LA 21 DIVISIÓN: AFRO-DOMINICAN RELIGION, MUSIC, AND DANCE
Somos un agujero
en medio del mar y el cielo
500 años después
una raza encendida
negra, blanca y taína
pero, quién descubrió a quién?
- Juan Luis Guerra, lyric from “El costo de la vida”Reasons
The African presence in the Caribbean is slowly beginning to be recognized and acknowledged on an international scale. The African contribution to culture is particularly visible in religious practices and in the arts. One recent example of the acceptance of Afro-Caribbean religion is seen in Haiti—Vodou is now recognized as an official state religion. In the performing arts, Afro-Cuban music has become mainstream as exemplified by the popular documentary film and album, the Buena Vista Social Club. However, in the Dominican Republic, acknowledgement of the African presence has been and remains suppressed and denied. This sentiment is due to a lasting Eurocentric colonialist mentality. There also exists a bloody history of scapegoating Haitian immigrants by politicians and government officials deflecting attention away from their own corrupt activities and blaming black Haitians for corrupting the moral and economic fiber of the country.
Despite this history of denial, there do exist some artists and scholars in the Dominican Republic and the United States, who are attempting to bring appropriate acknowledgement to the African presence and cultural contribution in the Dominican Republic. I was overjoyed to learn that La 21 División would be participating in the Hemispheric Institute’s Encuentro and knew that the opportunity to work with these artists would allow to me to explore this under-studied aspect of my father’s homeland. When I began to attempt to research Afro-Dominican performance through NYU’s immense library catalogue and other sources, I found only a few sparse citations in Spanish and nothing at all in English. The purpose of this essay is to provide a brief introduction to the Afro-Dominican religion and then provide an overview of 3 major folkloric rhythms-- Congos del Espiritu Santo, Palo, and Gagá—based on my conversations with 2 artists and cultural historians from La 21 División, Boni Raposo and Ernesto Rodriguez. As very few texts exist that describe the Afro-Dominican religion and performance, this essay attempts to build a brief introduction to this aspect of the culture.
Readers of Spanish are encouraged to read the transcript of my interview with Boni Raposo, which covers topics beyond the scope of this particular essay including the role of women in folkloric performance, the indigenous Taíno influence, spirit possession, as well as more in-depth descriptions of religious ceremonies and other rhythms.
La 21 División = Vudú Dominicano = Santería Dominicano
The New York City-based musical group, La 21 División, is one of few groups performing and preserving Afro-Dominican music in the US. The group’s name is the name of the Afro-Dominican religion also known as Vudú or Santería Dominicano. La 21 División alludes to the 21 African nations which make up the religion. Each nation is led by one deity or santo. Unfortunately, not all 21 divisions are known. The group’s leader, Boni Raposo, estimates only about 14-17 of the nations can actually be named. The reason for the lack of knowledge is due to the intense persecution of the African religion by Catholic overlords. (It is interesting to note that the common name used for the vudú dominicano is the name brujería, or witchcraft in English. Raposo points out that witchcraft was something that came from Europe and did not originate from Africa or the Caribbean.) While practitioners of the religion believe in the powers of these 21 nations, they do believe in one supreme god.
Vudú Dominicano came with the forced migration of Africans from the Congo region to work as slaves on the island’s plantations. As in much of the Caribbean, the slaves syncretized their deities with Catholic saints in order to continue worshiping their gods under the forced mask of Catholicism. This is why the religion may be called Santería and is why the deities are called santos. Spirit possession does occur at these ceremonies. The following is a discussion of some of the music and dance occurring at these ceremonies.
Congos del Espiritu Santo
Congos del Espiritu Santo, or Congos of the Holy Spirit, is a rhythm and dance which comes from the Cofradía del Espiritu Santo, or Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit, in Villa Mella. Villa Mella is a town just west of the capital of Santo Domingo. The Brotherhood has been in existence in the section of Villa Mella known as Mata los Indios, since the late 1500’s when slaves were first brought to the island. According to Rodriguez, the Brotherhood is a funerary one which performs a “ritual of departure” once a year, known as la fiesta del Espiritu Santo to recognize deceased members. Other gatherings to celebrate the birthdays of the deceased are known as bancos and are celebrated throughout the year.
Performed with the rhythm of Congos del Espiritu Santo is a partner dance in which the female is the lead. The couple’s dance subtly mimics the courtship of the rooster and hen. The female gestures with a long, full skirt or with a handkerchief. The female also will pass the handkerchief to another woman to change partners. Congos del Espiritu Santo is only found in Villa Mella.
Palo
Palo, which means wood or stick in English, is a similar rhythm to Congos del Espiritu Santo. According to Raposo, the name Palo may also be used as generic name to refer to all Dominican folkloric rhythms. However, the name usually refers to the rhythm which is played on three tall drums. The largest of the three drums is named the Palo mayor, and the two smaller drums are called Palo menor. Each drum is made from a single tree trunk. The drums are accompanied by a guira, which is responsible for maintaining the rhythm. Rodriguez describes the Palo rhythm as the real national music of the Dominican Republic as opposed to popular merengue. Raposo adds that the merengue rhythm was born from folkloric music.
The dance of Palo is also similar to that of Congos del Espiritu Santo, however, Rodriguez describes the Palo dance as being “smaller and more defined.” Like Congos del Espiritu Santo, Palo is danced in pairs, however, the male is the lead and he is in charge of changing partners by tapping another male on the shoulder.
Gagá
Gagá derives from the carnivalesque Haitian Rará, which is an Afro-Creole processional celebration that has a specific rhythm and dance. The migration of Haitian Rará to the Dominican Republic results from the movement of laborers from Haiti to Dominican cane fields. Gagá is practiced throughout the Dominican Republic. There are 2 types of Gagá found in the country: one style is found in the western town of Elias Piña. This type is more theatrical and may depict police, kings and queens, and workers. This style also portrays dramatic rederings of rape and death; the other type of Gagá is seen as more rooted in spirituality and is less dramatic. The Gagá is performed in procession and is a celebration of life coming from death. Appropriately, it is syncretized with the Christian celebration of Easter.
The music, including the songs and the instruments, have been adapted by Dominicans to their own culture. While most Gagá song lyrics are in Haitian Creole, there are now many songs in Spanish. There are also popular merengue songs performed to the Gagá rhythm. One of the key instruments is the bambú or fututo, which is called the vaksin in Haiti. As one of the names for the instrument suggests, the bambú was originally made of a piece of bamboo. However, bambú is now usually made of PVC tubing which is cheaper and breaks less easily. (Rodriguez adds that in New York City, PVC tubing is used since bamboo tends to crack in the cold weather.) The bambú form the baseline for the rhythm. The instrument is tapped and blown. The smaller bambú play a steady beat while the larger ones play a longer melody with low notes. The cornet or clerón is a metal horn that plays melodies with long notes. The order of the Gagá procession from front to back is: the cornet, dancers, bambú, drummers, and iron bells called piano.
In general, the movements of the dance are very strong and vigorous compared to the dances of Congos del Espiritu Santo and Palo. In Gagá the male dancers wear very colorful costumes. There is a lead character called the mayor, or major, who carries a baton-like stick. Rodriguez states that the stick is symbolic of weapons used in martial arts. The mayor also wears a series of colorful handkerchiefs tied around his waist. The end of each handkerchief is tied to a belt and drapes down from his waist. The colors of the handkerchiefs each correspond to a specific Vudú deity. The women in the Gagá are called queens and carry flags that signal specific codes to the rest of the group. The women’s dance is more sensual than the male’s dance and the couple’s dance is called tarea, or homework in English. Other participants in the procession generally include people on stilts and people dressed in masks disguised as demons.
Reflection
On May 18, 2001 the Cultural Space of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Congos of Villa Mella was proclaimed one of nineteen Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Bringing international recognition to this Afro-Dominican community has potential to address the learned refutation of negritude common to the Dominican people. However, when I looked at the proclamation announcement on the UNESCO website, I was disappointed to see that there was no mention of the word ‘African’ to describe this community. Rather, the entry obliquely refers to the community as one of “mixed descent” and states “their traditions have Spanish roots, but were adapted by the slave population in the colonial period.” I’m certain that most practitioners of the religion would insist that the Congos del Espiritu Santo have African roots which were adapted due to their enslavement and forced migration. This description unfortunately perpetuates a dismissive attitude towards the cultural contribution of Africans in the Dominican Republic.
This attitude of denying and trivializing the African presence and contribution is a learned behavior. In the documentary film, Repercussions: Caribbean Crucible, Dominican ethnomusicologist Fradique Lizardo explains that in the Dominican Republic, “no one describes himself as black but as pure Indian, or white Indian, etc. This is not the reality; it’s what we’re taught . . . . Everyone ignores the negro elements in our culture. The average Dominican thinks we’re a white people with blue eyes”. It’s time to question what we’ve been taught. The lyrics from Dominican singer and songwriter, Juan Luis Guerra, at the beginning of this essay, ask the listener to think critically about the established histories of racism, slavery, colonization and identity. It encourages the listener to question what he is taught—or not taught, as the case may be. Writing about and acknowledging these performance traditions is in itself a political act. By beginning to acknowledge the religious and artistic contributions of Africans to Dominican culture, we may begin to appropriately address and confront this miseducation of race and identity.