 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Garifuna music" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Garifuna music | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Garifuna people |
| Typical instruments |
|
| Subgenres | |
| |
| Language, dance, and music of the Garifuna | |
|---|---|
| Country |
|
| Reference | 00001 |
| Region | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2008 (3rd session) |
| List | Representative |
Garifuna music is an ethnic music and dance with African,Arawak, andKalinago elements, originating with the Afro-IndigenousGarifuna people fromCentral America andSaint Vincent and the Grenadines. In 2001, Garifuna music, dance, and language were collectively proclaimed as aMasterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity byUNESCO.[1]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Garifuna music" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Nonsecular musical genres within the Garifuna culture stem from a fusion of West African ancestral worship andAmerindian shamanism.[citation needed] Examples of Garifuna music rituals includeAdügürühani (also known asdügü), a healing ceremony;Arairaguni, an invocation to determine illness;Amuyadahani, a ritual in which family members make offerings to their ancestors; andAchuguhani (Chugú), "feeding the dead".[citation needed]
The Garifuna tradition ofAdügürühani is a ritual that takes place when a Garifuna individual becomes ill and must consult a shaman in the hopes of restoring their health.[citation needed] The shaman will consult with the ancestral spirits (gubida) that have inflicted the illness upon the individual.[citation needed] Drums are played during thedügü, which is thought to have a calming effect on the individual who is possessed by thegubida.[citation needed] The drumming is performed intriple meter and is accompanied by song and dance. Often there are two to three drums, and the ensemble of drummers is calleddangbu.[citation needed] The drums are constructed using mahogany or mayflower wood and animal skins (usually deer, goat, or peccary).[citation needed] During construction, the drums are rubbed with acassava wine and then subsequently blessed with the smoke of buwe—a sacred herb.[citation needed] These techniques suggest the presence of both African and Amerindian influences in drum construction, indicative of a fusion of African and Amerindian culture in Garifuna sacred music.[citation needed]
The gender roles documented in the musical performances ofdügü suggest that traditional Garifuna society emphasizesmatrilineality andmatrifocality.[citation needed] "The texts of mostdügü songs refer to ancestors as female (grandmother or great-grandmother, even if thedügü is being given in honor of a man)… It may also be a reflection of gender-based empowerment, because older women predominate as organizers, ritual participants, and composers of ritual songs."[2] Gender roles are often portrayed in music. "Music performance can and often does play an important role in inter-gender relations, for the inequalities or asymmetries perceived in such relations may be protested, mediated, reversed, and transformed, or confined through various social/musical strategies."[3] The matrilineatlity demonstrated in the Garifunadügü ritual demonstrates an authentic (non-westernized) aspect of West African and/or Amerindian culture, which remained unaffected by Spanish (and subsequently, British) colonization.
Garifuna genres includepunta,paranda, andpunta rock.[4]
There are different types of songs, some of which are associated with work, some with play, some with dance, and some that are reserved for prayer or ritual use.[5]
The main traditional instruments are drums andmaracas.[5]
Drums play an important role in Garifuna music. The main drum is the Segunda (bass drum). The drums are normally made by hollowing out logs and stretching antelope skin over them.[5]
