Monday, January 01, 2007Fungi Music

Hon. Elmore StouttA BVI Cultural Expression

In countries the world over, traditional folk music is an expression of the culture and history of the people who created it. Folk music tells the story of its creators, it reflects their way of life, and it carries on the natural character of a place and its people. In the British Virgin Islands, our traditional music is fungi music. Fungi has its roots in Africa, but was influenced by other groups of people who came to live at different times in history in these islands. The music played an important social role in our communities, for it provided a way for stories to be shared. To my mind, no sound better epitomises the Virgin Islands culture than the sweet sound of fungi music.

To understand the history of fungi music, start by understanding the meaning of the word fungi. Fungi is derived from a West African word that describes a type of dish – a ‘cook-up’ of okra, beans, corn meal, and seasonings. A good fungi is a mixture of many flavours that meld together and taste good. In the same way, good fungi music is a mixture of sounds that come together to sound sweet. Fungi music has its roots among field slaves who worked the islands’ sugar plantations. These slaves sang while they worked in order to forget the crushing monotony and toil of their daily labours. They sang along to rhythms, which they created with their bodies, with their tools, and with the very work that they were doing. The slaves’ songs also served an important social purpose. The very nature of slavery placed severe limitations on slaves’ freedom – including their freedom of speech. Through song, however, the slaves found a way to communicate stories and news to each other. Lyrics were carefully written so that the actual story was implied, rather than stated plainly, and often phrased and pronounced in such a way that “Master” could not understand.

But other influences can also be heard in fungi music. The rhythm of the waltz and the two-step were brought to the islands by Europeans, and found their way into fungi music. Even the type of dancing that traditionally went along with fungi music, called quadrille, is closely patterned after traditional European dancing. Fungi music in the BVI has also been influenced by similar music from nearby islands. On St. Thomas, this style of music is most commonly known as quelbe, and on St. Kitts it is known as scratch band music. Over the years, innovations born in one island spread to the others, and today, the styles of the three islands are principally the same. The sounds of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean can also be heard in fungi. In the early part of the 20th century, many men from the BVI migrated to Santo Domingo and Cuba to work at sugar plantations on those islands. At the same time, Spanish-speaking immigrants moved to St. Thomas and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, bringing their musical traditions with them. So the Latin rhythms of meringue and mambo were added to the cook-up.

A fungi band has four main components: string instruments, wind instruments, percussion and vocals. But we are not talking about typical instruments that you would see in bands and orchestras in most parts of the world. BVI fungi bands used available materials to make musical instruments, and these hand-made instruments are one of the things that gave fungi music its special, sweet sound. Common stringed instruments were the ukulele, banjo, and box guitar, sometimes made from materials such as a sardine can or other discarded object. Our wind instrument was the fife, also called a pipe, or flute. These were made by hand using bamboo, and I have even seen musicians who could make a fife out of a piece of paw-paw (papaya) stem, cut at just the right angle. The rhythm was maintained using several different percussion instruments, including the washtub. Some bands also made what was called a Marengo box, which created deep, low bass sounds. The staccato beat was kept by a triangle and a set of maracas. And of course, fungi bands had a lead vocalist who sang the verses while the entire band joined in on the chorus. As I mentioned before, the lyrics of fungi songs almost always tell a story. The stories are usually comic and usually based, at least in part, on true events. One of the most famous fungi songs of the BVI tells the story of Ella Gift, who smuggled rum into St. Thomas during Prohibition. Another common feature of fungi songs is the double entendre—on the surface the song’s content is completely innocent, but by metaphor the content is far less wholesome.

Fungi music has changed over my lifetime. The way in which it is performed and made has changed; the way in which it is passed on to future generations has changed; and also the role that is plays in our society has changed.

When I was a child, the adult men of my community gathered every afternoon under the shade of a tree to play music. They played for leisure; they played as a way to relax. We didn’t have television, and there were only a few radios around, so the music had a special flavour that attracted us, the young boys of the village.

I spent many afternoons listening to these men play, and I can remember the good times that we had listening to fungi music at August Monday picnics, at weddings and house consecrations, and at Christmas-time. I wrote my first fungi songs when I was in primary school, and by the time I was a young man I had joined a fungi band.

At that time, fungi music gave you a kind of recognition. It was a way for you to create an identity for yourself, and it caused the older people in the community to know you. On top of that, it gave me a sense of satisfaction and happiness that I could not find anywhere else. With development and the arrival of electricity, many fungi bands began to adopt new instruments. They added electric guitar, electric bass and saxophone. Hand-made fifes were replaced with commercially produced recorders; washtubs and Marengo boxes were replaced with traditional drum sets; and bands were amplified for the first time ever. Musicians debate over the pros and cons of these changes; some say that it makes the music more relevant to today’s society. But to my mind, fungi music sounds sweeter when it is played using the traditional instruments, in the traditional way.

As I have explained, I learned to play fungi music by watching the older men in my community. When my own sons were young, I shared my love of music with them too. I took them with me when I performed, and they are now accomplished musicians. Fungi is one of the kinds of music that they play, and this is a source of pride for me.

But today, the traditional hand-me-down method of teaching fungi music is disappearing. The older men who do know how to make fungi music are not passing it on to their sons and daughters. Young people are not necessarily interested in learning fungi music – television, the Internet, and other musical forms are more attractive. So, young people are learning this art form in the schools. During my tenure at the BVI High School, we established a fungi section of the BVI High School Band, and hundreds of young people, male and female, were exposed to the music in this way. And young people in our primary schools are also learning fungi music. One change that is interesting to me is the role that fungi music is playing in our society. During my youth, fungi music was the type of music that was played at parties and get-togethers. It was associated with dancing, with good times, and with rum. As a result, fungi music was not welcome in the church. I recall very clearly my early days as a teacher at a local church school. I brought my ukulele and sang fungi music to the children, and it caused controversy in the community because I had played fungi music in a house of God. But today, we have come full circle. Over the past few years a number of gospel fungi bands have emerged, and they are some of the territory’s most popular fungi performers. In many churches, informal fungi groups come together on a Sunday or Saturday to sing in church. In my own church, Zion Hill Methodist Church, I am part of the Zion Songs of West End, a group that performs fungi music in church. I am pleased that fungi music is now being accepted in the churches, because it provides another means for its survival. As long as fungi music is alive and well in the church, then it is alive and well in the BVI. It is important to me that fungi music be preserved because fungi music is our legacy. It was created and passed down by our ancestors, and it is an expression of who we are as a people. It shows the kind of people our fathers and grandfathers were – it shows what they enjoyed doing in their free time, and it shows the kind of resourcefulness with which they lived. When visitors come to our islands, music is one of the best ways to explain to them who we are. Music is a universal language, and it is language that can be understood in an instant. Tourists do not come here to listen to the same rock-and-roll, rap, or R&B that they can hear on their radios back home. They want to know about our traditional music, and we need to be prepared to share it with them. But more than that, fungi music should be appreciated among our own people. I realise that most of the students who learn fungi in school will not grow up to be musicians, but I hope that they will all grow up with an appreciation of this musical form, and that they will support local fungi bands now and in the future. Despite the threats which fungi music faces, I know that it is alive and well. It is alive and well for one simple reason: and that is that fungi music still sounds good. It is easy to listen to, it is entertaining, and it is still sweet.

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