The Musical Bow at Palenque

Extract

During two recent field expeditions to the Atlantic coast region of Colombia (October 28th-November 14th, 1964, and March 5th-21st, 1965) only one active player of the musical bow came to my attention. This player, Rafael Terán Valdés, is a native and resident of Palenque de San Basilio, Departamento de Bolívar, a village known in the region as the primary centre of African influence. Palenque was settled in the first decade of the seventeenth century by fugitive Negro slaves from the coastal capital, Cartagena de Indias, at that time a principal dispersion point for slaves brought from Africa. Negroes from many African tribes formed the population of Palenque which maintained its independence throughout the period of Spanish rule. Its isolation for a long period resulted in the formation of a mixed pan-African and Spanish culture. Study of the Spanish dialect spoken in Palenque has indicated the existence of words of possible African origin. Many such words are found in the song texts of the lumbalú, a funeral ceremony. However, the singers no longer know the meaning of these words.