Bamboula

For the 1848 composition by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, see Bamboula (Gottschalk).

Bamboula

Percussion instrument
Classification	Membranophone
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	211.212.1 (Cylindrical drums)

The bamboula dance

A bamboula is a type of drum made from a rum barrel with skin stretched over one end.[1] It is also a dance accompanied by music from these drums.

Bamboula Drum

History

Title page of "Bamboula", a work for piano by the Franco-Louisianian Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

Originating in Africa, the bamboula form appears in a Haitian song in 1757 and bamboula became a dance syncopation performed to the rhythm of the drum during festivals and ceremonies in Haiti (then Saint-Domingue). It was then exported to the United States (notably Mobile, Alabama, and the Virgin Islands) through Louisiana, by the slaves who were deported to New Orleans[2][3][4] during the 18th century with the arrival of the displaced French settlers of the island of San Domingo especially after the Haitian Revolution. The slaves congregated on the Congo Square to the edge of the area of the French Quarter of New Orleans to dance the bamboula.

In 1848, the American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and whose maternal grandmother was a native of Saint-Domingue, composed a piece entitled Bamboula, the first of four Creole inspired piano works known as his Louisiana Quartet.

Use as an ethnic slur

In the present-day French language, the word bamboula has become an ethnic slur, directed at black people.[5][6][7]

References

1. Valdman, Albert (1998). Dictionary of Louisiana Creole. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33451-0.
2. Society of Arts and Crafts (1919). Theatre Arts. New York: Theatre Publications, Inc.
3. Federal Writers' Project, Writers' Program (1947). Louisiana: A Guide to the State. New York: Hastings House. pp. 98, 279. ISBN 9781603540179.
4. Courlander, Harold (December 2002). A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore: The Oral Literature, Traditions, Recollections, Legends, Tales, Songs, Religious Beliefs, Customs, Sayings and Humor of Peoples of African American Descent in the Americas. Marlowe Company. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-1-56924-501-9.
5. "Justice for Theo: 'Police abuse is an everyday thing'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
6. Amiri, Maral (22 August 2007). "Un enseignant condamné pour avoir appelé son élève " bamboula "". www.afrik.com. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
7. DH.be. ""Bamboula, rentre chez toi, sale nègre"" (in French). Retrieved 2017-08-02.

External links

• Bamboula Dance Drums (includes audio sample), Smithsonian Global Sound.
• Bamboula Dance, Sonny Watson's StreetSwing
• Morris, Ayesha (February 25, 2006). "The Power of Dance: Bamboula has deep and strong ties to African heritage, island history and freedom fight". The Virgin Islands Daily News. Archived from the original on March 10, 2006. Retrieved 2009-05-20.