THE MUSIC OF AFRICA HAS HAD A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON THE MUSIC OF THE AMERICAS.12-Mar-97FOR FOUR CENTURIES THE SYNCOPATED MUSIC OF AFRICA HAS PROFOUNDLY INFLUENCED THE MUSIC OF THE AMERICAS. IN A PROGRAM DEVOTED TO THAT CONCEPT, THE VETERAN CHOREOGRAPHER, DANCER, DIRECTOR AND ACTOR GEOFFREY HOLDER -- WHO WAS BORN IN TRINIDAD -- WAS THE HOST.
AMONG 20TH CENTURY CLASSICAL COMPOSERS WHO HAVE USED AFRICAN RHYTHMS GENEROUSLY ARE CUBA'S ERNESTO LECUONA (LEH 'KWOH NAH) ... THE ARGENTINIEALBERTO GINESTERA (AHL 'BAIR TOE HEE NEHS 'TAIR AH), AND, AS MR. HOLDER REMINDED THE AUDIENCE, BRAZIL'S HEITOR VILLA LOBOS ('EH TOR 'VEE LAH 'LO BOHS).
"THESE RHYTHMS HAVE SEEPED INTO OUR MUSIC. YOU HEAR IT IN YOUR LIVING ROOM AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IT. YOU HEAR IT AT CLASSICAL CONCERTS. YOUR HEAR IT IN (COMPOSER IGOR) STRAVINSKY. YOU HEAR IT IN HEITOR VILLA LOBOS' 'BACHIANAS BRASILIERAS NUMBER FIVE.'"
GO TO BRAZIL YOU HEAR WHERE [THESE RHYTHMS] COME FROM. SAMBA. 'BACHIANAS BRASILIERAS NUMBER FIVE,' A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC THAT HAS BEEN INFLUENCED THROUGH AFRICA. YOU GET PEOPLE LIKE DIZZY GILLESPIE, GRETA CUBA, MIXING JAZZ AND AFRO-CUBAN RHYTHMS AND ALL OF THESE. IT HAS GONE INTO OUR FOOD. IT HAS GONE INTO OUR DANCES. IT IS COMING TO OUR SOCIAL DANCES, AND WE'RE NOT EVEN CONSCIOUS OF IT."
INTRODUCING TROUPE MAKANDAL (MAH KAHN 'DAHL), A HAITIAN TRIO, GEOFFREY HOLDER EXPLAINED THAT MUSIC -- ORIGINATING IN AFRICA, TRANSPORTED TO HAITI AND TRANSFORMED OVER THE YEARS -- HAS HELPED HAITI'S PEOPLE SUSTAIN THEIR RELIGION AND THEIR CULTURE.
"BLESS THE AFRICANS. WHEN THEY CAME TO BRAZIL, THEIR RELIGION WAS CALLED MACUMBA. WHEN THEY WENT TO CUBA, IT'S CALLED SHANGO. WHEN THEY WENT TO TRINIDAD, IT'S CALLED SHANGO. IN HAITI, IT'S CALLED VOUDOUN. DANCING AND DRUMMING IS CENTRAL TO VOODOO CEREMONIES.
CURACAO IS A SMALL CARIBBEAN ISLAND IN THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES, LOCATED 100 KILOMETERS FROM THE COAST OF VENEZUELA. MASTER OF CEREMONIES GEOFFREY HOLDER PRESENTED A QUINTET FROM THERE CALLED RAIS DI MI KULTURA (RICE DEE MEE KOOL 'TOO RAH) OR "ROOTS OF OUR CULTURE." IT WAS FORMED BY ANTILLEAN WINCHI ANDREA ('WIN CHEE AHN 'DRAY AH) SIX YEARS AGO.
"THE GROUP'S NAME AND THE WORDS [THEY] SING ARE IN PAPIAMENTO, A PATOIS (PAH 'TWAH) (MIXTURE) OF WEST AFRICAN, DUTCH AND PORTUGUESE."
IN PRESENTING A GROUP CALLED "THE DRUMS OF FREEDOM" FROM THE CARIBBEAN NATION OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, GEOFFREY HOLDER RECALLED HOW MUCH HE ENJOYED HIS FIRST CARNIVAL AS A SMALL BOY IN TRINIDAD. CARNIVALS ARE JOYOUS MUSIC AND DANCING STREET FESTIVALS FEATURING THE DISTINCTIVE MUSIC OF THE STEEL DRUM. THESE TRINIDADIAN PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS, SHAPED FROM METAL DRUMS, WERE ORIGINALLY MANUFACTURED TO HOLD OIL.
"WHEN YOU DANCE, IT'S A CLEANSER FOR THE BODY. YOU DANCE OUT THE DEMONS. YOU JUST GET IT OUT. YOU RELEASE IT. YOU DON'T KEEP IT IN. YOU RELEASE IT. THIS IS THE LIFE CENTER, AH HAH! THAT IS HEALTHY. FOR THOSE TWO DAYS, THE ISLAND CLEANS ITSELF OUT."
THE "AFRICA IN AMERICA" PROGRAM -- PRESENTED BY THE 92ND STREET YOUNG MEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION IN NEW YORK -- ENDED WITH A PERFORMANCE BY ANOTHER GROUP, "FIST AND HEEL." THIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENSEMBLE CONSISTS OF SHOUT SINGERS, DANCERS AND ACTORS WHO OFFER MUSIC FROM BLACK CHURCHES, DRAWN FROM A COMBINATION OF AFRICAN AND AMERICAN BLUES AND SPIRITUALS.
HOST GEOFFREY HOLDER ENDED THE ENTERTAINMENT BY URGING NEW YORKERS NOT ONLY TO TRAVEL TO THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS BUT TO GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE AND THEIR RICH FOLKLORE, ART AND MUSIC.