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14 - Narratives of Return

Carriacou and the Big Drum Ritual

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2022

By
Nanette de Jong  and
Linda F. Williams
Edited by
Nanette de Jong
Nanette de Jong
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle
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Summary

This chapter introduces the Big Drum through narratives of ‘return’ exploring the ritual as a medium for activating ancestral memories and crafting New World belonging. It is told through the works of two women—Lorna McDaniel and Zakia Sewell. Their works depict and speak to different Big Drum accounts of ’homecoming’, including the ritual’s promise of ancestral return.

Keywords

Big DrumCarriacouAncestral RitualFlightConcept of Nation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Caribbean Music , pp. 209 - 226
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

References

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Further Reading

King, Russell and Christou, Anastasia. 2011. ‘Of Counter-Diaspora and Reverse Transnationalism: Return Mobilities to and from the Ancestral Homeland’.Mobilities. 6, no. 4, 451–66.Google Scholar
Lemelle, Sidney J. and Kelley, Robin D. G., eds. 1994. Imagining Home: Class, Culture, and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Nelson, Alondra. 2008. ‘The Factness of Diaspora’. In Barbara A. Koenig, Sandra Soo-Jim Lee, and Sarah S. Richardson, eds., Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 253–68.Google Scholar
Patterson, Rubin. 2006. ‘Transnationalism: Diaspora-Homeland Development’.Social Forces. 84, no. 4, 1891–907.Google Scholar
Patterson, Tiffany Ruby and Kelley, Robin D. G.. 2000. ‘Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the Making of the Modern World’.African Studies Review. 43, no. 1, 11–45.Google Scholar

Discography

The Big Drum Dance of Carriacou. 1956. Compiled and annotated by Andrew C. Pearse. Ethnic Folkways FE4011. LP.Google Scholar
The Big Drum and Other Ritual and Social Music of Carriacou. 1980. Compiled and annotated by Donald Hill. Ethnic Folkways FE24002. LP.Google Scholar
Caribbean Voyage: The 1962 Field Recordings. 1997–2002. Recorded by Alan Lomax. Part of the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder Records 11661–1724-2. CD.Google Scholar
Caribbean Voyage: Carriacou Calaloo. 1999. Compiled and annotated by Lorna McDaniel and Donald R. Hill. Rounder Records 1722. CD.Google Scholar
Saraca: Funery Music of Carriacou. 2000. Compiled and annotated by Lorna McDaniel and Donald R. Hill. Rounder Records 1726-2. CD.Google Scholar
Tombstone Feast: Funery Music of Carriacou. 2001. Compiled and annotated by Lorna McDaniel and Donald R. Hill. Rounder Records 1727. CD.Google Scholar

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