British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Barbadian tuk Music: Colonial Development and Post-independence Recontextualization

Author(s): Sharon Meredith
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 12, No. 2 (2003), pp. 81-106
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30036850
Accessed: 06/01/2009 19:56
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bfe.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
British Forum for Ethnomusicology is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
British Journal of Ethnomusicology.
http://www.jstor.org
SHARON MEREDITH
Barbadian tuk music: colonial
development and post-independence
recontextual ization1
Tuk is a genre of fife and drum music found on the island of Barbados. While it
exhibits a number of parallels with British military fife and drum music which
may be attributable to the influence of the British army that was garrisoned on
the island for over two hundred years, other influences have also played a part
in the development of tuk, notably the musical heritage of the African-descended
population. The first part of this paper examines the early history of tuk and
places it in its original performance contexts. In more recent times, the creation
of a national identity drawing on the heritage of the majority African-descended
population has helped to preserve customs and traditions that may otherwise
have died out. Although once looked down upon by some sectors of the popula-
tion, these traditions have now been recontextualized to serve a specific purpose
in post-Independence Barbados and are more widely (though not universally)
accepted. The way in which this transformation has been achieved is explored in
the second part of the paper.
Introduction
The name "tuk" appears to be derived from the Scottish word "touk", meaning
the beat of a drum or to tap on a drum, and can perhaps be attributed to the large
numbers of Scots who found their way to Barbados in the seventeenth century,
either as indentured servants or as political prisoners.2 Although the tuk band is
usually described as a fife and drum band, the "fife" is in actual practice a penny
'I am grateful to my two anonymous reviewers and to Caroline Bithell and Janet Topp
Fargion in their editorial roles for their detailed and constructive feedback that has signifi-
cantly improved this paper. I am also grateful to the editors for their encouragement and
support throughout the editorial process.
2 Barbados is the most easterly of all the islands in the Caribbean. With a land area of a mere
14 by 21 miles, it has a modern-day population of approximately 260,000. More than 70 per
cent of the population is of African descent, around 20 per cent is of mixed African and
European descent and the remainder is comprised of white descendants of colonists and
indentured servants, together with various immigrant communities.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL. 12/ii 2003 pp. 81-106
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/il 2003
Figure 1 A modern tuk band: Salt Fish Soup at Crop Over Tuk Band Competition, 1 August
1998. (Photo: John Meredith)
whistle and is referred to as a "flute". This is accompanied by a kittle drum (snare
drum), a bass drum and a "steel", usually a triangle (Figure 1). In earlier times,
the fiddle was sometimes used as the melodic instrument of the band but its use
seems to have died out early in the twentieth century. Tuk musicians today play a
wide-ranging repertoire, drawing on traditional, classical, religious and popular
idioms. It is essentially the rhythms played that qualify music as tuk. Thus there
is no standard repertoire, but rather any piece of music can be played by a tuk
band, ranging from "The blue Danube waltz" to "My grandfather's clock". It is
also in the rhythmic component of tuk that the African influence can be most
clearly discerned. Like other similar musical genres that can be found in and
around the Caribbean region, tuk illustrates the way in which the fusion of African
and European musical elements was a key part of the creolization process that
took place wherever European colonial masters employed African slaves.
Tuk declined in popularity during the first half of the twentieth century and it
was only after Barbados gained its independence from Britain in 1966 that tuk,
together with other aspects of working class culture that had suffered a similar
decline, entered into a period of gradual revival as the urge to forge a new post-
colonial national identity began to take hold and tuk was now adopted and
adapted by the government and by tourism agencies to serve as the island's
musical signature. Throughout the Caribbean, in countries that gained their
independence in the late twentieth century, similar processes can be observed
whereby practices that were once the province of the working class populations
came to serve as symbols of a new collective national identity (see, for example,
Vianna 1998, Brodber and Greene 1981, Bdhague 1994). Peter Manuel suggests
82
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
that the acceptance of creole musics in the Caribbean has been "closely bound
up with nationalism and elite recognition of the Afro-Caribbean heritage",
citing as an example the way in which Cuban nationalists prized the habanera
"because it was a local creole invention rather than an archaic product of
despised Spain" (Manuel, Bilby and Largey 1995:15). In Barbados, tuk can be
seen to have benefited from a similar process of acceptance. Today, tuk has been
recontextualized and is featured at cultural shows staged for tourists, at official
functions and at national events, often accompanied by one or more of the folk
characters associated with the tuk band. Despite the fact that it does not enjoy
universal appreciation by all Barbadians, tuk is now officially recognized as the
indigenous music of the island.3
Sources
Prior to my own work on tuk (Meredith 2002), very little has been written on
this musical genre in comparison with other Caribbean genres such as reggae
and calypso, which are well researched and documented (see, for example,
Chang and Chen 1998, Potash 1997, Rohlehr 1990, Cowley 1996). There are,
however, an increasing number of texts on less well-known Caribbean genres
such as Lorna McDaniel's exploration of the Big Drum Ritual of Carriacou
(1998), Brenda Berrian's study of French Caribbean popular songs, music and
culture (2000), and Tina Ramnarine's work on chutney (2001). There are only
two texts so far devoted to Barbadian music. Folk songs of Barbados (Marshall,
McGeary and Thompson 1981) offers a selection of folk songs collected and
notated in the 1970s with the intention of providing repertoire for Barbadians
from all walks of life. Each song is accompanied by brief historical or expla-
natory notes that serve to illustrate the song's place in Barbadian society.
Barbadian popular music and the politics of Caribbean culture (Best 1999),
parts of which reappear as Roots to popular culture - Barbadian aesthetics:
Kamau Brathwaite to hardcore styles (Best 2001), offers a history and analysis
of various musical genres to be found in Barbados, including tuk, albeit written
by a non-musicologist. Other references to tuk are mainly to be found in
Barbadian magazines and occasionally newspapers, though notably nothing
substantial appears prior to the 1970s. The earliest direct reference to tuk I have
found is in an article by J. Graham Cruickshank published in 1911. Earlier
newspaper articles may allude to tuk, but do not mention it specifically by name.
Janice Millington's brief reference to tuk in her chapter on Barbados in the
recent Garland encyclopedia of world music volume on South America, Mexico,
Central America, and the Caribbean (1998:813-21) is significant in firmly
situating tuk as a part of Barbados' musical heritage in a major work.
3 Spouge is generally considered to be the other indigenous musical genre of Barbados.
Predominantly influenced by ska and calypso, it was popularized in the late 1960s by Jackie
Opel but declined rapidly after his early death in 1970 and has only recently been revived.
A preliminary discussion of tuk's contribution to a definition of Barbadian identity can be
found in Meredith (2001).
83
84 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
I believe there are two main reasons for the dearth of documentation on tuk.
The first of these, namely the long unbroken influence of British colonialism,
applies to Barbadian music in general. From 1627 to 1966, Barbados was a
British colony and was often referred to as "Little England" because of parallels
that could supposedly be drawn. The population of British origin imposed British
culture on all Barbadians, who were brought up to believe that this was the
culture to aspire to and consequently many Barbadians came to believe that only
things from outside of Barbados were of value. Secondly, tuk was generally
associated with the working classes. Though tuk's development was not contem-
poraneously documented, and therefore its earlier purpose can only be surmised,
in the early twentieth century tuk was the music of the working classes and was
associated with rum shops, which were considered undesirable places for all but
working class men. These associations have resulted in many Barbadians look-
ing down on tuk and anything related to it. Consequently there was, presumably,
no perceived need to report on it, particularly in the pre-Independence era when
newspapers were largely produced by the white population. The colonists were
not generally interested in the recreational activities of the black population,
except for occasions when trouble flared up, resulting in court cases that were
reported in the newspapers.4 Apart from this, it is unlikely that there would have
been any official documentation of tuk.5
Origins and early development
Although the earliest explicit reference to tuk (by name) that I have found dates
from 1911, there are references in the eighteenth and nineteenth century writings
of European visitors to Barbados to the musical activities of the slaves. The most
commonly reported instruments were drums, horns (conch shells or animal
horns) and later fiddles. Many of the observations on slave music were deroga-
tory, such as George Pinckard's comment that "both music and dance are of a
savage nature" (1816 vol. 1:126). A later observation on the music and dancing
of the black population was published in a newspaper column entitled "How
Christmas was spent" (Weekly Recorder, 1 January 1898:4). This noted that
there had been "no vulgar exhibitions of street-dancing to the accompaniment of
drums and triangles - instruments of torture in the hands of the unskilled." This
seems to refer to something resembling tuk - in terms of its social acceptance as
well as the instruments used.
4 See, for example, a case of assault committed at a night dance "fashionable among the
Negroes" that was reported in The Barbadian, 12 August 1843, p. 2.
5 Even if such documentation had existed, whether it would have survived is debatable. There
has, historically, been a rather lax attitude in Barbados towards the preservation of documen-
tation, so much so that the national television company recorded over their film of the coun-
try's Independence Ceremony. Many materials at the Barbados Department of Archives and
Barbados Museum Library have suffered from insect damage and humidity and are conse-
quently disintegrating or have been discarded. A substantial collection of recorded interviews,
photographs and clippings that was collated by the Commonwealth Caribbean Resource
Centre and housed at the University of the West Indies' Cave Hill Campus in Barbados has
disappeared, despite the efforts of a Barbadian academic, Dr Richard Allsopp, to locate it.
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
It is generally accepted that the tuk band as we know it today is based on
aspects of the British military fife and drum band (see e.g. Millington 1998,
Marshall, McGeary and Thompson 1981), notably with respect to the instru-
ments used. There are, however, a number of African-derived elements in tuk,
namely the rhythmic improvisation that occurs on the kittle drum, creating
polyrhythmic effects with the bass drum and steel, and the use of metal percus-
sion. The incidence of instruments with which they were familiar, such as drums
and flutes, would have facilitated the transference of slaves' musical skills to an
apparently British-style musical formation, with the use of drums - described by
Agawu as West African music's "chief vehicle" (1987:414-5) - being particu-
larly important for the Africans.
The involvement of slaves in the militia (a force used to defend the island
before a permanent military garrison was established), some of them as musi-
cians, suggests that there was an element of formal training in military music for
some slaves. As early as 1735 a young black man was identified as a "trumpeter
in the Life-Guard" (Handler 1984:13) and militia muster rolls from 1747 state
that all the drummers and trumpeters, numbering approximately one hundred,
were black (Hall 1755:68). Thus the development of a Barbadian musical form
modelled on military music and played by the black population is not surprising.
In addition, since African musical practices were not always welcomed by the
colonists for fear that this would lead to unrest and trouble amongst the slaves,
the playing of types of instruments and a style of music familiar to the colonists
may have enabled the slaves to perpetuate their own musical practices concealed
within a borrowed identity. Homi Bhabha suggests that in mimicry, the colonizer
requires the colonized subject to adopt the outward forms and internalize the
values and norms of the colonizer (1994:86). The partial imitation of a military
fife and drum band as represented by the tuk band could be interpreted as mim-
icry in this sense. A fuller exploration of the extent of music-making within the
African military and the extent to which it may have survived in the Caribbean
lies beyond the scope of the present paper. It is, however, possible to suggest that
similarities between African and European musics - notably the use of signals,
particularly on drums - contributed to the syncretic development of what were
perceived by Europeans to be imitations of their military music.6
Tuk rhythms
As already noted, whilst a tuk band can play any piece of music, what identifies
the music as tuk is the standard rhythmic accompaniment that is used. Indeed,
the rhythmic component of the music is so central to its identity that I have seen
tuk bands perform without a flute player. There are three standard metres of tuk,
namely 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4, which are shown in Figures 2-7. In the kittle drum pat-
terns the beats placed on the line in the notated examples are played in the centre
of the drum, while those above the line are played at the edge of the drum, near
6 For an interpretation of the relationship between African military music and Caribbean
music in respect of Haiti, see Averill and Yih (2000).
85
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
the rim. Occasionally the player may tap the metal rim of the drum to give a
contrasting sound. In the bass drum patterns the beats on the line are played with
the beater on one skin of the drum; beats above the line are played with the
beater-free hand directly on the other skin.
The 2/4 march is performed at between M.M. = 112-120 and is known as
"fassie" (Figures 2 and 3). This metre of tuk seems to suggest the military
connections of the band, particularly when tunes such as Handel's "Scipio", the
regimental march of the Grenadier Guards, are played. (Whether this association
derives from the time when the Grenadiers were stationed in Barbados is not
known.)
Figure 2 Kittle rhythm in 2/4
Figure 3 Bass drum rhythm in 2/4
The 3/4 waltz is played at M.M. = 132-152 and accompanies tunes such as
"The blue Danube waltz" (Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4 Kittle rhythm in 3/4
Figure 5 Bass drum rhythm in 3/4
The 4/4 metre is known simply as "tuk" and is played at double speed,
between M.M. = 132-160 (Figures 6 and 7). In this rhythm accents are placed
on the first and fourth quavers in bars 1, 3, 5 and 7, and on the fourth and fifth
quavers in bars 2, 4, 6 and 8. This placing of the accent on the so-called offbeat
(the fourth quaver) is again suggestive of the African influence in the music. One
of the favourite tunes played in this metre today is "Tuk band rhythm", origi-
nally a calypso written by contemporary tuk musician Wayne Willock.
Although the rhythms shown here might appear fairly basic and straight-
forward, the kittle rhythms are made more complex by the improvisation of the
kittle drum. There are individual variations on the standard rhythms, with differ-
ent players having their own particular way of playing them which they pass on
to the people they teach. I learned the basics of tuk drumming from two players,
86
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
Figure 6 Kittle rhythm in 4/4
Figure 7 Bass drum rhythm in 4/4
Wayne Willock and David Headley, and whilst I was taught essentially the same
rhythms, there were subtle differences.7 Since tuk has only ever been passed on
through the oral tradition, it is inevitable that such differences have appeared.
These variations on the rhythms add interest to the music and stamp the individ-
uality of the drummer on the performance. One variation is to change the rhythm
in one bar only, usually the penultimate bar of the eight-bar pattern. Another is
to subdivide beats: one of the most common ways of doing this is to play sec-
tions of music in semiquavers rather than quavers. Sometimes an introduction is
added which is rhythmically complex compared to the basic pattern that the
player reverts to when the flute starts playing. One variation I have encountered
in the case of the fassie involves the kittle player using both sticks to play the
last two bars of the pattern. This adds extra impact and volume and helps to
emphasize the end of the phrase, and is played even more forcefully for the last
time in the performance. Sometimes it is possible to observe the interplay
between the flute and kittle drummer where the flute player gives "breaks" for
the kittle drummer to improvise. Figure 8 gives an extract from a performance of
one piece which illustrates some of the ways in which a kittle drummer might
vary the standard rhythms.
K
B
S
3 3 5 5 3 3 3 3 3
Figure 8 Kittle, bass and steel parts in an extract from "Scipio", performed by Ruk-a-Tuk
International
7 Willock and Headley are both regular tuk performers. Willock's significant role in the recent
evolution of tuk is discussed later. Headley is a freelance drummer, drum teacher, stiltwalker
and costume maker.
87
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
The bass drum does not normally improvise because it has an important
role to fulfil in maintaining a steady pulse and too much ornamentation would
disguise this. The size and manner in which the drum is played also preclude
much ornamentation. I have nonetheless heard slight variations, notably in the
penultimate bar of the eight-bar pattern or in the form of subdivisions of beats in
slower pieces. On the other hand, I have also seen one bass player who never
plays anything except the standard rhythms. The steel usually plays the pulse but
sometimes adds another rhythmic layer - for example, subdividing the beat or
playing on the offbeats to contrast with the bass drum rhythm. The only player
with melodic interest is the flute player, who acts as the leader of the band and is
free to play as he chooses. Some flautists simply play the basic melody, whereas
others take pride in extensive embellishment.
Sung tuk
As well as being an instrumental music, tuk was once also a social commentary
song form with lyrics being improvised to a popular tune of the time. Few
people today, however, recall the time when tuk music included singing. In the
late 1960s, Elombe Mottley found one band, the Benn Hill Sports Band
("sports" in Barbados referring to music and dance), who still included singing
in their repertoire. He recalls that "the flute player sang lead on all the songs"
and "the singing was full of speech rhythms. ... the rhythms on the drums and
triangle were complementary accenting the melody line of both the voice and
flute" (Daily Nation, 1 September 1997). In Folk songs of Barbados, it is noted
that for Landship parades, Christmas, Easter and other holidays, "tuk bands
would travel from village to village, playing popular tunes and inviting persons
to contribute their own compositions, however innocent or suggestive in lyrics,
simple or intricate in melody, as long as they can be fitted to a lively rhythm"
(Marshall, McGeary and Thompson 1981:31). These descriptions appear to offer
different accounts of the format of sung tuk. It could be, however, that the flute
player sang in the absence of any of the audience volunteering to do so, or
perhaps as an incentive to encourage others to sing.
People who grew up in the 1920s-1940s recall that songs would develop
from current affairs and local gossip, providing a form of social commentary
on life very much like calypso, and that lyrics would be made up to all kinds
of tunes (Sir Clyde Gollop, interview, 2 May 2000; Grafton Browne, interview,
16 August 1999). There are three documented tuk songs, collected by Peggy
McGeary in the 1970s and subsequently notated for Folk songs of Barbados.
Comparing these songs does not enable very much to be said in general terms
about the songs performed by tuk bands: they appear to have been created at
different periods in time and to result from a range of influences - exactly like
modern-day tuk repertoire.
The increasingly prominent role played by the penny whistle seems to
have been the key reason for the demise of sung tuk: Curwen Best suggests that
since the 1950s the penny whistle has been used "with increasing frequency
88
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
over and above, and instead of the solo cantor" (1993:164). Wayne Willock
agrees, observing that as the flute and fiddle came in, singing died out: "we
don't sing much now 'cos the flute does most of that melody" (interview, 27
November 1997).
Traditional performance contexts
Tuk bands used to regularly travel around the neighbourhood giving impromptu
performances as they went. Wayne Willock told me about the roving tuk bands
he recalls from his childhood in the 1960s: "they would go through a village and
they would go by a shop and lime there, play a selection, have a drink, move on"
(interview, 27 November 1997).8 Until the 1960s, a common occurrence on
Christmas morning was for the local tuk band to tour the villages, stopping out-
side houses and playing in return for some food, rum or money. Bands also
accompanied people on picnics and Sunday afternoon excursions and played on
other public holidays and special occasions.
The rum shop
A key performance venue for tuk in the early twentieth century was the village
rum shop. The back room was a bar serving rum and beer (and sometimes food),
whilst the front often doubled up as the village shop, and this was the only part
of the building where it was acceptable for women and children to go (any
woman seen in the back room was considered to be of ill repute). Working class
men gathered at the rum shop to drink, play games and talk. Until the introduc-
tion of radio in the 1930s, musical entertainment was often provided by tuk
bands who would receive rum in return for their performance, which was likely
to deteriorate if they were paid with too much rum - a circumstance which
doubtless contributed to the belief that rum shops (or at least the back room)
were not respectable establishments. Violet Laurie, who ran a rum shop in the
1950s, told me that her rum shop "was a decent place" and that the tuk band
never went there (pers. comm., 20 February 2001). Her comment suggests that it
was in fact the tuk band that was looked down on by some, not the rum shop
itself.9 Another possible reason for the disapproval of tuk by some is the style of
dance often associated with it. Wukkin' up (or working up) is danced with the
movement concentrated in the pelvic region and, although it is usually danced
by a couple, this does not have to be a male and a female. The apparent element
of flirtation is, however, not serious, as noted by Karl Watson: "the objective is
not to entice one's partner to bed, rather to amuse oneself" (1979:85).
8 "Lime" is a term used in the Caribbean for a variety of purposes, but in Barbados it gener-
ally implies sitting around, chatting aimlessly, and observing passers-by.
9 A woman running a rum shop was a businesswoman and therefore no negative connotations
arose, although the concept of a rum shop being considered "decent" is probably confined to
the working classes.
89
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
The Landship
An important institution associated with tuk is the Landship, an organization
that was established by a black Barbadian, Moses Wood, who had served in the
British Royal Navy. There is no early documentation of the Landship's organi-
zation and activities,10 but a generally accepted theory with respect to its origins
is that the founder missed the discipline of life at sea and established the
Landship in the 1860s to recreate on land some of the activities of life on board
ship (Downes 2000, Gilmore 1993).11 The tuk band acts as the "engine" of the
Landship, musically driving the crew on in their manoeuvres, which are fusions
of drill and dance movements such as African limbo and the sailor's hornpipe.
The reasons for the tuk band's involvement with the Landship had not been
explored thoroughly prior to my own research and no definitive reasons for the
amalgamation had been reached. My own view, however, is that the tuk band
serves this purpose because fife and drum ensembles were found on British
naval vessels of the mid-nineteenth century and the Landship founder would
undoubtedly have wished to recreate naval-style accompaniment for the
manoeuvres imitating life on board ship. Evidence of this type of musical pres-
ence can be found, for example, in an account written in 1840 about the Asia,
which refers to fiddlers and a drum and fife band playing every night (Ashcroft
1964:61, cited in Padfield 1981:34). A further example can be found in a pho-
tograph taken on board H.M.S. Coquette in 1855, which clearly shows a fiddler,
fifer and drummer.12
Wooden horse tuk
Another tuk idiom that has disappeared is wooden horse, or wood horse tuk,
whose purpose was to accompany a merry-go-round. (The music itself appears to
have been much the same as the tuk played today.) People born in the 1920s-
1940s recall it from their childhood, but report that it was dying out in the 1950s.
The wooden horses were part of every festival and Emile Straker recalls: "the
guys played tuk under the merry-go-round and the faster they played the faster it
went round" (interview, 5 August 1998). The most remembered venue for this
type of tuk was the Annual Industrial Exhibition held at Queen's Park in Bridge-
town each December from 1949 up until Independence. Grafton Browne recalls
that in the 1940s the wooden horses could be found in certain areas on certain
10 Captain Vernon Watson told me that, in his role of Landship Coordinator from the early
1970s, he did have a collection of Landship documents and photographs, but unfortunately
these were lost as a result of a hurricane (interview, 3 December 1997).
1' A recent publication casts doubt on the accuracy of the details of this account following the
discovery of Wood's birth record dating from 1860, which means that either the Landship was
founded at a later date, or that it was in fact founded by someone else, possibly Wood's father
who was also a seaman (Downes 2002:66).
12 National Maritime Museum, reference A152. See also Proctor (1992:38). Similar organiza-
tions to the Landship have existed elsewhere in the Caribbean, for example in St Vincent and
St Kitts. Parallels can also be drawn with organizations in Africa, such as Beni in Kenya
(Ranger 1975).
90
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
Figure 9 Mother Sally performing at the Hilton Hotel dinner show, 4 August 1998. (Photo:
John Meredith)
nights of the week, but he believes that by the time he emigrated to the U.K. in
1957 this tradition had died out, attributing its demise to new forms of entertain-
ment such as cinemas and television (interview, 16 August 1999).
Folk characters
Tuk is often associated with a series of folk characters - Mother Sally, the
Tiltman, the Donkeyman and Shaggy Bear - which are believed to have African
roots. In the past, one or more of the characters might appear with the band,
dancing to the music, although it is not clear whether any of these characters
travelled around with the tuk band on a regular basis. Again, masquerade is
common throughout the Caribbean and similar characters can be found on
other islands.13
Mother Sally (Figure 9) is a man dressed up as a woman with a padded
bosom and behind, supposedly representing the fertility of the African woman.
A direct parallel is found in the Gelede masquerade of the Yoruba in southwest
Nigeria, which, according to Ashie-Nikoi, is characterized by "female costumes
emphasizing buttocks and breasts". Similarly costumed Ga women in Ghana
would dance to roving bands in a manner similar to that of the Mother Sally
accompanying the tuk band (Ashie-Nikoi 1998:87-9). The Mother Sally wears
clothes that exaggerate her "woman-ness" and today uses make-up and wigs to
complete the picture.
13 See, for example, Nunley and Bettelheim (1988).
91
92 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
Figure 10 Two Shaggy Bears performing at the Hilton Hotel dinner show, 4 August 1998.
(Photo: John Meredith)
The "Tiltman" is a stilt walker who performs various feats on his stilts.
The term "tiltman" is unique to Barbados although stilt men, or moco jumbies
(moko jumbies) as they are often known, are found elsewhere in the Caribbean,
for example in Guyana, Trinidad, St Kitts and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they
are often similarly associated with fife and drum music and with masquerade.14
The Donkeyman is not common today, but was traditionally associated with the
sugar plantations where donkeys were used to haul the carts laden with sugar
cane. Fraser et al. state that this character's origins were in fact in Africa and that
this costume was adopted locally to "symbolize the importance of the donkey in
the sugar cane crop" (1990:59). Shaggy Bear (Figure 10) - a character who per-
forms acrobatic feats and cavorts to the music of the tuk band - is also believed to
be of African origin and there is a Senegambian yam festival in which the same
character is apparently found (Dr Karl Watson, interview, 3 December 1997).
It is not clear whether these folk characters formed part of slave entertain-
ment. Certainly they receive no mention by any of the contemporary writers and
it seems unlikely that either the characters themselves or the fact that masquer-
ade was taking place would have gone unnoticed, especially considering the fact
that this was something the writers could have paralleled with English culture,
given that the "camivalesque was central to early modem English culture" (Reay
1998:165). Yet considering that the origins of these characters are believed to be
African, the possibility of their use in slave society - in one form or another -
cannot be dismissed.
14 See, for example, Cowley (1996:149), Mills and Jones-Hendrickson (n.d:47), Nicholls
(1999:49-61, 94-5).
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
Tuk in a broader Caribbean context
Throughout the Caribbean - in the Bahamas, St Kitts, Jamaica, Trinidad, the
Virgin Islands and Guyana, for example - there are fife and drum musics that
to a greater or lesser extent resemble tuk, many owing their distinctive sound to
the use of the snare drum, bass drum and penny whistle or fife. That some such
similarity should exist is not surprising, given the shared history of much of the
Caribbean region and the fact that much inter-territory migration has taken place:
indeed, some musical styles are known to have been transplanted by migrants,
such as the fife and drum ensembles of the Dominican Republic taken there by
workers from St Kitts and Nevis. The fife and drum bands accompanied by
Mother Sally-type characters on stilts depicted in sketches in a newspaper from
British Guiana (now Guyana) may portray the transplantation of tuk by migrant
workers from Barbados.15 On the other hand, the diversity of the region has also
meant that whilst these musics are similar, each has its own unique attributes.
Early Jamaican mento was performed by troubadours who relayed news and
gossip through their songs, accompanied by home-made drums, fiddles and
bamboo fifes. It was also a dance music performed by village bands utilizing
drums, rattles and scrapers alongside instruments such as fife, fiddle, banjo and
guitar. Like tuk, mento's popularity diminished with the advent of new technol-
ogy and new influences, and during the second half of the twentieth century
it has been closely associated with the tourist industry, with bands performing
at hotels and festivals. In the U.S. Virgin Islands of St Thomas, St John and
St Croix, bands consisting of a fife, bass drum, snare drum and triangle accom-
panied moco jumbies touring the streets on public holidays, performing outside
homes in return for gifts of money or food. This custom parallels one of the
functions of the tuk band, as does the fact that the snare drum and triangle are
referred to as "kettle" and "steel". In Anguilla, Alan Lomax recorded cane fife
and drum bands in the late 1950s which played for dancing in the country as
evening entertainment (1997:131). In St Kitts and Nevis, the fife and drum band
known as "Big Drum" (which in this case uses a fife and not a penny whistle as
in tuk) is often associated with masquerade. Many workers moved to Bermuda
from St Kitts and Nevis, and the tradition of gombey found in Bermuda is almost
identical to masquerade in St Kitts, the main difference being the absence of the
fife in gombey. In Montserrat, masquerade dancers dressed as British Grenadier
Guards danced French and English quadrilles to the music of a band consisting
of a fife or concertina, two flat drums and a triangle. As in Barbados, the musi-
cians would call into rum shops where people might dance to the music as the
band played in return for drinks (Dobbin 1986:11, 51).16
15 See "A Christmas street scene"', Daily Argosy 22 December 1935, p. 7; "Another typical
New Year scene", Daily Argosy 5 January 1936, p. 7. I am grateful to Dr John Cowley for
bringing these to my attention.
16 Dobbin's research was undertaken prior to the volcanic eruption of 1995 and this custom
may well now have disappeared.
93
94 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
Twentieth-century changes in Barbados
The twentieth century saw a great deal of change in Barbados, as elsewhere in
the world. Increased migration in search of work meant that many Barbadians
left home for good; others went abroad to work for a period of time and returned
with their earnings, which enabled them to set up a business or to buy land on
which to build a house and generally to enjoy a better standard of living. This
also contributed to the decline in local practices as those returning brought back
a range of new influences which were perceived by some to be superior to
Barbadian practices, simply because they were from overseas and must therefore
be better.
More than three hundred years of colonialism had firmly entrenched British
culture in the island, reinforced by the teachings of the Anglican Church and the
education system. During the 1920s, however, Marcus Garvey's black power
movement in the United States fuelled increased awareness throughout the African
diaspora of equal rights for blacks. This led to the white elite in Barbados being
increasingly challenged and resulted in the black majority taking governmental
control, while at the same time moves were made towards gaining independence
from Britain.
Barbadians had an intricate racial classification system - based on the degree
of an individual's African and European ancestry - that historically inferred
status and class, with those who enjoyed a higher proportion of European
ancestry and, with it, a paler skin being deemed to occupy a position higher up
the social ladder. During the twentieth century this system of classification
started to break down, contributing to the rise of a black middle class in the
1920s and 1930s, and it was these people with their new-found aspirations who
now challenged the colonial impositions and sought to raise the profile of
Barbadians' African heritage. This trend also contributed to the development of a
strong African-nationalistic feeling, with people consciously searching for their
African heritage and some asserting their African identity by adopting African
names, hairstyles and clothing. After Independence, the Barbadian government
sought to create a national identity that reflected the heritage of the majority,
black population, as well as the white colonists.
Radio was introduced into Barbados in the 1930s, making a range of musics
widely available. Recorded music played on radios and, later, hi-fi systems
became more common, thus diminishing the need for live musical and commu-
nity entertainment. In 1964 television arrived on the island, thrusting even more
outside culture, predominantly North American, directly into Barbadian homes.
Together with the cinema, radio and television provided a choice of entertain-
ment, with the consequence that the function of the rum shop declined and the
working class people who had once frequented it no longer had a need for tuk,
which was also being displaced by other popular genres such as calypso and
spouge. Around the same time, mass tourism was developing following the
introduction of jet aircraft.
Despite the long imposition of British culture, North American culture now
gained a firm grip on Barbados. This was, according to Gmelch and Gmelch,
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
bad timing: "just as Barbados gained independence when Barbadians were free
to examine the roles their African and British heritages had played in creating
their creole culture and identity and to forge stronger regional ties, they were
overwhelmed by North America" (1997:191). The extent of North American
cultural infiltration is evidenced everywhere in Barbados today, with television
programming dominated by U.S. output, American popular music heard every-
where, and Kentucky Fried Chicken and burgers rivalling Barbados' own fast
food, roti. This easy adoption of things American is, however, not surprising.
When independence was gained, the black population of Barbados had few
clearly defined cultural traditions other than British ones, thus it was easy to
adopt whatever they chose and, for some, a conscious choice of anything not
connected with Britain may have been desirable.
To a certain extent, this uncertainty about identity in Barbados still exists
today. There are some who still believe that Barbados has no culture of its own.
Conversations I have had with Barbadians suggest that few consider very much
to be really Barbadian - the Landship, the tuk band, and flying fish and coucou
(generally considered to be Barbados' national dish) are what many Barbadians
recognize as Barbadian culture. Gmelch and Gmelch, who have undertaken
extensive fieldwork in the northernmost parish, St Lucy, report that "it is fairly
common to hear Barbadians claim, 'Barbados has no culture'" (1997:190). This
could explain the easy adoption of outside culture: if it is believed that there is
no culture at home, there is plenty to choose from elsewhere.
Tuk in post-Independence Barbados
After Independence, many of the original contexts in which tuk was performed
no longer existed or were extremely obscure. It was only in the early 1970s that
tuk's historical importance came to be appreciated and conscious efforts were
made to forge a more official place for it in the context of Barbados' cultural
heritage. The revival of the Crop Over Festival provided performance opportuni-
ties for tuk bands in a context to which tuk naturally belonged (having been part
of the original plantation festival), yet in a recontextualized presentation of that
festival. There are also performance opportunities for tuk at some of the other
festivals held in Barbados each year, for example at the Oistins Fish Festival, the
National Independence Festival of Creative Arts and the Holetown Festival. In
the 1980s tuk gained a new champion, Wayne "Poonka" Willock, who has been
instrumental in engineering tuk's inclusion in education as well as promoting tuk
in new performance contexts and incorporating tuk rhythms into other musical
genres. Tuk's promotion in the context of tourism has also been significant for
providing regular performance opportunities for tuk bands, as well as helping to
break down the myth (for some visitors, at least) that Barbadian music is all
reggae. The inclusion of tuk at official functions where foreign visitors are pres-
ent has also been significant, not just in the representation of tuk to the visitors
themselves, but also by placing tuk in a context significantly different from
that of its origins, thereby demonstrating to Barbadians its new official role in
national culture.
95
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/il 2003
Crop Over
The revival of the Crop Over Festival was seen as an important contribution to
the creation of a new Barbadian culture in post-Independence Barbados. Crop
Over is a festival dating back to the days of slavery, an adaptation of the English
Harvest Home Festival - colonists liked to maintain their traditions, even in a
foreign land - held to celebrate the culmination of the sugar cane crop. Although
based on an English tradition, Crop Over was an important festival for the slaves
as many came from regions in West Africa that had held similar festivals (of
which the yam festivals are one example) to mark the successful reaping of a
crop. Crop Over continued into the twentieth century but appears to have died
out during the 1940s, largely because by that time there was a general move
away from small sugar estates to large corporate plantations, which led to the
decline of traditional plantation life.
The Barbados Board of Tourism revived Crop Over in 1973 in an attempt to
attract more visitors in July and August, the traditional quiet months for the
tourism industry. However, after its inception in 1983 the National Cultural
Foundation took over the running of the festival and sought to turn it into a
"people's festival" (Drayton 1996:214). Today the festival bears little resem-
blance to the traditional plantation festival, although it maintains some symbolic
links such as the ceremonial delivery of the last canes of the harvest. In its
modem context, calypso is central to the festival and numerous competitions are
held, culminating in the annual Calypso Monarch competition.
Since 1986, a tuk band competition has also been included in Crop Over,
more recently as part of Bridgetown Market, an almost non-stop weekend event
where everything Barbadian - ranging from Banks' beer, jewellery and wood-
carvings to fried chicken, fish and roti - is on sale. Various sideshows are held,
one of these being the tuk competition which takes place on a temporary stage
just outside the market area where loud music emanates from many of the food
and drink stalls. For the competition, each band plays three pieces, one in each
of the three tuk rhythms. The audience have to sit on the ground or stand in front
of the stage. This arrangement is in direct contrast to the calypso competitions,
which are held in venues such as the National Stadium which have proper audi-
ence facilities. Admittedly, such a venue would be too large for the tuk competi-
tion. However, staging the competition as a sideshow does not give it the level of
exposure or seal of approval that might be expected of something promulgated
by the Government as part of the country's culture. I discussed this point with
David Headley, a member of the winning band in 1998. He told me that the
competition had been held on the Sunday of the Market weekend in previous
years, around 1 or 2 p.m., but that few people had been present. That year, the
competition was held later in the afternoon on the Saturday. When I asked if
there were more people present, he replied: "More than usual, ... normally we
just play to the judges and our cronies as such!" (interview, 4 August 1998).
It might be suggested that, if the competition were to be staged somewhere away
from the distractions of the market so that it was not seen simply as a sideshow
but rather as an important event in its own right, this would help to raise tuk's
96
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
profile within the festival and, by extension, in the country as a whole. Headley
told me that he had suggested to the National Cultural Foundation that the com-
petition should be held earlier in Crop Over (Bridgetown Market always takes
place during the last weekend of the month-long festival) so that the winners and
runners-up could perform at some of the other events. To date, his suggestion
has not been acted upon.
There would appear to be several reasons why the tuk band competition is
not given a higher profile within the festival. The key reason, I suspect, is prob-
ably the ongoing negative perception of tuk in some sectors of Barbadian society
due to its former association with the working classes and the rum shop. Another
reason is the level of sponsorship it receives. Local sponsors Purity Bakeries and
Rotherley Construction offer support to the competition as a whole and to some
of the individual bands, but they are not in a position to offer the level of support
given to the Calypso Monarch competition sponsored by international compa-
nies such as British American Tobacco and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The level
of sponsorship received is reflected in the prize money awarded: in 1998 the
winners of the tuk competition received BDS $1,200 (approximately 400) to be
split between four members, whereas the Calypso Monarch received BDS
$10,000 (approximately 3,000) plus a luxury car.
It is, however, significant that the tuk competition is held as it offers a rare
opportunity for the bands to play to a local audience: most bands that play regu-
larly today do so in the context of the tourist industry, where the audiences are
predominantly visitors. It is also significant in that some of the bands might not
perform at all if it were not for this annual event. Wayne Willock told me that
some of the bands only go in order to have a few drinks, play their pieces, then
continue drinking, and to collect the band's appearance fee of BDS $250-300
(approximately 80-100). This may explain why only four bands have ever won
the competition and why the runners-up each year have usually been drawn from
the same four bands (Wayne Willock, pers. comm., 22 February 2001).17 For
some of the players, the act of participation and the social aspect of the event as
a whole are apparently more important than polishing their performance to try to
win. (At the 1998 competition, for example, the flute player in one band consis-
tently played wrong notes, seemingly obliviously.) It could, however, be argued
that this reflects the former role of the tuk band playing to entertain, as they did
in the rum shop or on their tours of the villages, with the emphasis on enjoyment
rather than perfection. It also has to be acknowledged that such an informal
approach would not really lend itself to a higher profile and more professional-
style competition.
Since 1998 a junior tuk competition has been included for youth tuk bands.
This contributes further to the promotion of tuk in two ways: firstly by the inclu-
sion of greater numbers of players, often playing different instruments such as
17 There was no tuk competition in 2002 due to controversy regarding the participation of
Wayne Willock, whose band had won ten out of the sixteen competitions held to date. Willock
told me: "Many of the other bands feel that my band will win again and therefore it makes no
sense participating" (pers. comm., 14 and 19 August 2002).
97
98 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL. 12/ii 2003
Figure 11 A junior tuk band with two girl members and extra percussion instruments at
the Crop Over Festival, 1 August 1998. (Photo: John Meredith)
maracas and therefore offering a variation on the standard sound of the band
(maracas were sometimes included in tuk bands before the current ensemble
became standardized); and secondly, through the inclusion of girls in the bands,
which represents a step away from the traditional male domination of the genre
(Figure 11).
Wayne "Poonka"Willock and the "Cultural and Historical
Exposure for Kids in Schools" scheme
Since the 1980s the resurgence of tuk has been largely driven by Wayne "Poonka"
Willock, usually known simply as Poonka, who has become synonymous with
tuk because of his commitment to its revival and development. Willock recalls
how his interest was stimulated by hearing tuk bands as a child. He discovered,
however, that the older players did not want to teach tuk to anyone else and
forbade anyone to touch their drums. He attributes their reluctance to pass on
their knowledge to a sense of "it's a bit of our knowledge and we want to keep
it for ourselves" (interview, 27 November 1997). Undeterred, he taught himself
to play the instruments of the tuk band by observation and experimentation.
Willock is also a calypsonian and in the 1980s he started integrating tuk with
calypso, as well as forming his own tuk band. Since then his efforts have
resulted in the setting up of a series of tuk workshops in conjunction with the
National Cultural Foundation. These have successfully introduced children to
tuk and have led to the instigation of similar workshops for other cultural activi-
ties such as stilt-walking.
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
Figure 12 Tuk drumming practice at Christ Church Girls' Primary School, 21 February
2001. (Photo: Sharon Meredith)
More recently Willock has worked with the Ministry of Education, Youth
Affairs and Culture to set up a scheme called "Cultural and Historical Exposure
for Kids in Schools" (usually known as "CHEKS"), for which he acts as co-
ordinator. The aim of the scheme is to ensure that all Barbadians grow up with
knowledge of, and an appreciation for, the cultural heritage of their country. As
well as tuk drumming, the scheme teaches Landship dancing and stilt-walking.
Because the scheme is delivered by a team of only four people, however, there is
a limit to the number of schools that can participate at any one time. According
to Willock, it would take three years to complete a circuit of every school in the
country and, as the team delivers a ten-week programme in each school to pupils
in one year group only, there is little chance that pupils will experience the
scheme more than once in the course of their school career. It is also question-
able how much they can actually learn in ten weeks with no reinforcement
between sessions and no continuation of the activities once the specialist teach-
ers have moved on.
In spite of these reservations, children I have spoken to about the scheme
have been positive and enthusiastic about tuk. When I asked children in Christ
Church Girls' and Christ Church Boys' Primary Schools (21 February 2001)
and St Alban's Primary School (22 February 2002) what they really liked about
their tuk sessions, the most common answer was playing the drums (Figure 12).
I also asked what their parents thought of them learning tuk drumming in
school. They said that it was generally thought to be good; Craig Goodman,
aged ten, said his mother thought it was very good that he "could become a
famous person like Poonka" (interview, 22 February 2001). School principals
99
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
and teachers whom I interviewed were equally enthusiastic about the scheme,
believing it to be beneficial for the children to learn about their cultural her-
itage as well as engaging in non-academic activity. Heather Bryan, Principal of
Christ Church Girls' Primary School, was cautious about how much time might
be lost to other curriculum subjects if the scheme was extended, while also
acknowledging that there was a problem with the scheme only lasting for ten
weeks (interview, 21 February 2001). If the scheme is to build on its success
and really encourage children to continue these activities, there is a need either
to train more specialist teachers or to train existing teachers to be able to
deliver the scheme themselves.
Tuk in tourism
Barbados is often packaged as a destination for the tourist in search of sun, sea
and sand. Its year-round sunshine and temperatures averaging 24-30C make it
particularly attractive for North Americans, Canadians and Europeans seeking to
escape the northern winter. The turquoise blue seas and white sandy beaches
epitomize a paradise island, yet with hotels, restaurants and shops providing the
creature comforts so many tourists are reluctant to forgo. One particular market-
ing tool that has been widely used in the Barbadian tourist industry is the drawing
of analogies between Barbados and England, presumably aimed at the British
tourist who essentially wants a holiday at home but with the Caribbean climate
and possibly also at the American tourist who has an interest in all things
English. "Despite Barbados' independence in 1966, a very British atmosphere
prevails," claims the Barbados Tourism Authority. "There is a statue of Admiral
Nelson on Bridgetown's Trafalgar Square [pre-dating its counterpart in London].
Afternoon tea is a staple at many hotels. Island passions run deep for cricket and
polo." (Barbados Tourism Authority 1996:11). This is just one example of a
number attempting to evoke the "British-ness" of Barbados. It has, however,
periodically been suggested in the national press that Nelson should be replaced
with a statue of one of Barbados' own national heroes, Trafalgar Square has been
renamed National Heroes' Square and, whilst cricket can indeed be seen played
in the street and on patches of land around the island, afternoon tea and polo
seem more exclusive and are probably enjoyed only by the up-market visitors
who fly in first class and stay in one of the five-star hotels on the fashionable
west coast or who own second homes on the island.
Despite the alleged support for tuk within the tourist industry, it is rarely
mentioned in promotional and tourist literature. One publication, the Barbados
holiday guide, has a photograph of a tuk flute player with some Landship
dancers in the background featured on a page entitled "The cultural life of
Barbados" (n.d.:68). There is no mention in the text, however, of either tuk or
the Landship. In a more comprehensive guide, The ins and outs of Barbados, the
tuk band is featured with a short description and photograph (2001:53). Where
tuk is actually promoted in tourism is at the cultural shows staged by some of the
larger, more up-market hotels for their guests. These shows usually form part of
a floorshow at all-inclusive resorts such as Rockley Resort or a dinner show at
100
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
Figure 13 Ruk-a-Tuk International, Barbados' foremost tuk band, performing at the
Harbourmaster with Mother Sally playing the steel, 27 April 2000. (Photo: John Meredith)
hotels such as the Hilton and Accra Beach (Figure 13). At these shows tuk
typically has a 15-minute slot to fill, in between other acts such as fire eating,
limbo dancing and popular music/dance bands. The M.C. who introduces the tuk
band offers a very brief historical background before the band plays a selection
of pieces. Depending on which band is performing and on the budget provided,
one or more of the folk characters associated with tuk bands may also appear:
the most common is the Mother Sally who dances to the band, emphasizing
her padded behind by making exaggerated movements, and pulls unsuspecting
audience members onto the stage to dance with her.
I have interviewed tourists at a number of such shows in an attempt to estab-
lish how tuk is received in this context.18 They have invariably made positive
comments about the music, saying, for example, that it was enjoyable to listen
to or that the band was good. Some people compared tuk with music they had
encountered elsewhere: one British couple, for example, likened the sound
to something they had heard at the Edinburgh Tattoo; a Puerto Rican lady
suggested that some of the rhythms were similar to rhythms found in Latin
American music; a Guyanese couple observed that they have similar bands in
Guyana who also appear in hotel shows.19 I also asked people how they perceived
18 My interviewees were picked randomly while trying to cover a range of ages. The comments
reproduced here are drawn from various interviews carried out at the Bridgetown Port (27
April 2000), Accra Beach Hotel (27 April 2000) and the Rockley Beach Resort (1 May 2000).
19 Unfortunately this particular couple spoke little English so I was unable to find out any more,
but I am aware that fife and drum bands with stiltwalkers have existed in Guyana in the past.
101
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
tuk as part of the overall show. Some thought it was very interesting and a good
part of the show; others said that it was entertaining, or that they had particularly
enjoyed the Mother Sally or the Tiltman's performance. One person I selected
was a Barbadian and I asked him for his views on the inclusion of tuk in such
events. He felt that it was a good thing as otherwise the tourists might not come
across this type of music; it also added some local colour to the event.
Such views are not, however, universally shared. Alissandra Cummins,
Director of the Barbados Museum, when interviewed for a book on the cost of
tourism in the Caribbean, said: "I would hesitate ... to get the Barbados Land-
ship movement involved in tourism because of the risk of exploitation and the
negation of our culture" (Pattullo 1996:197-8). The Landship does still operate,
albeit on a very modest scale, outside of tourism and it was presumably the
prospect of the disappearance of this "grass-roots" activity, should tourism
become too closely involved, that gave Cummins cause for concern. When I
interviewed Cummins myself, I asked her for her views on tuk bands predomi-
nantly playing on the hotel circuit. She told me that she is "grateful to the
tourism authority for ensuring that it [tuk] survives, because obviously it can
only survive if the practitioners are in some way supported financially."
However, she regrets that young Barbadians may see tuk "as simply another
colourful aspect of what is offered as entertainment in hotels" and not realize
that it is part of their heritage (interview, 15 February 2001).
Such displays of "culture" for tourists are, of course, not unique to Barbados.
Anyone who has been on a package holiday in Europe will undoubtedly have
been offered some of the local culture packaged in a similar way. On various
Greek islands, for example, "traditional Greek evenings" are offered to British
tourists who are fed local cuisine and plied with local beer and wine, while
being entertained by local musicians and dancers and perhaps encouraged to try
Greek dancing themselves. While there are undoubtedly some elements of such
evenings that would be recognized as local culture by Greek people, there is a
certain degree of refinement to make them more appealing to the tourist.
Meanwhile, Polly Pattullo describes part of a show staged in the Bahamas for
the benefit of American tourists which included a recreation of the Bahamian
festival Junkanoo and some allusions to local culture through costumed charac-
ters but was, according to Pattullo, "high-class American kitsch" (1996:178).
From what I have seen of such tourist-oriented shows in Barbados, I would say
that there has been a good deal of effort to ensure that what is offered reflects the
official version of Barbadian culture. The fact that tuk bands play well-known
non-Barbadian tunes is not, in this case, making the performance less Barbadian,
since they play such tunes wherever they are playing - in competitions, for visi-
tors and at events with local audiences.20
Other events where tourists may encounter tuk are at some of the festivals
that take place in Barbados throughout the year, such as Crop Over discussed
20 It is a feature of tuk bands that they play whatever popular tunes they wish to, regardless of
the occasion: I have heard one band play the theme from the film Titanic to a boatload of
people about to depart on an evening's dinner cruise.
102
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
above. At some festivals, such as the Oistins Fish Festival, it is possible to see
tuk bands playing in a more informal manner, wandering among the crowds at
the street market and sometimes stopping to entertain the drinkers at beer stalls -
a style which is more reminiscent of the traditional tuk band role of wandering
from place to place, entertaining and being paid in kind.21
The new age of tuk: conclusions
Despite the reservations expressed by some onlookers, it could be argued that,
without tuk's more formal involvement in tourism, there would in reality be
little tuk in evidence today and indeed it may well have died out. The original
function of tuk as the entertainment and pastime of the working classes no
longer exists; instead, the tradition has been adapted and reinvented to suit a new
purpose. Despite the fact that it has enjoyed a considerable degree of success in
recent years, however, tuk's role will remain limited for a number of reasons.
Firstly, tuk has not generally been given much national exposure and has very
rarely been played on radio. Indeed, in the late 1960s, one broadcaster - Elombe
Mottley - who tried to play tuk on the national radio station was "reported to the
programme manager for playing 'a bunch of noise and foolishness'" and was
"deemed a madman" (Mottley 1997:n.p.). This situation is in stark contrast to
that of the Dominican Republic's internationally successful dance music,
merengue - which, like tuk, began life among the working classes. Merengue
was actively promoted at home and played on radio and television whenever
possible, contributing to its recognition as the national music. A further reason
why tuk has not been able to attain the same kind of status is because the dances
which are associated with tuk are essentially the Landship dances which are not
social dances, nor are they meaningful outside the Landship context. Wukkin' up,
the other dance associated with tuk, is a social dance but because of its erotic
overtones it is not widely approved of.
Tuk's appearance at official functions and its inclusion in tourist entertain-
ment packages where tuk is promulgated as the indigenous music of the country
with its roots in the heritage of the African slaves represents one way in which
the genre has been recontextualized. More recently, its inclusion in the country's
education programme could be construed as a further recontextualization as
children are taught that tuk is part of their cultural heritage, and the intention is
to perpetuate this heritage through successive generations. The act of placing tuk
in events and contexts with which it was not historically associated and includ-
ing it in education is part of an attempt to persuade all Barbadians to accept tuk
as an established part of their cultural heritage and identity, even though it was
traditionally only associated with certain sectors of society.
21 This festival, held over the Easter weekend, is a celebration of the contribution of the town
of Oistins to Barbadian life, notably in its role as the major fishing port. The main focus of the
festival is on fish: boning and cooking competitions are held and there are many stalls selling
fish cooked in a variety of ways. Whilst there are some tourists in attendance, they are in the
minority. The festival functions primarily as a highlight of the long weekend break for locals.
103
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
Despite the fact that the contexts in which tuk is performed today might be
far removed from those of the pre-Independence era, the musical basis remains
essentially unchanged. Two rare, old recordings of tuk that I have in my posses-
sion (one from the late 1960s, the other possibly dating back to the 1950s)
demonstrate that despite the recontextualization of tuk, the same basic rhythms
are used today as more than thirty years ago. The fact that the actual repertoire
has changed merely reflects the tradition of tuk bands playing popular tunes
of the day. In a country where the nationals themselves believe there to be little
that is truly Barbadian, it is significant that this genre of music, which is one
syncretic result of the fusion of the European and African cultures that have
shaped the Barbados of today, has survived.
References
Agawu, Kofi (1987) "The rhythmic structure of West African music." Journal of
Musicology 5:400-18.
Anon. (n.d.) The Barbados holiday guide. Barbados: Cot Caribbean Graphics
and Brochure Display.
Anon. (2001) The ins and outs of Barbados. Barbados: Miller Publishing Limited.
Ashcroft, W. P. (1964) "Reminiscences." Naval Review.
Ashie-Nikoi, Edwina (1998) "Cohobblopot: Africanisms in Barbadian culture
through the lens of Crop-Over." Journal of Caribbean History 32:82-120.
Averill, Gage, and Yih, Yuen-Ming David (2000) "Militarism in Haitian music."
In Ingrid Monson (ed.) The African diaspora: a musical perspective, pp.
267-93. New York: Garland Publishing Inc.
Barbados Tourism Authority (1996) Barbados travel planner -just beyond your
imagination. Bridgetown: Barbados Tourism Authority.
B6hague, Gerard H. (ed.) (1994) Music and black ethnicity: the Caribbean and
South America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Berrian, Brenda F (2000) Awakening spaces - French Caribbean popular
songs, music and culture. London: The University of Chicago Press Limited.
Best, Curwen, (1993) "'Banja': excavating inter-facing and re-placing African-
Caribbean art." Ph.D. thesis, University of Birmingham.
-- (1999) Barbadian popular music and the politics of Caribbean culture.
Vermont: Schenkman Books.
- (2001) Roots to popular culture - Barbadian aesthetics: Kamau
Brathwaite to hardcore styles. London: Macmillan Education Limited.
Bhabha, Homi K. (1994) The location of culture. London: Routledge.
Brodber, Erna, and Greene, J. Edward (1981) Reggae and cultural identity in
Jamaica. Trinidad: Department of Sociology, University of the West Indies.
Chang, Kevin O'Brien, and Chen, Wayne (1998) Reggae routes - the story of
Jamaican music. Kingston, Jamaica: lan Randle Publishers.
Cowley, John H. (1996) Carnival, canboulay and calypso - traditions in the
making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cruickshank, J. Graham (1911) "Negro English, with reference particularly to
Barbados." Timehri 1:102-6.
Dobbin, Jay D. (1986) The Jombee dance of Montserrat. Columbus: Ohio State
University Press.
104
MEREDITH Barbadian tuk music: colonial development and post-independence recontextualization
Downes, Aviston (2000) "Sailing from colonial into national waters: a history of
the Barbados Landship." Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical
Society 46:93-122.
- (2002) "Searching for Admiral Moses Wood: oral tradition and the history
of the Landship." Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society
48:64-78.
Drayton, Kathleen (1996) "Art, culture and national heritage." In Trevor
Carmichael (ed.) Barbados - thirty years of independence, pp. 197-237.
Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers.
Fraser, H., Carrington, S., Forde A., and Gilmore, J. (1990) A-Z of Barbadian
heritage. Kingston, Jamaica: Heinemann Caribbean.
Gilmore, John (1993) The Barbados Landship Association. Barbados: The
National Cultural Foundation.
Gmelch, George, and Gmelch, Sharon Bohn (1997) The parish behind God's
back - the changing culture of rural Barbados. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press.
Hall, Richard (1755) "A general account of the first settlement and of the trade
and constitution of the Island of Barbados." In Richard B. Goddard (ed.)
George Washington's visit to Barbados 1751, pp. 45-92. Wildey, St Michael,
Barbados: Cole's Printery Ltd.
Handler, Jerome S. (1984) "Freedmen and slaves in the Barbados Militia."
Journal of Caribbean History 19: 1-25.
Lomax, Alan, Elder, J. D., and Hawes, Bess Lomax (1997) Brown girl in the
ring - an anthology of song games from the Eastern Caribbean. New York:
Pantheon Books.
Manuel, Peter, Bilby, Kenneth M., and Largey, Michael (1995) Caribbean
currents - Caribbean music from rumba to reggae. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
Marshall, Trevor, McGeary, Peggy, and Thompson, Grace (1981) Folk songs of
Barbados. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers.
McDaniel, Lorna (1998) The Big Drum Ritual of Carriacou. Gainesville:
University Press of Florida.
Meredith, Sharon (2001) "Tuk music: its role in defining Barbadian cultural
identity." European Meetings in Ethnomusicology 8:16-25.
- (2002) "Tuk in Barbados: the history, development and recontextualisation
of a musical genre." Ph.D. thesis, University of Warwick.
Millington, Janice (1998) "Barbados." In Dale A. Olsen and Daniel E. Sheehy
(eds) South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The
Garland Encyclopedia of world music 2, pp. 813-21. New York: Garland
Publishing, Inc.
Mills, Frank L., and S. B. Jones-Hendrickson (n.d.) Christmas sports in St Kitts-
Nevis - 'Our neglected cultural tradition.' (n.pub.).
Mottley, Elombe (1 September 1997) "Bumbatuk music and calypso." Daily
Nation, n.p.
Nicholls, Robert W. (1999) "The Mocko Jumbie of the U.S. Virgin Islands,
history and antecedents." African Arts, 49-61.
Nunley, John W., and Bettelheim, Judith (1988) Caribbean festival arts. Seattle:
University of Washington Press.
105
106 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
Padfield, Peter (1981) Rule Britannia - the Victorian and Edwardian navy.
London: Routledge & Kegan.
Pattullo, Polly (1996) Last resorts - the cost of tourism in the Caribbean.
London: Cassell.
Pinckard, George (1816) Notes on the West Indies. 2 vols, 2nd edn. London:
Baldwin, Cradock and Joy.
Potash, Chris (ed.) (1997) Reggae, rasta, revolution. London: Schirmer Books.
Proctor, David (1992) Music of the sea. London: National Maritime Museum.
Ramnarine, Tina K. (2001) Creating their own Space: the development of an
Indian-Caribbean musical tradition. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the
West Indies Press.
Ranger, Terence 0. (1975) Dance and society in Eastern Africa 1890-1970.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reay, Barry (1998) Popular cultures in England 1550-1750. London: Longman.
Rohlehr, Gordon (1990) Calypso and society in pre-Independence Trinidad.
Trinidad: the author.
Vianna, Hermano (1998) The mystery of samba: popular music and national
identity in Brazil. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.
Watson, Karl (1979) The civilised island: Barbados a social history 1750-1816.
St George, Barbados: Caribbean Graphic Production Limited.
Interviews
Grafton Browne. Perivale, Middlesex, 16 August 1999.
Heather Bryan (Principal). Christ Church Girls' Primary School, Barbados, 21
February 2001.
Alissandra Cummins (Director). The Barbados Museum, 15 February 2001.
Sir Clyde Gollop (Landship Patron). Bridgetown, 2 May 2000.
Craig Goodman (pupil). St Alban's Primary School, Barbados, 22 February
2001.
David Headley (percussionist/tuk band drummer). Brighton, Barbados, 4 August
1998.
Emile Straker (musician). The Plantation, Barbados, 5 August 1998.
Captain Vernon Watson (Landship Coordinator). Queen's Park, Bridgetown,
3 December 1997.
Wayne Willock (tuk band drummer/calypsonian/CHEKS Coordinator). Queen's
Park, Bridgetown, 27 November 1997.
Various tourists interviewed at Bridgetown Port, 27 April 2000; Accra Beach
Hotel, 27 April 2000; and the Rockley Beach Resort, 1 May 2000.
Note on the author
Sharon Meredith received her Ph.D. in 2002 from the University of Warwick,
where her research focussed on tuk music. Future plans include research on
similar musics found in other former British colonies. Previous research
focussed on the music of the Kandy Esala Perahera, Sri Lanka's foremost
Buddhist ritual. Address: 230 Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield, B75 7RX;
e-mail: sharon.meredith@blueyonder.co.uk.