little Liza Jane"
(Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELNIe_D79xs for a sound file of Nina Simone singing "Little Liza Jane".)

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COMPLETE REPRINT OF THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE ON "FANGA" (DANCE)*
Retrieved November 30, 2024
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]"
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*This pancocojams reprint doesn't includes notes and references.

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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CORRECTING MISINFORMATION ABOUT "FUNGA  ALAFIA" DANCES
Excerpt #1
From https://dance1400.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/the-story-of-fanga-from-sule-greg-wilson/ "The Story of Fanga, from Sule Greg Wilson, September 12, 2011 [website: African Dance At Cuyahoga Community College]
"Fanga (pronounced nowadays, almost, like “Funga”, as in “fungus”. Originally, it was closer to “Fahnga”), Fanga is a dance of welcome that, interestingly, came to the United States from a place the United States founded: the West African nation of Liberia (recently infamous for its revolutionary troubles). Liberia was a new nation carved out of traditional territories to house any “slaves” in the U.S. that wanted to return to Africa.

The dance, “Fanga” was made part of the repertoire of the African American concert dance pioneer Asadata Dafora. Dafora came to the U.S. from his native Sierra Leone (a nation set up in West Africa for former British slaves) in 1929, and his early company included persons from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and other nations (and colonies). Among the repertoire he developed in the 1930s for his dance company was a staging of the mimed, storytelling dance (as Hawaiian Hula tells stories through gestures), Fanga.

Dancer/choreographer Pearl Primus (1919-1994), who came up after Dafora, went to Liberia, herself, learned the dance/rhythm., and staged it in the States The choreography moved on to Alvin Ailey’s dance company, and it has since become part of U.S. African, and now drum circle, culture.

The lyrics, however, are another matter. Why does the melody sound so much like “Li’l Liza Jane”? Because….that’s what it is. LaRoque Bey, the leader of a local New York children’s African dance school, placed Yoruba (from Nigeria) words to the “old time”/plantation days melody, and added that to the dance."...
-snip-
Here's a comment that was posted to a YouTube video discussion thread for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnju7nD5cR8 Funga Alafia, published by Kathryn Nobles on Jun 14, 2009

comment from Sule Greg C. Wilson, 2011
"They were having fun--great! But: what they're doing is not the dance Fanga, which was created by Pearl Primus after her trip to Liberia. Nor is it the rhythms traditionally played with the dance. The melody is U.S.: Lil Liza Jane, with Yoruba words put to it in New York City by LaRoque Bey. Would it be cute for Blacks to do Swan Lake with Firebird choreography? It would be fine with me--if they knew that's what they were doing. Spread culture around, but try to keep it intact...."
-snip-
Sule Greg C. Wilson is an African American drummer/banjoist. He is commenting about the mostly White American drumming performing a version of the song "Funga Alafia"..

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Excerpt #2
From "The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography Of Pearl Primus" by Peggy Schwartz & Murray Schwartz:, page 88
" "Fanga" was central to Pearl's school, her performances, and her lectures. A dance of welcome that she brought back from her first trip to Liberia it was probably a variation of a traditional dance that she continued to change over the decade.

[...]

Virtually every black community dance company in America has its version of "Fanga" and most start with the chant "Fanga alafiyah ashe ashe, fanga alafiyah ashe ashe" as its accompaniment. This chant was added by LaRocque Bey, a percussionist in New York in the late 1950s, was not part of the original work. Primus used two other chants "gehbeddy jung jung jung" with a strong, active, insistent rhythm, or "dum dake dake dum dake, dum dake dake dum dum dake", gentler, and with a swing and a sway to it." 

-snip-
That 2012 book documents that the beat of Pearl Primus' "Fanga" dance was different from the beat for the "Funga Alafia" song. Also, Pearl Primus' accompanying chant for that beat was different from the words to "Funga Alafia".  

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DOCUMENTATION AND COMMENTARY ABOUT THE PROVENANCE (ORIGIN/SOURCE) OF THE SONG "FUNGA  ALAFIA"

(numbers provided for referencing purposes only)

1. Information about Sierra Leonean musician Asadata Dafor: [The first introduction of the word "fanga" to people in the United States.] 

"Asadata Dafora Hortan (August 4, 1890 – March 4, 1965) widely known as Asadata Dafora was a Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. He was one of the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States, beginning in the early 1930s...

In 1929 Asadata Dafora journeyed to New York City to try and pursue his career as a musician. He was then 39 years old...

[...]

Dafora co-authored a radio play with Orson Welles entitled "Trangama-Fanga" [in 1941]."
Source: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asadata_Dafora
-snip-
The [West African nation of] Sierra Leone borders [the West African nation of] Liberia, and some members of Assata Dafor's dance company were from Liberia. It's therefore likely that Dafor would have known the Fanga rhythm and dance. In her PhD dissertation, dance historian Marcia Heard indicates that Asadata Dafor was the first person to introduce the Fanga dance to the United States, and he called that dance "Fugale". Furthermore, multi-instrumentalists, writer, and educator Sule Greg Wilson*, who drummed with Babatunde Olatunji, asserts that Assata Dafor was the first person to introduce Fanga to the United States.

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2. Information about African American dancer/choreographer Pearl Primus
From http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/black-dance/
"[Pearl Primus] was born in Trinidad before her parents immigrated to Harlem in 1919. She worked at the New Dance Group Studios which was one of few places where black dancers could train alongside whites. She went on to study for a PhD and did research on dance in Africa. Her most famous dance was the Fanga, an African dance of welcome which introduced traditional African dance to the stage."

Pearl Primus' Fanga dance was picked up by other African dance companies in the United States and was reconstructed by them. Babatunde Olatunji was the first company to do so, because two dancers from Primus' company left to perform with Olatunji.

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HOW COULD AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN IN 1959/1960 BE FAMILIAR WITH THE WORDS "ALAFIA", "ASE", AND "FANGA'?
The word "fanga" was familiar to drummers and dancers in the United States since that dance was introduced in that nation when Asadata Dafora from Sierra Leone, West African came to study in the United States. In 1941 Asadata Dafora co-authored a radio play with Orson Welles entitled "Trangama-Fanga".

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The words "alafia" and "ase" became familiar to a small number of African Americans in the late 1950s and early 1960s because of the establishment of the Yoruba Temple in New York City. The Yoruba Temple was established under the leadership of Baba Oserjeman, the first African American to be initiated into the traditional Yoruba religion of Ifa. Baba Oserjiman, a former dancer with Katherine Dunham, was initiated into that religion in Cuba in 1959. 

Source http://www.bnvillage.co.uk/news-politics-village/99564-south-carolina-voodoo-sect.html

It's possible that LaRocque Bey was familiar with Baba Oserjiman and the Yoruba drummers & dancers (if he himself wasn't a member of that dance/drum group). And it's also likely that some of the other drummers and dancers who performed with LaRocque Bey or who he knew were (also) members of the Yoruba Temple. 

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WHAT IS THE GENERAL MEANING FOR THE SONG "FUNGA  ALAFIA" IN THE UNITED STATES 
"Funga Alafia" is generally considered to be a welcome song because of the word "alafia".
The word "alafia" is a Yoruba (Nigerian traditional language) loan word that came from the Hausa (Nigerian traditional language) from the Arabic language. "Alafia" can be interpreted as meaning "welcome" or "peace be unto you" in the same way that the Arabic words a salaam alaikum" is used as a greeting.

The words "Funga alafia ase ase" are the original words for the song "Funga Alafia". All of the other words that are now spoken with that song and the gestures that are made while those words are spoken " weren't a part of the original song's lyrics and performances. 

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STANDARD LYRICS FOR THE SONG FUNGA  ALAFIA IN THE UNITED STATES
From https://musicwithmrswalle.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/2/4/25246738/funga_alafia_lyrics.pdf

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

With my eyes, I welcome you.

With my words, I welcome you.

With my heart, I welcome you.

Today we, all welcome you.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.

Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay."

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WHAT DOES THE WORD "FUNGA" MEAN IN THE SONG "FUNGA ALAFIA"?
As described earlier in this post, the song "Funga Alafia" was composed in 1959 or 1960s by African American drummer LaRocque Bey to be sung as accompaniment for the Fanga dance. "Fanga" is a welcome dance (or dances), and the word "alafia" can mean "welcome", although it's primary meaning is "peace".

As a result of that second meaning for "alafia", it's understandable that people in the United States think that "Funga Alafia" is a song that means "We welcome you". 

Definitions for the word "alafia" and the word "ase" can be easily found online. However,to date, I've not found any online information about the origin and meaning of the word "funga".

If we accept the widely circulated belief that the song "Funga Alafia" means something like "We welcome you", given that there's documentation that the word "alafia" can mean "welcome", we could say that "funga" can be an intensifier that means something like "very". Hence "Funga Alafia" can be said to mean "You are very welcome". However, that meaning is almost certainly a "back story" i.e. a definition that is made up after the fact.

I have two theories for how LaRocque Bey used the word "funga" instead of "fanga" for "Funga Alafia" song.
1. La Rocque Bey purposely changed the word "fanga" to "funga" because he wanted to distinguish his song and his beat from other Fanga chants and beats that were being played in the United States. 

2. LaRocque Bey accidentally mispronunciation of the word "fanga" as "funga" and he kept that accidental pronunciation because he liked it.

I lean toward theory #1.

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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NON-ENGLISH WORDS IN THE SONG "FUNGA ALAFIA"

1. FUNGA (pronounced the same as the English word "fun' + gah)
The word "funga" is a folk processed form of the word "fanga".

The word "fanga" is found in more than one West African language. Here's an excerpt from Hillary Sargent's website: http://www.fanga-music.com/myFanga:
"The word FANGA! Originates from the West African Mandingo lingo.

Literally it translates: Power! - It hits you to the core, in its multifaceted, powerful meaning: everybody has his or her own FANGA! - To me it is resilient, not only powerful, in essence the African rhythm in FANGA! inspires me with a spiritual enlightenment which has become the matrix of my soul identity."
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Another example of the word "fanga" is found in this description of a Malian film:
Taafe-Fanga is the title of a highly acclaimed film from Mali, West Africa. The film is produced "in Bambara and Kaado [languages] with English [language] subtitles", and the title means "Skirt-Power". http://newsreel.org/video/TAAFE-FANGA.

Another example of the use of "fanga" is the French afrobeat group by that name. Here's information about that interracial group's name from http://cd1d.com/en/artist/fanga:
"Fanga means 'Force' (spiritually speaking) in Dioula, one of the numerous dialects of Western Africa. This French group of 7 musicians, deeply immersed in Afrobeat - a musical language pioneered by Fela Kuti in the 70's, combining African music, jazz and funk - was born from an encounter between the hip-hop programmer Serge Amiano and the rapper Yves Khoury (aka Korbo) of Burkina Faso."

I've also read that "Fanga" is a Vai (Liberia) word and I've usually seen "fanga" used as the name for the rhythm and accompanying dance which are based on a traditional Vai (Liberia, West Africa) welcome dance. Given those three examples, I believe that it's possible that the Liberian word "fanga" also means "force" or "power".

Here's some information about the Vai language from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vai_language

"The Vai language, also called Vy or Gallinas, is a Mande language spoken by the Vai people, roughly 104,000 in Liberia, and by smaller populations, some 15,500, in Sierra Leone.[2]

Writing system

Vai is noteworthy for being one of the few African languages to have a writing system that is not based on the Latin or Arabic script. This Vai script is a syllabary invented by Momolu Duwalu Bukele around 1833, although dates as early as 1815 have been alleged. The existence of Vai was reported in 1834 by American missionaries in the Missionary Herald of the ABCFM[3] and independently by Rev. Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle, a Sierra Leone agent of the Church Missionary Society of London.[4]…

Phonology

Vai is a tonal language and has 11 vowels and 31 consonants"...

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ALAFIA (pronounced ah-LAH-fee-ah)
Although a  number of online sources indicate that the word "alafia" is Yoruba word, that word didn't originate among the Yoruba people. (Yoruba is the name of an ethnic group in Nigeria, West Africa and is the name of that population's traditional language).

The word "alafia" came from the Hausa people (in northern Nigeria)'s word  "lafia". The Hausas got that word from the Arabic word "alaafiyah".  In meaning "health" or "good health" and entered the Yoruba language by way of the Hausa (Nigeria) modification

From https://www.facebook.com/575706419187357/photos/pb.575706419187357.-2207520000.1468493353./1067659546658706/?type=3 IFA: Òrìṣa Scientific Spirituality, July 12, 2016 ·
"For many, the Yoruba term "alafia" (also spelled alaafia) is used to mean "inner-peace" and said as a greeting like the use of the Kemetic word "hotep" and the Arabic word "salaam."

In the past ten years, there has been much controversy about the term alafia and whether or not it is truly Yoruba or derived from Arabic.

It is noted that the Yoruba word alafia shares its meaning with the Hausa (Northern Nigerians) word "lafiya" which means good health. They derived the word from Arabic's al-afiyah which means "the good health." When said as "zaman lafiya" in Hausa, it comes to mean innerpeace.

The indigenous Yoruba word for good health is ilera. Hence the popular Yoruba phrase, "Ilera loro" which means "health is wealth."

However, does all this mean that alafia is not a Yoruba word? Not necessarily....

All of this being said, alafia (whether indigenous or of Arabic origin) is not traditionally a greeting as seen in the Arab's salaam. That is definitely an attempt for people to imitate [sic] the Arab's greeting pattern of "peace" instead of learning Yoruba conversational protocol."....
-end of quote-
From at least the late 1960s, some afro-centric African Americans have used "alafia" as a greeting word that means "welcome, and/or "peace". I believe that "alafia" was first used by African Americans as a traditional African language way of saying the Arabic phrase "A salaam alaikum" ("Peace be unto you").

Furthermore, for some period of time (at least in 1990s to the early 2000s) some afro-centric people in the United States would say "Peace" as greeting words, and especially as a word said when they were leaving a person or people. I don't know how widely the word "Peace" is still used that way in the 2020s.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/02/excerpts-from-online-articles.html for a pancocojams post on the origins and meanings of the word "alafia"

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THE WORD "ASE"

Here's some information about the Yoruba (Nigeria, West Africa) word "ase":

"Ase" is the Yoruba term for "the energy of creation"; "the spark of life". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_mythology ; hereafter given as "Wikipedia: Yoruba Mythology"
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From http://asheselah.wordpress.com/about/whats-an-asheselah/
"Ashe (ah-SHAY, also Ase) – A Yoruba word meaning power, command, and authority. The ability to make whatever one says happen. Often summarized as “so be it”, “so it is”, or “it definitely shall be so”.
-end of quote-

"Ase" is often given the same or similar meaning as the word "amen".

I've heard the word "ase" pronounced "AH-shay" or "ah-SHAY" in the United States* 

*I've heard both pronunciations in Newark, New Jersey and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

(Yoruba speakers- please share the correct pronunciation for this word. Thanks!)

In the United States the word ase is often (incorrectly) written as "ashe".

In the context of the song "Funga Alafia", the word "ase" has colloquially (and probably incorrectly) been interpreted as meaning either "amen" or "really". With regard to the "really interpretation, some people believe that "Alafia ashe ashe" means "We really welcome you"  or "We enthusiastically welcome you."

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This concludes Part I of this 2024 pancocojams series. 

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