CREOLIZATION.

Luisa Sans
Adriana Gonzalez
Gerard Gaset

Historia i cultures postcolonials.

2014-2015
Prof. Isabel Alonso (G4)
Universitat de Barcelona.

Table of Contents.

Introduction

pg.1

Contributions

pg. 2-5

Bibliography

pg. 6

Extra material
(poem, music sheets)

pg 7-11

Introduction.
This work is done with the aim to recreate and simulate a possible creolization of a culture. In
this case, the subject dealt with is, in fact, creolization in the Americasa result of the
slavement and forced translocation of numerous people from Africa to the Americas. The
exercise intended was one of a creolisation happening. That is, to adapt cultural
manifestations to a new and strange foreign situation. We are not descendants of black slaves
neither a direct product of caribbean or other african-american manifestations; however, we
feel their influence in our lives through mass media and pop culture. As spaniards, we are
familiar with caribbean music such as bolero, merengue and cumbia; as global citizens we
know about rock, reggae and hip hop musicall of them resulting from the mass movements of
black africans and the exchange that happens from there onto nowadays. We wanted to
experiment, as much as possible, with the fact of having to deal with a culture that its not
completely our own in order to adapt to it in form and manner. Our focus, even if broaden as
to include different aspects of a culture, was mainly on the idea of carnival as it is one of the
top representations of creolization and, at the same time, worked perfectly with the talents
involvedmake up, music and poetry. Our efforts were in the direction of understanding it and
not so much into recreating it truthfully. We hope they are easily recognizable in the final
result.
The final result is to be viewed online.
http://youtu.be/mjjnbKHPb_Y Colonization. Historia i
cultura postcolonias. UB. 2015.

Luisa, Makeup artist

My inspiration arise when I began learning creole culture, specially when the diaspora of Haiti
in Saint Domingue and the beginning of a rebellion that liberate slave chains in 1791. Since
religion was a big door of self expression of African people who were slaved and exploited in
plantations, I transformed Adriana and Gerard into vodou characters. All the slaves that came
from West and Central Africa fight to preserve their own culture, among others, Yoruba
religion was one of the ancestors of Vodou. This religion and their multiple deities was
influenced by Catholic essence which was the most powerful doctrine to follow in settled
colonies. Although it was obligatory to be part of it, Vodou practitioners were loyal to their
culture allowing it being alive in their community. Vodou has a system in which Iwas are the
spirits who connect earth and human beings, also there are different deities. Adriana plays the
role of Ezili Danto and Ezili Freda, she is a mixture of the two in my mind. She is the
representation of African community. Ezili Freda is depicted as a white virgin, she is
coquettish and loves blue, gold, white, red and pink. Ezili Danto is represented as a dark
virgin, she is hard-working and loves colorful clothes. My inspiration came from the two
virgins, so Adriana wears in blue, white and gold. Her makeup is based in the black and the
white virgin and in the chest (it better seen in the pictures rather than in the video) she wears
the love heart. Gerard acts as a Legba, he is who let humans connect with the world of Iwa, he
links the calling of people with spirits, he is the protector of the barriers which separate the
two worlds, he is the gate of people oppressed in Haiti who needed to scape of their hard
reality created by colonial minds who destructed and erased cultures they did not understand.
He is depicted as a man with a skull appearance and a suit. That is why Gerard wears a black
and white make up with some symbolic features of the Legba. I am pretty glad that the result
of Ezili and Legba is connected with the first idea I had. Also, we have been involving and
embracing our ideas until the final stage which results in a pleasurable piece of work.

Adriana Gonzlez, violinist

When we were thinking about the project, we realized that each member of the group was an
artist in three different aspects. Therefore, we could use our talents in order to create a
performance that might symbolize an hypothetic creolization of African and American culture.
At this point, I started to search how African music had influenced American music. However,
it was difficult at first because I found that Caribbean music (
kallypso) had adapted mostly
African rhythms played with percussion instruments. So it was very difficult to me to imitate
African rhythms with the violin. Nevertheless, when I went on searching, I also found that
some American music had been influenced by an African instrument called kora. The
equivalent of kora in America was the violin, so they adapted some koras melodies with the
violin. Following this way, I found that Appalachian music, the country, the blues and the blue
grass used the violin in music influenced by African art. That is when I started to look for
sheets written for fiddle. The first song I play on the performance is called
Cotton-Eyed Joe
and it is country music. The second song I play it is called
Halloween
and it is reed bluegrass.
The last song, played during the credit titles, is called
Bears Blues
and it is blues music. As I
am used to play basically classical music, I had to watch a lot of videos in order to know how to
play this kind of music. I also found more sheets of music but while rehearsing with Gerard, we
thought that the ones mentioned above were the ones that fitted the text the most.

Gerard Gaset a.k.a. Angelo Corbaccio, poet.

Following the main idea, I assumed the role of a storyteller. Besides what Luisa points out
about the figure of the Legba, I wanted to express and reflect the influence that the figure of
the griot had in the diaspora of africans in the americas. For long time, I was familiar with this
figure due the intimate relation it has with the figure of the rapper and the toasters mcs from
Jamaica. Obviously, it was perfect to integrate the other two parts as it had the element of the
spoken word; I could give in language what my partners expressed through their crafts. As I
wanted to short tale African diaspora experience, my research was done more in terms of
history than on cultural representation. Based on elements present in the music dealt by
Adriana, I tried to express briefly how african storytelling and call and response rituals evolved
into shapes familiar to us. I wasnt so much interested into the origins of blues or reggae
musicto name some but to what kind of thoughts would have gone under the mind of those
who were enslaved and sold as merchandise. On the second part of the poem, I deal with the
idea of howeven if all odds were against themthose people and their descendants have being
able, not just to maintain traits of their culture but to export it and make it global. For that
reason, I mention The Fisk University Jubilee Singers, as theirs is the first recorded outcome
of this african-american music turning popular among white europeans. Finally, I assumed the
responsibility of editing the video as it will ultimately tell the story. This gave me the
possibility to play with other elements to enrich the whole idea. In the introductory part, I
sampled examples of african music and Yoruba rituals and mixed them with some readings
simulating voodoo invocations. This part has a black image as it represent the memories
echoing on the slave mind when transported by boat. For the epilogue, I mixed a blues played
by Adriana with an extract from Miss Lou poem When trouble tek man pickney boot fit him.
I have chosen this poem and poet because I think it is a perfect example of african heritage in
the creole world. As Luisa says, I hope it results in a enjoyable piece of work.

Bibliography:
Thorntorn, John. 1992-98.
Africa and the Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World
1400-1800.
Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Yelvington, Kevin A. Ed. 2006-09
Afro-Atlantic Dialogues Anthropologies in the DIaspora.
Santa F. School of American Research Press.
Gilroy, Paul. 1993-96.
The Black Atlantic Modernity and the Double-Consciousness.
London. Harvard University Press.
Zydeco: Creole Music and Culture in Rural Louisiana. YouTube. 19 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 April
2015.
https://youtu.be/aMRnD0r0eq0
"
T
oure Playing a N'jarka (single String Violin)
.
" YouTube. 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 May 2015.
https://youtu.be/SlY2LLDZ2Z8
"Masquerades | Afikpo Online." Afikpo Online RSS. Web. 14 May, 2015.
http://www.afikpoonline.com/category/afikpo-masks-masquerades/masquerades/
.
"Creole Religions in the Caribbean." Creole Religions in the Caribbean. Web. 21 June 2015.
http://www.triniview.com/special_events/130307.html
Millar, Harvey. African-Caribbean Resistance Culture: past and contemporary. The Mirror.
Web. 16 April 2015.
http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~hmillar/resist.htm

Call and Response. By Angelo Corbaccio

Oh! Grand Pere Eternel.

Padre Nuestro, Virgin Mary.
A tous les Saints,
les IWA
to the unknow spiritual entities, ancestors,
and the DEATH.
Lit the SACRED FIRE!
We are simultaneously inside and outside,
we are double.
Ours, is a compound of histories of struggle
sometimes painfull expression.
Chains of sorrow
turned into chains of tradition.
Gold coast, Slave coast, Guinea, Allada,
A ship from the Royal African Company,
is well where this tale begin.

We came by the boat, see?

From Kongo, Ndongo, We kings, see?
But the white man separated us in space and time
but the culture was transfered
njarka was banned
cause we a enslaved....
RESISTANCE, RESISTANCE, RESIST.
To survive and prosper.
Resist.
call and wait for the response
Deciphering messages
to survive and prosper.
Angolians with senegambians in the corn field
made soukous music posible.
Essential conectedness creating an
INTERCONTINENTAL MUSIC.
For Guayaba, Granada, Trinidad, Louisiana, St. Lucia, Barbados, Jamaica, Brasil,
Colombia,...
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK.

A Promise of french enlightment

but blood and dead.
Left only with ORALITY,
MUSIC,
BODY.
The body that shakes with the Voodoo,
that eat the zydeco,
that sing songs of slavery love.
THAT GOSPEL LOVE
Spiritual LOVE
To keep UNITY STRONG,
To keep COMMUNITY BOND.
Just to change you
White Mainstream.
Form the Fisk Univeristy Jubilee Singers on
To become popular.
As it is double.
Simultaneously inside and outside.
CALL & RESPONSE.
CALL and RESPONSE.
Call and wait for the response

We CALL, do you Response?