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The Bahamas: The Rarest But Most Underappreciated Gem

       The Bahamas is known as a place to escape, relax, and leave all your worries and problems behind for but a moment in Paradise. The Bahamas has been this and will probably be this for a long time, but this is not the only story of The Bahamas.                   My focus will be the story of The Bahamas at the Olympic Games.           In 1964, The Bahamas became the smallest nation in the world with an Olympic Gold medal. A title the country held until 2012, when Kirani James of Grenada delivered his countries first Gold medal. In 2000, The Bahamas became the worlds smallest country with multiple Olympic Gold medals, a title the country still holds at present. It  has won at least 1 Gold medal at 4 of the last 5 games, 2000, 2004, 2012, 2016. It is also the only country under 1 million people with multiple Olympic Gold medals. The total Olympic Gold medal count for countries under 1 ...
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Embracing the Banjo as an indigenous instrument in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean

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The Banjo is an instrument that was introduced to the New World by enslaved Africans to continue their musical traditions from Africa in the new lands in which they inhabited. In the present day, the instrument has lost it's association to enslaved Africans in North America and the Caribbean and is associated more with being an American(USA) instrument.   The purpose of this post is to show why the Bahamas should embrace the Banjo as an indigenous Instrument in Bahamian history alongside that of the Goombay Drum.            I will start with Johann David Schoepf: Travels in the Confederation 1783-1784                                        Schoepf's is mentioning the instruments being used by Africans on a slave ship headed to New Providence in The Bahamas. The other instrument he mentioned was a Gambee, which I will not get into fo...
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What is Goombay Music?

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Goombay music being played at the Barracks during Christmas of 1857 in the Bahamas Goombay Music was music played on the Goat skin drum with Afro Bahamian traditional drumming Rhythms. This tradition was mentioned in The land of the pink pearl, written by L.D Powles and published in 1888. " The music consisted of two drums that would not work unless frequently warmed at the fire . The company clapped their hands without ceasing all through the dance , chanting all the while in a sort of dreary monotone, " Oh kindoiah! kindoiah! Mary,  come along!" Quote from L.D Powles, The land of the pink pearl 1888. This quote mentions the Goombay Drums /Goat Skin Drums:  "two drums that would not work unless frequently warmed at the fire" .  This method is still used by Bahamians to tune the Goombay drums today: In 1930, Zora Neale Hurston's   “Dance Songs and Tales from the Bahamas,”  was published by the Journal of American Folk-Lore....
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