Tambu as the Pulse of Curacao

Rochelle Jacob

Jacob 1

Prof. V. Alston

EN 4234- Caribbean Performance and Memory

May 28 2009

Hit me with It: Tambu as the Pulse of Curacao

“Mi a lanta ta tend’e, hopi hende ta bali’e…komo bon yu’i Korsou bo kurpa ta hinka asina bo tende slanan dje tambu i zonido skerpi dje heru.” – Rene Rosalia

[I grew up listening to it, a lot of people dance to it…

like a good child of Curacao your body responds as soon as you

hear the beats of the Tambu and the sharp sounds of the iron]

(Rosalia). The origin of the Afro-Curacao people and the cultural

art form Tambu lies in the capture and arrival of African slaves

during the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily from Congo to the

Dutch colony of Curacao, an island located in the southern region

of the Caribbean off the Venezuelan coast. Bringing their musical

culture with them, the African slaves re-created “their secular

music, dance, and rituals”, sometimes combining song, dance and

music with other present African cultures on colonial Curacao,

¹ All translations from the Dutch and Papiamento are mine.

maintaining their culture along with establishing new forms of

existence (Rosalia).

The Tambu of Curacao is a representation of this cultural

maintenance and continuity (Rosalia). It is a slave performance,

a performance executed by slaves in adapting to their new

surroundings and conditions of livelihood to retain their African

traditions (Hill 216). The Tambu, still performed today, as a

song and dance, functions as a medium to embody indigenous memory

thereby maintaining a cultural continuity throughout current and

future Curacao societies as they construct their communities. In

seeking to analyze this unique performance, I enter a still-young

and ongoing process of tambu’s scholarly conversation. A lot of

the information on tambu has not been documented based on the

assumption that growing up as a

Jacob 2

“child of Curacao”, one already has the information embodied in

one’s being. It has not been until recently that Antillean

scholars have taken it upon themselves to go beyond a social

investigation of the tambu and delve into its significance,


interpretation of its meaning and its contribution to the social

memory of the people of Curacao.

The word Tambu itself has multiple, yet complimentary

meanings. It is the drum, music genre, and dance. The two most

prominent instruments are the tambu [a single skinned drum], and

the heru [iron idiophone] (Rosalia). The tambu is played using

open palms, and fingers. Accompanying it is the agan (resembling

a long iron tooth), chapi [hoe], trianguel [triangle], brasa [hand

clapping], and wiri [rasp] completed with participating vocalists

and dancers (Rosalia). The agan player holds

the instrument at the tip in such a way that the wider part rests

on the arm (Juliana 11). With an iron rod, the player hits the

wider part of the agan rhythmically. To play the chapi, the player

rests it in the palm of the hand and places the thumb in the hole

of the chapi. The instrument remains rested on the four remaining

fingers. When the chapi is hit with an iron rod to produce sound,

its player can stretch or bend the fingers to produce a variation

of sounds (Juliana 13). The trianguel, a long piece of iron bent

and reformed into the shape of a triangle, is hit repeatedly, in

order, on the inner sides of the instrument with a copper or


steel rod (Juliana 8). The trianguel maintains the tambu rhythm.

The wiri, made of metal, iron, copper or steel is folded into the

form of a semi-circle (Juliana 7). The sound is created when a

metal rod is passed over it. At most times, the instruments are

played by men, while the women form the chorus and dance.

With regards to the dance, it is called bail’i tambu [dance of

the tambu] (Romer 85). A tambu gathering, encompassing all three

elements of song, music, and dance, is held and

Jacob 3

celebrated at the end of the year, beginning at Christmas and

ending after Three Kings Day (Romer 85). Similar to the songs of

calypso, songs of tambu serve as social conscience using satire,

metaphor, and puns, revealing society’s scandals, celebrating

triumphs, and commentary on events that transpired over the

passed year (Romer 85). At the aforementioned gathering, the

tambu singer introduces the song with the first stanza without

accompanied music, “calling it in”. As the song progresses the

participating singers join in with the chorus while the music of


the tambu begins to play. All tambu songs are sung in Papiamento,

the language indigenous to Curacao.

Tambu songs also have their mark of distinction. Namely

tambu telele [telele tambu], tambu weis largu ku palabra [long chorus

tambu], and tambu-di-sera-bari [open-close tambu] (Rosalia 68).

Tambu telele is the oldest known tambu genre. The word ‘telele’

constitutes the chorus but not only that, but the melody of the

song follows the phonetic sound of ‘telele’. ‘Telele answers the

call of the tambu song leader. To illustrate, “Mitar di Shete” [Half

past Six] by Izaline Calister. This song’s meaning is that of a

person who after being awaken at half past six in the morning,

after a late night, does not want to get up;

Solo: Telelelelelelelelelelelelele ata mitar di shete

[Telele…it’s half past six

Chorus: Telelelelelelelelelelelelele ata mitar di shete

Telele…it’s half past six

Solo: Wekker no cansami mas Alarm clock

don’t bother me anymore

Ay awe mi ta keda cas Today I’m

staying home


Mi no kier lanta y mi no kier tende I

don’t want to get up and listen

Ayera nochi a bira laat Last night was

late

lagami sosega na paz Let me

sleep in peace

Jacob 4

Ay keda keto stop di cansa hende Keep quiet and stop

bothering people]

Chorus… (Calister)

Tambu weis largu ku palabra is like tambu telele but has a long

chorus omitting the sound chorus. As seen in the song “Saka Papa”

[Free Papa] by Nicolas Susana (Shon Cola). “Saka Papa” was written

after the civil unrest on the 30th of May, 1969 (Jacob).

Protesting for social change in the community, better wages and

so forth, all labor unions, hotel, refinery et cetera, joined a

massive civil strike led by Wilson Godett, better known as ‘Papa’

(Jacob). In marching from the street of Postvijf to Punda, down

town Curacao, Godett was shot by policemen and after healing from


his wound was sent to jail (Jacob). As a result, the community

was outraged. “Saka Papa” was written in honor of him, showing

authorities that Papa had the support of the community and that

they had to “saka papa” [free Papa] from jail;

Chorus: Sake, saka Papa [Free, free Papa

Papa no a hasi nada saka Papa Papa didn’t do

anything, free Papa

Solo: Tur nashon ta pidi saka Papa All nations are

asking to free Papa

Mama bieu ta yora saka Papa Mamma is crying, free

Papa

Chorus

Solo: Mama bieu to yora saka Papa Mamma is crying,

free Papa

Tur hende a pidi pa saka Papa Everyone is asking to

free Papa]

Chorus… (Susana)

The most popular genre is the tambu-di-sera-bari. It literally

has an ‘open-close’ format. The singer begins with his opening

statement and the chorus ‘closes’ with responding lyrics.


Simultaneously the drum “opens” with the “sla habri” [open beat] of

improvisation and closes

Jacob 5

with the “sla sera” [closed beat] of faster hits (Rosalia 77). It is

seen here in “T’a mi ta Cola” [I am Cola] by Nicolas Susana (Shon

Cola). “T’a mi ta Cola” is a tambu in response to the challenges and

criticism from the younger generation of tambu players and

dancers to the older generation of tambu performers of Shon

Cola’s time (Jacob). Modern tambu performers critique Shon Cola’s

style in arguing that it is not appealing to the younger

generation. Shon Cola’s response is that he is the legend of

tambu and that he is “here to stay”;

Solo: Ban bek, t’a mi ta Cola [Let’s

return, I am Shon Cola

Chorus: Ban bek Let’s return

Solo: T’a mi ta Cola ban bek t’a mi ta Cola I

am Cola, let’s return I am Cola



Solo: Bisa Shon Cola ya tur hende sa ta ken Say Shon

Cola and everyone

knows who it is


Solo: Con cu bo mirami t’a mi yama Shon Cola

However you look at me I am

Shon Cola


Solo: Preto mahos para ki t’e ta Shon Cola Black

and ugly standing before

you, he is Shon Cola


Solo: Si bo dal mi abou mi ta lanta Shon Cola If you

knock me down, I will

rise as Shon Cola


Chorus: Ban bek… Let’s return]

(Susana)

Jacob 6

The tambu-di-sera-bari also has variations within itself. The format

of the song remains the same but the difference lies in a

transition of slow-sung choruses to fast-sung choruses (Rosalia

76). The tambu singer cues this transition by singing to the

rhythm of the “sla sera” [closed beat] rhythm of the drum, and the

chorus changes accordingly.

On classifying the tambu dance, differences of opinion have

arisen between sociologists and folklorists, mainly Rene Rosalia,

and folklorists such as Elis Juliana. Rosalia classifies the

dance as a bekkendans [pelvic dance] while Juliana deems it a

schokdans [shock dance] (Rosalia 79). For Rosalia, the dominant

and most important dance movement begins from the pelvic area.

The pelvis rotates, shakes and thrusts, while the dancer bends

the knee and stomps the floor with the heel (Rosalia 79). The

hips answer the call of the drum thereby integrating the music

with the performance. The hip movements of the dancer are a


silent dialogue between the dancer and the drummer (Isaac). To

illustrate, when performing the tambu-di-sera-bari, when the tambu

“opens” the hip gestures are subtle in correlation to the subtle

drum beats. When the tambu “closes”, as the drum beats become

more intense, the hips follow the intensity (Jacob). For every

drum beat there is a hip movement. For tambu players and

performers, the music and its dance “are equal partners that

complement each other” (Pavis 141). This integration is important

to the fluidity of the genre as a dance. Simultaneously, the

dancer shifts the heel from one side to the other, not to be

confused with shuffle movements, but rather a continued, rhythmic

stomp of the heel. The movement of the arms is not restricted. At

times the women place the hands on the hips and the men cross

theirs and place them crossed on their lower back (Rosalia 79).

What Rosalia describes in his book Tambu, is the “original”

flat footed way of dancing the tambu. On the contrary, Elis

Juliana asserts that the dance is executed by way of a raised

heel

Jacob 7


and the body moves in shock-like gestures. “De dans is een

schudden van het lichaam, van boven naar beneden, zonder dat het

middel meebeweegt” [The dance is a jolt of the body from top to

bottom without movement from the ‘middle’] (Juliana 60). While

the right heel is lifted off the ground, the entire left foot is

lifted off the ground. The entire left foot is lifted and this

position is sustained through the balancing of the toes of the

right foot (Juliana 60). Weight is then shifted to the left leg

allowing for the left foot to return to the ground without

bending the left knee, at which point the body simultaneously

imitates movements of shocks (Juliana 60). Juliana’s analysis of

the “raised heel tambu”, is taken from an aspect of the tambu

dance that was said to have been developed from runaway slaves

who were captured and as punishment had their heel cut off by the

slave master (Juliana 60). The loss of a heel resulted in the

modification of the “flat footed tambu” thereby placing most of

the body weight on the toes, resembling a limp. The combination

of this adaptation along with the rotating pelvic movements

became the most popular throughout tambu’s evolvement.

Participating dancers have the choice of dancing alone or with a


partner, however, if danced with a partner, no physical contact

is made.

But what does all this mean? Tambu is not just a dance or

public entertainment for amusement and relaxation, rather, a way

of life, part of the existence of the early Afro-Curacao people

(Rosalia). The tambu has social functions serving as a site

contributing to communal memory. “Den kurso di su historia, e

tabata tin varios funshon importante. Menshonabel ta e

funshon di komunikashon, konservashon di norma i balor, control

social, di notisiero i tambe e funshon komo ritual pa yama

awaseru, i pa venera santu” [In the course of its history, it had

important functions, mentionable are its function for

communication, conservations of norms and values, social control,

providing information, a ritual to bring forth rain and saints]

(Rosalia 3).

Jacob 8

To understand how these functions serve to contribute to communal

memory, one must analyze its various performances, its executions

and the locations of its executions. Albeit there are many


diverse forms of tambu, first I focus on het rondtrek tambu [travel

tambu], het straat tambu [street tambu], and het huis tambu [house

tambu]. First, the travel tambu: At the turn of a new year, one

had to clean him or herself of the old. The tambu then, became

the appropriate medium for cleansing. Taking place either on foot

or in a truk di palu[wooden truck], is literally the tambu that

travels; its highlighted occurrence being on the last day of the

year and the first days of the new year (Rosalia 87). The singers

and instrument players journey from house to house visiting

friends and family, and at each stop, play the tambu. The noise

of the tambu is said to drive away bad spirits and negative

influences from the houses ‘manda fuku bai’ [send bad spirits away],

allowing for a clean start to the new year (Rosalia 87). In

addition to the playing, one also dances ‘balia pa tira fuku afo’ [dance

to rid of the bad spirits], using motions of the body to

literally dance the fuku away (Rosalia 66). The dance gestures,

responding to the sounds of the tambu work jointly with the music

to dance the fuku away. These gestures have meaning because, as

Connerton states, “they enact the bodily pauses and intensities

of the corresponding speech sequence” (Connerton 81).


The street tambu is the oldest and most occurring form

(Rosalia 86). Richard Schechner in his The Future of Ritual contends

that outdoor spaces have been used for aesthetic, personal,

political and ritual purposes, accordingly repositioning itself

in places where public life and social ritual have traditionally

been acted out (Schechner 50). Schechner continues with asserting

that these types of “symbolic public actions” constituted a

distinct ritual genre with its own audience participation and

reception, defining itself as a ritual, effective in “intending

to produce

Jacob 9

real effects by means of symbolic causes” (Schechner 51). The

street tambu which does not only connote the street, but open

spaces such as squares, hills, under large trees giving shade,

and

shared public grounds is a tambu that anyone within listening

distance can join (Rosalia 86). Street tambus either begin

spontaneously with rhythmic beats on the drum signaling its


commencement, this being the communicative mean to key the

performance, or are broadcasted.

Its purpose is to disseminate important announcements and

information in regards to the public life of the people (Rosalia

86). Although spontaneous with a constantly changing cast, the

street tambu is “a historically established ‘repertoire’ of

collective action” stimulating integration (Schechner 54). That

is, this performance created a communal sense of behavior, and

action preserving this ritual, as it continues to be played.

Following is the house tambu. The house tambus are performed

indoors, mainly inside living rooms in houses and club houses,

serving as a social gathering. At these social gatherings, the

tambu carries out unique functions stemming from singing about

activities within a community, politics, ridding themselves of

frustrations, providing a social critique and the like. For

example, there was a period of time when Curacao’s telephone

company SETEL, and water and electric company KODELA provided

poor and unacceptable utility service to its paying clients

(Jacob). The water from the pipes was muddy and unhealthy. Even

though individual utility bills were being paid, KODELA and SETEL


disconnected the water, electricity, and phone lines of the

people living within the community, yet still providing adequate

service to the hotels overflowing with tourists (Jacob). “Awa,

lus, telefon” [Water, light, telephone] by Shon Cola is a tambu

in response to Curacao’s frustration with the inadequate service

that KODELA and SETEL provided during that time;

Solo: Kodela y Setel (2x) [Kodela and

Setel (2)

Jacob 10

Mi awa ta paga m’a mi recibo ta paga My water is off but

I paid my bill

Kodela y Setel (2x) Kodela and Setel

(2x)

Mi lus ta paga m’a mi recibo ta paga My light is

off but I paid my bill


(2x)

Kushina un ta funshona m’a mi recibo ta paga Kitchen isn’t

working but I paid


my bill


(2x)

E telefon un ta funshona m’a mi recibo ta paga The phone isn’t

working but I

paid my bill

Chorus: Kodela unda nos ta bai? Kodela

where are we going?

Kodela e awa ta cora Kodela the

water is red

Kodela unda nos ta bai? Kodela where are we

going?

Kodela min por kushina Kodela I can’t cook

Kodela unda nos ta bai? Kodela where are we

going?

Kodela min por baña awe…

Kodela I can’t bathe today…]

(Susana)


In contrast, tambu did not remain static in its progression,

instead it adapted and modified itself as a result of legal

repression. Deeply rooted in its African origin, related elements

within the music could be observed, and as a result, colonizers,

not understanding the form, deemed it the work of the devil and

sought to ban it (Rosalia 8). For this purpose a law was put in

place in

1936 by the governor of Curacao at that time, Governor Van

Slobbe. The Artikel 36 read, “Het is verboden een danspartij te

houden of daaran deel to nemen waar er tamboerdans wordt

Jacob 11

uitgevoerd” [It is forbidden to hold a dance party or a similar

shared gathering where the tambu is being played or danced]

(Rosalia 8). Eventually lifted in 1952, this law had drastic

effects on the art of tambu, effecting its popularity, candidness

and space of performance. New genres of tambu were created,

beginning with tambu porta sera [closed door tambu]. Tambus were

being celebrated behind closed and locked doors, as when tambu

was being played inside, doors were kept open, one reason being


to muffle the sounds and the other being to feign its occurrence

(Rosalia 230). Additionally, a ‘look-out’ person would be

stationed at the door to watch for patrolling policemen (Rosalia

230). Second, the bati-mesa [hit the table]. At times the tambu

drum was taken away and/or destroyed by the colonizer. The

repression went far as affecting one not daring to use the tambu

drum (Rosalia 230). The table, then, became the stand-in for the

drum beat. Using the table was the people’s way of resisting the

ban. Another adaptation was tambu-di-boka [tambu of the mouth].

The men used their voices to imitate the sounds of the drums and

the iron idiophones (Rosalia 233). It was a sort of an a capella

tambu. Granted that the repression of tambu altered the ambience,

it had no effect on tambu as a medium. The Afro-Curacao people,

again, having to adapt to constraints, maintained their culture

through a collective experience.

Performance theorist Paul Connerton argues, “If there is

such a thing as social memory, we are likely to find it in

commemorative ceremonies” (Connerton 4). For the commemorative

ceremonies to be efficient, they must include bodily practices

(Connerton 7). In his book How Societies Remember, he explains that


a recollected knowledge of the past and its images are conveyed

and sustained by ritual performances (Connerton 38). Tambu as a

ritual and rite does this. It is a practice that is regularly

performed in a set manner and repetition implies a continuity

Jacob 12

with the past (Connerton 45). The tambu is a deliberate

observance to denote feelings, communicating shared values within

a group and whenever it is performed is shared with the

community, classifying it as a rite which Schechner declares is

its function. To reiterate, it is through this ritual that the

tambu sustains the culture, by way of its calendrical repetition,

gestural re-enactments, and formalized acts. It is performed

annually around the same time and embodies certain gestures that

speak to the collective memory of the Afro-Curacao people,

specifically the ‘raised-heel’ tambu as described by Elis

Juliana. Performing the tambu with a raised heel, using this

particular example, serves as a bodily practice, a bodily social

awareness, continuing the memory of the past, preserving it,

becoming sedimented in the body, re-enacting a past of


consequential brutality that runaway slaves had to endure.

Connerton explains that in most “oral cultures, formal

recollection of happenings take the form of repeated

performances” whose cooperation of rhythmic, bodily motor

reflexes work in memory (Connerton 76). Tambu serving as the

representation that re-presents the reappearance of that which

has disappeared is also commemorative (Connerton 69). By

repeating the past, a ritual gives the past its presentness again

(Schechner 63). Tambu the instrument, dance, and music genre is

the medium that serves to embody the social memory of the Afro-

Curacao people sustaining their norms.

“Every society has occasions signaled by music which draws its members together and reminds them of their unity” (Rosalia).

Jacob 13

Works Cited


Calister, Izaline. “Mitar di Shete.” Kanta Helele.

Connerton, Paul. How Societies Remember. Cambridge [England]; New

York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Hill, Errol. Jamaican Stage; 1655-1900; Profiles of a Colonial

Theatre. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992.

Isaac, Modesta Warner. Personal Interview. 23 May 2009.

Jacob, Sydney. Personal Interview. 23 May 2009.

Juliana, Elis. “De tamboe op Curacao.” (1987): 59-65.

---. Guia Etnologiko No. 1. Curacao: 1976.

Mendoza, Zoila S. “Genuine But Marginal: Exploring and Reworking

Social Contradictions Through Ritual Dance Performance.”

The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology

3 (1998): 86-117.

Pavis, Patrice. Analyzing Performance; Theater, Dance, and Film.

U.S.A.: The University of Michigan Press, 2003.

Romer, Rene A. Cultureel Mozaiek van de Nederlandse Antillen. De

Walburg Pers Zutphen, 1977.

---. Korsow; Een Sociologische Verkenning van een Caribische

Maatschappij. Curacao: Van Dorp, 1976.


Rosalia, Rene V. “Migrated Rhythm: The Tambu of Curacao.”

Caribseek Kaleidoscope. 3 April 2009<

http://kaleidoscope.caribseek.com/Rene_Rosalia/Tambu/>

---. “Tambu di Korsou.” Represhon di Kultura; E lucha di Tambu

(1997).

Jacob 14

---. Tambu; De legale en kerkelijke repressive van Afro-Curacaose

Volksuitingen. Walburg Pers, 1997.

---. Tambu di Siglo 20; Kuater Epoka, Kuater Genero; 20 Ana

Zoyoyo I su Grupo. Curacao: Print Express NV, 1994.

Schechner, Richard. The Future of Ritual; Writings on Culture and

Performance. London; New York: Routledge, 1993.

Susana, Nicolas. “Saka Papa.” Vota p’e niun Bia.

---. “T’a mi ta Cola.” Vota p’e niun Bia.

---. “Awa, lus, telefon.” Vota p’e niun Bia.


Tambu as the Pulse of Curacao

Documents

Transcript of Tambu as the Pulse of Curacao