Gumbe, also ''goombay'' or ''gumbay'', is a
West African style of music found in countries such as
Sierra Leone and
Guinea-Bissau. Sierra Leonean gumbe music is indigenous to the
Sierra Leone Creole people and was derived from the
Jamaican Maroon
Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ens ...
ancestors of the Creole people. Creole musicians such as
Ebenezer Calendar and
Dr Oloh popularized gumbe music in Sierra Leone and in other West African locales.
Etymology
It is likely that the etymology of African-American musical genres
goombay of the Bahamas
[See the ''Bahamas Goombay 1951-1959'' album (scroll down to read booklet in both French and English:]
/ref> originates in Guinea-Bissau gumbe. Gombey music from Bermuda and the Jamaican square maroon drum called goombay could also be related.
Origins
Gumbe is a specific genre, mostly influenced by the fast tempo Zouk (musical movement), zouk style called "zouk béton" (music of the French Caribbean popularized by Kassav in the 1980s); though the same term also refers to any music of the country. True gumbe is a fusion of several Bissau Guinean folk traditions. Gumbe is the genre most closely associated with Bissau Guinean music worldwide.
Gumbe is a primarily vocal and percussive music that has been associated with nationalist thought since colonial times.
See also
* Gumbe (drum)
References
BBC - World Review - Manecas Costa, Paraiso di Gumbe
West African music
Sierra Leone Creole music
Sierra Leone Creole people
{{music-genre-stub