folk jamaican songs

In this article I would like to focus on folk music of Jamaica since it is regarded as the first type of music to emerge on the island. It is deeply rooted in the various cultures of every day folk. Its main purpose was to accompany activities including rituals, work and dance. Moreover, the words of Jamaican folk songs are part of the verbal tradition of the folk art of the island. Thanks to people who passed songs down through generations they became a record of their own culture and Jamaican patois. According to Olive Lewin (the author of several books who has made numerous recordings of folk music, performed by the Jamaican Folk Singers) and Ivy Baxter, the author of ‘The Arts of an Island’, we can divide Jamaican folk music into four main areas.

1.       Ritual and Ceremonies songs- The songs which set the scene for spiritual trance and possession are usually performed with melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisations. These songs are aimed to encourage greater involvement in worship for the participant. Jamaican folk music with a religious orientation that is used in worship, seems to be of three main types: hymns, choruses and songs. Songs were used particularly with movement in certain types of cult groups and then there are soul songs that can be used in any area. Soul songs are similar to gospel singing In the North America.

2.       Work songs- music associated with everyday life such as birth and marriage. The origins of these songs lie in slavery, when slaves were forbidden to speak to each other. Work songs sprang from their need to communicate with each other and to lighten their distressingly hard labour. They could not talk but luckily they discovered that they could chant. The chants took on the rhythm of the work they accompanied and therefore are as varied as the tasks they had to do. There are work songs for digging, sugar boiling, picking cotton, pepper and corn, planting corn, peas and yam, timber cutting, house-cleaning and hauling, women’s work, fishing and loading bananas on boats among others. 

3.       Social and Recreational songs- Recreational music seems to have evolved mainly in the context of Sunday and holiday festivities. During slavery, opportunities to use recreational music were almost nonexistent, although Jonkonnu  (The John Canoe- a street parade which links music and dance, mime and symbol is an early traditional dance form of African descent that still survives in Jamaica).

Instrumental music

To bring you closer to the spirit of Jamaican folk songs, here is an example of one of the most famous song in Jamaican patois with and English translation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiX2PbrBXCQ



Boney M. - Brown Girl In the Ring

Brown girl in the ring

Dere isa brown girl in the ring tra la la la la
Shi luk lakka sugar and a plum                           x2
(Plum Plum)

Show mi yu moition tra la la la la   x4
Shi luk lakka sugar and a plum
(Plum Plum)

 Skip across the ocean tra la la la la x4

Shi luk lakka sugar and a plum (Plum Plum) 

Stand before your lover tra la la la la x4
Shi luk lakka sugar and a plum
(Plum Plum)

Dere isa brown girl in the ring tra la la la la
A brown girl in the ring tra la la la la la   x2
(Plum Plum)

An English version:

Chorus: Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
There's a brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
Come on show me your motion
Tra la la la la la
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths x2

I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes x2
Beng-a-deng x2

Comment: The most noticeable difference between English and Jamaican patois is that instead of ‘There is’, Jamaican use ‘Dere is’, the pronoun ‘She’ has a form of ‘shi’ and finally an English “look like” in Jamaican is “luk lakka’

Sources: http://www.expeditionjamaica.com/topics/culture-and-religion/item/16-jamaican-folk-music