Gombeys

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Important question asked by the Chris and Earl in NZ...what is a Gombey????

My brief description is they are colourful masked dancers, who dance and whirl to amazing drum beats. The history of the gombeys goes back to Africa and slave times. Now in bermuda they are a national icon and are awesome to watch and listen to......

Given that my creative writing skills are not the best (Brother Greg got that gene) I have enlisted the help of the internet to explain what a Gombey is.........enjoy the description below


The Majesty and Mystery of the Gombeys

The pulsing cadence of the drum reaches out and grabs you as it rushes out of the hinterland to run unfettered through the streets. And from around the bend, appearing as suddenly as midday apparitions, come the Gombeys, leaping flashes of color and pulse-pounding agility, with their peacock-feathered headdresses waving in counterpoint to the drumbeat, always the drumbeat . . . its passionate and staccato tempo igniting some secret place deep in the soul.

Then the drum changes voice, its command subtle, and the Wild Indian (bow and arrow at the side), the Trapper and chiefs and warriors obey, slipping easily into the "snake dance." Shrieks from the Captain's whistle pierce the air, punctuating the throb of the drum, and he high-steps and turns and bends and sunlight bounces from 100 or more bits of broken mirror sewn into his cape.

Shuffling behind the masked dancers are the drummers, faces exposed, nimble fingers rapping drumsticks against the tight face of the snare drums, the deep-throated kettle drum joining in thumping chorus. Bringing up the rear of the Gombey "crowd" are men, women and children, hips rocking and swaying, shoes clapping on the hard street, responding to the language, the symbolism, the artistry of a dance cultivated from native soil, nurtured through slavery and celebrated in freedom.

Yet most visitors rarely see them.

The Gombeys appear at many Bermudian festivals throughout the year.

No one is certain when the Gombeys first appeared. We do know they were active around the end of the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, their name derived from the African gumba, a word for drum. Had some inhabitants had their way, the dance would have been outlawed.

"The savage and nonsensical exhibition of the Gomba, practiced here by the idle, should be done away with, as a thing not suited to a civilized community, and highly dangerous to passengers on horses or in carriages," complained a letter writer to the Bermuda Gazette in 1837.

The appearance of the Gombeys on Boxing Day -- a local holiday celebrated the day after Christmas -- was one of the season's anticipated highlights. It was then, as now, a pastiche of dancers leaping, doing splits and pirouettes. Men and women daubed their faces red and yellow, their scarlet dress enhanced by ribbons and flowers. As they danced and sang from house to house, they were accompanied by the hypnotic tempo of the drum, its distinctive beat confirmed in 1970 at a UNESCO Cultural and Conservation Conference as entirely unique.

There have been several influences on the development of the Gombey tradition over the past hundred or more years, chief among them some Native American adaptations. Tomahawks, bow and arrow and feathers are readily evident. The "Wild Indian" is an obvious borrowing, and the dance ritual itself, while essentially African, has some aspects of Indian tribal dancing.

But perhaps the most significant factor lies in its family traditions. Each of the five or six separate troupes or crowds is generally composed of males (and recently one or two females) from one family who maintain and pass on traditional dance techniques from generation to generation. This makes the survival of the Gombey both a family and cultural tradition.

Apart from a few holidays and an annual competition when they appear in their vibrant costumes that are sewn by female family members, the Gombeys will take to the streets without costume at odd times through the year, attract eager crowds and then disperse quickly.

They are, for many, Bermuda's most powerful cultural tradition.

taken from: http://www.insiders.com/bermuda/sb-explain.htm

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Photos

Gombey and the girls
Erin, gombey and Mel

Comments

[Andrea Smith]

Alisa Kani
Hi, I am a bermudian and for as long as I remember Gombeys get everybody excited. When I was just a small child gombeys came out every weekend . Nowadays they only come out on special occasions. It is true that most gombeys are male. The first group in Bermuda I believe was the Warner Gombeys. I have followed them all of my life and they hold the tradition well. There is now an all girl Gombey Group called Alisa Kani. This group is actually part of the Warner Gombeys and they dance along side of them during the Bermuda Day parade. Because Warner Gombeys are part of my family and my son dances for them this year I may join them in the parade. The suits are really hard to make and they take lots of time so wish me luck.