Cumana 4/62

This session begins with instrumental performances involving cuatro—small four-stringed Venezuelan guitar—and fiddle (tape 1053, tracks 5, 7, 9), followed by the alternating lead-chorus singing style characteristic of bongo performances (tape 1053, tapes 10-12; and tape 1055, track 1, 3, 5, 7). Also, interspersed throughout this session are five interviews with individual performers (tape 1053, track 6, 8; and tape 1055, track 2, 6, 8). The instrumental performances are meant to accompany a number of dance styles, namely a bélè (song-dance), a quadrille (Afro-Caribbean interpretation of nineteenth-century European set dance), and a “jig.” Bongo performances occur at a Trinidadian wake and feature music and dance to placate ancestors.