The Development of Carnival Music in Cura?o
In early 20th century Carnival celebrations in Cura?o
were held in closed circuits of the upper-class of the
society. Celebrations featured mainly masked balls which
were held in private clubs and residential mansions of
the elite groups (mostly of Roman Catholic origin) on
the island.
The music that was performed for entertainment purposes
during those parties was stately dance music influenced
by music styles popular during that period in the
motherlands in Western Europe.
West Indian Influence
The construction of the oil refinery in Cura?o (and
Aruba) in the early 20th century had a very significant
influence on carnival celebrations and music on the
Leeward Islands.
Thousands emigrated from the Eastern Caribbean islands
to seek work in the refinery, contractors or other
companies. They brought along their cultural customs and
also their particular way of celebrating Carnival. The
music style that fueled the Carnival festivities in that
region was mainly steel pan and calypso music.
Soon after their arrival in the Leeward Islands the West
Indians started to organize Carnival parties in their
residences neighborhoods and social clubs. They also
held spontaneous street parades to the likeness of
Carnival celebrations back home stirred up by the sounds
and rhythms of steel pans and popular calypso songs.
These parties, street-parades and especially the music
were so contagious that soon locals and people from the
working class from other regions mingled in and joined
the West-Indians in their way of celebrating Carnival.
Social Societies
Another important development took place in the capital
of Willemstad and surroundings in the 1940?s where local
youngsters founded societies where they could get
together after work and during the weekends.
They organized social and cultural activities and also
held parties. The most important and longed for
activities on their yearly events calendar were the
disguised / masked balls and Carnival Queen Election.
They contracted popular local music ensembles to
entertain the members and special guests.
The music was diverse and their repertoire featured
local rhythms such as the Tumba and other popular
musical styles from the Caribbean region, especially
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Trinidad.
Jolly Fellows Society
In the late 1940?s a dynamic group of youngsters of the
?Jolly Fellows Society? of Otrabanda, lead by the
Chairman of the society, Edward George Lourens, took the
decision to organize a car parade in the Carnival season
during which they visited clubs of befriended societies
in Otrabanda.
In the years to follow the ?Jolly Fellows Society?
continued organizing Carnival balls and also street
parades with a very local touch. The storm and flooding
that took place in The Netherlands in 1953 led to the
decision to also mourn in these parts of the Kingdom and
put Carnival celebrations on a hold.
The
Sixties
The popularity of
Carnival street parades in Willemstad started to decline
in the 1960?s as different organizations and groups held
separate parades, jump-ups and parties dispersed all
over the island; suburbs and neighborhoods.
Tumba: The Official Music Style of Cura?o Carnival
In 1970 representatives of the local music association
and the Carnival Committee held some meetings to
brainstorm on what incentives could be inserted to
excite interest and bring together the community as a
whole to celebrate Carnival.
This group of Carnival loving people took, what history
would prove to be, a very wise decision to organize a
music festival during which unpublished Tumba
songs would compete for the road-march title.
Despite the opposition of calypso lovers and
traditionalists they came to the conclusion that Tumba
music would give Cura?o carnival a taste of its own.
Especially Mr. Franklin
de Windt, commissioner of the music association, was an
ardent advocate to make Tumba the official music style
of Cura?o Carnival.
Anselmus ?Boy? Dap: The First
Tumba King
In the first year only 10 singers competed in the Tumba
festival which was held simultaneously with a Calypso
festival in a sold out Roxy Theater. Hundreds of music
lovers had to stay disappointed or had to return back
home to listen to the broadcast on the radio.
The people inside the theater simply went delirious and
by the end of the program Anselmus ?Boy? Dap was crowned
as the first Tumba King.
His composition ?Bash?
would be the first Tumba road-march of the new era of
Cura?o Carnival. In the three decades to follow he
would win the festival on 10 separate occasions.
The
Tumba Festival: Continuous Growth
The festival kept on
growing in popularity and during the course of time
moved to larger facilities such as Cinelandia Theater,
an industrial hall in Zeelandia, the soccer stadium
Antoinne Maduro, the stadium Sentro Deportivo K?sou and
from 1990 till date it is held in the Cura?o Festival
Center.
The interest of local musicians and singers also grew in
such a manner that the festival had to be spread out
over 4 nights for at one peak moment in the history of
the festival more than 100 compositions competed for the
longed for title of ?Rei or Reina di Tumba? (Tumba King
or Queen).
As soon as the year turns every mass media and the whole
community?s interest is turned to the Tumba festival.
Every one talks and argues about it as the festival
features new Tumba compositions which become the main
ingredient of every Carnival celebration on the island.
Farley Lourens |
