A Skratie Pokoe by The Stan Lokhin Band

Front Cover of Album

As I said in my earlier post about "The Wash Board Orchestra" many of the members joined different groups when they broke up.
O.Seymanson (the other lead singer) and Carlo Brandon ( the sax player) joined this group.
When Spider Vox broke up, most members started there own or a joined groups.

Rear Cover with Picture of Stan Lokhin

In the song "Kowroe E Moro Mi" the lead complains about the cold in Holland having just arrived you can imagine, having spend your life in the tropics and now getting beaten by the cold. A "hot" topic among newcomers.
I can speak from experience.

The music style is a Skratie variation ( because of the so called "skratie drum" being so prominent).
O.Seymanson is the lead on this song.

Spider Vox (The Stan Lokhlin Band) - Kowroe E Moro Mi

Surinam Golden Gate Boys - Peroen Peroen Mi Patron Philips LP

The Original Golden Gate Boys where immensely popular back home in Suriname and inspired many groups.
One of them is todays group who started singing somewhere in the sixties.

This song is a traditional dating from slavery times probably around 1700.
In the song a "patron" (slave being the foreman) is being made ridiculous by other slaves after foreign pirates/army's have raided their lumber plantations and took all wood with them.

He's being asked why he did not stop them, how much beating he has received and why he's trying to hide he's in pain.
A rare opportunity to get back at him.

The Golden gate Boys are E.Banket, D.Berenstein, E.Vabrie and W.Bergtop.

Peroen Peroen Mi Patron SURINAM GOLDEN GATE BOYS

Orchestra Washboard lead Lieve Hugo - Langa Bere Emi CD '90

Orchestra Washboard to me is one of the best traditional bands ever from Suriname. It consisted of some of the best musicians Suriname had to offer.
This group was immensely popular and they did not know how to stop when they got started and the party was going, that's how this song came to life, improvised just to keep the party going and it kept evolving every time, consisting of traditional Suriname songs from way back passed on by earlier music generation.

Washboard mostly played at house parties in the early years. I cherries the memories I have regarding this band in connection with my grandmothers 70th birthday (Nov 1969), they played like crazy that night and I've never heard "Langa Bere" played better then they did that night.
"Langa Bere" is a saying we use in Suriname for something that keeps on going and going. It can also mean boring, but listening you'll know it's not the case with this song.

This music style is called "Bigie-Pokoe" meaning "Big/Large/Grand - Music/Rhythm/Cadance".
This sound started somewhere in the 1930's under the influence of marching bands, military brass and jazz bands, that's why the horns are so prominent. Don't you just love the sax player.

This version was recorded in 1970 during the Holland tour. You can hear the mix of Winti and Kawina elements which where already there in the '30. Listening to the horns answering the sax in some parts as the backing vocals traditionally do in winti/kawina which is also the case in this song.

The group broke up in the mid 70's if I remember well and most of the members started there own groups ( 5 or 6) mostly in The Netherlands, both lead singers started a solo career with there own band and really made it.

Washboard sometimes played for hours and hours, they had spare musicians that took over when one was tired, just needed to go to the bathroom, maybe saw someone at the party he had not seen for a while or just wanted to dance which frequently occurred during ballads, when they had there eye on one of the partying ladies.

Some of the musicians played several instruments, so after an hour you could see the drummer playing bass or some other instrument.
It was great just watching them.
The rapid swelling of the rhythm and the constant changing you hear at the end sometimes went on for 15 minutes.
But enough of my walk down memory lane.
Enjoy 15 minutes of dancing pleasure.

ORCHESTRA WASHBOARD – LANGA BERE

Sonora Paramarera - Teki Wan Gon

This group from the late 60's is still going strong, although the members have been changing constantly the last 10 to 15 years.
Paramarera consisted mostly of Suriname musicians mixed with those from the Dutch Antilles, Holland and some other South American countries.

They mainly play/played Kaseko, which is a Suriname dance rhythm, but other Caribbean styles where/are also among their repertoire like reggae, salsa and calypso.
Read more about Kaseko Music
The song is a traditional, rearranged by on of the group members. The story is about 2 people having a quarrel, one is very angry with the other who says "Well If You're Angry With Me Then Take A Gun And Shoot Me"
This comment was, and to some extend still is, being used in Suriname to stop a debate or argument about something that was/is going nowhere.

Kaseko is a very joyful rhythm just listen and feel how it brightens your day.

KASEKO song by Sonora Paramarera

NAKS Folk Group - Wan Wan Bung Lobi De Ete

NAKS Folk Group around early 70's with traditional instruments


Notes of NAKS Album explaining several styles of Kawina music and historical information

Naks – Wan Wan Bung Lobi De Ete

This is a koti singi in "kawina bigipoku style". Love and goodness are impromisingly being sung of, but several people and every day situations are also made fun of.

Some additional information:
Winti is an Afro-Surinamese religion with a supreme being who has withdrawn from the world and a pantheon of lesser gods. Belief in an immortal soul and the ancestor worship connected with it play a central part in the religion of the Creole population. The music linked to the religious practices is a Surinamese variant of the West African tradition, handed down from the period of slavery, of ritual drum music and dancing before the wintis, the demigods who move as fast as the wind. Each of the wintis has special rhythms and songs by which he or she can be summoned. Their presence manifests itself in the trance dance in which a winti temporarily takes possession of someone's personality. This can happen during a healing ritual, but also at a celebration.

Another form of Creole folk music related to Winti music is Kawina, which arose after the abolition of slavery in 1863. At the beginning of the last century Kawina developed into a major form of popular music for people from the city and the coastal areas of Surinam. Its texts are about all sorts of subjects from everyday life, but mainly about the relations between men and women and about public scandals. They are primarily entertaining songs to dance to, with long instrumental interludes of improvisation by the percussion ensemble. Aside from the texts, the main difference to Winti music is in the instruments and times used and the greater freedom to improvise which the drummers and lead singer enjoy.

What Winti and Kawina have in common is the call of a lead singer, alternating with a chorus which responds with a harmonized refrain, and the interacting rhythmical patterns. These elements also form the building blocks of popular Kaseko music.

Source:http://www.myspace.com/yakiez

CHECK OUT SURINAME DAY IN NEW YORK

KAWINA MUSIC BY BOSE KRIORO

This is one of the oldest forms of Traditional Suriname Music, next to the music of the original habitants of the South American continent "the indians".
It's called "KAWINA", these songs where song by the slaves. Characteristic for this is the form in which the singing is done, a lead singing and the guest/public repeating him.
No electronic instruments are used, the main instruments are, the Kawina drum, the so called "Apintie" drum and a wooden bench.



The group performing in this song is one of the best " Bose Krioro". There are lots of local "Kawina" bands in Suriname, many bands are also a brought, every where Suriname people are these bands are. There are no real Suriname parties without this music.

The beautiful thing of this is that all cultures in Suriname dance to these songs, although it's an Afro American style. But this is normal back in Suriname, all cultures have blended, but holding on to the most characteristics elements of there own culture.
A real Suriname culture is developing 150 years after "traditional" slavery was abolished.

Bose Krioro Song >>>>>> get it here

THE MANY ROOTS OF SURINAME MUSIC

Left: Painting of slave trading

Right: Descendent's of slaves dancing in there village

I was born 70 years to late ( ~ | * )

THE MUSIC FROM SURINAME HAS BEEN INFLUENCED BY ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD.

AS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD AFTER SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED IN 1863 THE PLANTERS NEEDED WORKERS.

AT FIRST THE SLAVES ,FROM MOSTLY THE WEST AFRICAN COST, HAD TO STAY AND WORK FOR 10 YEARS ON THERE OLD PLANTATION'S.


IT WAS EXPECTED THAT MOST OF THE FORMER SLAVES WOULD LEAVE THE PLANTATION'S SO WORKERS WHERE CONTRACTED FROM SEVERAL PARTS OF THE WORLD TO COME AND FILL UP THE EMPTY SPACES.


WORKERS WHERE BROUGHT IN FROM CHINA, INDIA, INDONESIA AS CONTRACT WORKERS TO WORK FOR A FEW YEARS AND THEN BE TAKEN BACK TO THERE COUNTRIES
BUT MANY OF THEM NEVER LEFT AND CREATED THE MIXTURE OF CULTURE AND PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE GLOBE



LATER PEOPLE FROM EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD CAME AND THE CULTURAL BLEND BECAME EVEN MORE SIGNIFICANT