Alan Lomax, J.D. Elder, and Carol Kulig discuss the slow acceptance of Cantometrics findings, Black funerary customs, and suggestions for cultural curriculum of pan-American Black studies (part 1)

Note: J.D. Elder complains about current government in Trinidad and proliferation of ‘cosmetic’ industries such as iron smelting (although there is no iron ore in Trinidad) as a waste of money. Says he is visiting America to participate in a conference on the ancestor cults [e.g., Yoruba religions such as Candomble.] He will deliver a paper on the syncretism of the Tobago reel and the Orisha dance. Herskovitz looked at syncretism before he died. African scholars don't accept it, and J. D. Elder says that even Alan Lomax was formerly reluctant to accept it, claiming it deprived the artists of credit for their inventions. J. D. Elder: An example of syncretism is the use of the military. Twenty Scottish regiments were stationed at one time in Tobago. When they had their gala, the black cooks, drivers, and other servants heard the music but paid little attention to the words. The important thing was that they took away the music and transformed and made it over in African style. They gave it syncopation, speed, and what you call rasp and we call "grumbling." They made over the violin and used it as a rhythm instrument. You, Alan Lomax, have identified stylistic elements with a precision that no one else has done. Waterman's Ph. D. on Tobago didn't touch it. Kuhn's analysis didn't touch performance style at all. In Trinidad, God was a monogamist. Shango was made over in the image of man obeying the conditions of Trinidad. Now we can go to Nigeria for a few thousand dollars. We have a Nigerian professor in Trinidad and now Shango has two wives again in Trinidad. We have stomped Candomble into the ground, but we know now that we have been wrong. It is down in black and white at the UNESCO conference. Now they have begun giving their children African names, wearing African-style braids, and bringing in scholars from Africa. Alan Lomax: But are they bringing up their children to practice Afro-American culture from Trinidad’ They say, "We have a lot loyalty to Africa," but nobody gives a damn about the sea of Afro-American culture that preceded this African stuff because they consider it lower class. No one is working on anything else but gospel, blues, and jazz. Gospel is okay because you wear a long robe and it's very fashionable because it goes with Motown. They're for Candomble, but hardly any one has heard of the Georgia Sea Islands' shouts. They are not interested in the performing arts. I've had a black anthropologist tell me that she doesn't go out into the field because it doesn't pay. You get rewards for going to conferences. J.D. Elder: You should see the seven-year old Ibo girl selling lighter fluid and jars of cooked rice - "Buy rice, buy limes, buy lemons," and so on. By the time she is 13 years old she's got a bagful of money. And whoever wants to marry her, by the time he has finished bringing the gifts to her father, he owes the bank and his relatives about three times [inaudible]. He might even ask his younger brother to become a debt slave so he can pay back the money. Alan Lomax: Where is this’ J.D. Elder: Osaba, in Ibo country, near the town made famous by Achebe. They compare funeral customs of Nigeria and New Orleans, while watching a film of a New Orleans funeral procession. J.D. Elder: In Nigeria that box would hit the road seven days after the funeral has begun. Among some Ibo the funeral is divided in two parts. There may even be a first and a second burial. Alan Lomax: The film is a bit condensed. They are taking it to the church for a service while the crowd wails outside. Then they process it through the streets, first singing sad, then faster hymns. At the cemetery there is a "cutting off," and the crowd dances back to the point of origin, in this case a bar, whose owner had died. Once they had a funeral for this very bar, when it had to be moved. It took a whole day to move the essence of this bar from one corner to the other. J.D. Elder: The point you are making is the essence of the significance for the theology behind the African attitude to death. When somebody is dead, all the members of the family have to come to his bedside. He gives a secret word to the eldest son (or sometimes, his daughter). All the surviving wives come under his power. The father's surviving wives become his wives, so his father is not really dead. The elder son is called "the living dead." J.D. Elder describes the role of the griots (paid praise singers) and their orchestra of drummers. Praise songs are called "orikis." They can be sung for divinities like Shango or for respected men in the communities when they die. They will sing and will bed down in the compound for seven days. They will be given calabash, wine, schnapps, money. In Carriacou they go round the village. This is pure African. In Africa his wife will precede him with a tray of bitter cola for Shango. A taster will test to see if it is poisoned. Then they come in the house and sing praises. The griots also go around to the houses of all the dead man's friends. The maternal and paternal relatives wear clothing of special funeral cloth, a separate color for each group, custom tailored for the occasion, that is ordered and paid for by the eldest son.