The music of Curaçao is known for typical

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...

es,

danza Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence dan ...

s, mazurkas and a kind of music called tumba, which is named after the conga drums that accompany it.

Classical and traditional music of Curaçao

The tumba is the most internationally renowned kind of Curaçao music. Tumba is the name of an African-derived rhythm, as are ''seú'' and tambú. The Curaçao-born composer

Jan Gerard Palm Jan Gerard Palm (2 June 1831 – 13 December 1906) was a 19th-century composer. Palm is often referred to as the "Father of Curaçao's classical music". Biography Born in Curaçao, Palm had directed several music ensembles by a relatively young ...

(1831–1906) was the first composer to write music for the lyrics of tumba's. There are traditional lyrics associated with different tumba songs, but they are sometimes scandalous and accusatory, and are thus not always sung. Tumba was known as early as the 19th century, and it is now a popular part of the

Carnival Road March The Carnival Road March is the musical composition played most often at the "judging points" along the parade route during a Caribbean Carnival. Originating as part of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, the term has been applied to other Caribbean ...

.Ledesma and Scaramuzzo, p. 301. Besides tumbas, there is a very rich tradition of Antillean

es, mazurkas,

s and pasillos that are popular in Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. This music is often referred to as the Classical Music from Curaçao and Aruba. Well known composers of the Netherlands Antilles are

(1831–1906), Chris Ulder (1843–1895), Joseph Sickman Corsen (1853–1911), Paul de Lima (1861–1926), Jacobo Conrad (1879–1918), Rudolph Palm (1880–1950), Charles Maduro (1883–1947), John Palm (1885–1925), Toni Palm (1885–1963),

Jacobo Palm Jacobo Palm (28 November 1887 – 1 July 1982) was a Curaçao-born composer. Biography Jacobo José Maria Palm was the grandson of Jan Gerard Palm (1831-1906) who is often referred to as the "father of Curaçao classical music". At the age of sev ...

(1887–1982) Albert Palm (1903–1958), Edgar Palm (1905–1998),

Wim Statius Muller Wim Statius Muller ( Curaçao, 26 January 1930 – Curaçao, 31 August 2019) was a Curaçaoan composer and pianist, nicknamed "Curaçao's Chopin" for his romantic piano style of composition.Robert Rojer (1939) and Randal Corsen (b. 1972). Aruba is well known by its composers Rufo Wever (1917–1977) and Padu Lampe (b. 1925). Traditional

work song A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. Definitions and ...

s were very diverse on Curaçao, where they were sung in seshi (semi- Papiamento) or Guene. Lyrics were apentatonic. Tumba is the name of an African-derived rhythm, as are ''seú'' and tambú. Traditionally, Afro-Curaçaoan rhythms were often played in the ''muzik di

zumbi Zumbi (1655 – November 20, 1695), also known as Zumbi dos Palmares (), was a Brazilian quilombola leader, being one of the pioneers of resistance to slavery of Africans by the Portuguese in colonial Brazil. He was also the last of the kings ...

'' style, which included instruments such as the benta (bow harp), gogorobi (rattlers) and flute, which created an ethereal sound. Tambú (sometimes called the Curaçao blues) was first sung by slaves (mostly women) expressing pain and sadness, usually accompanied by the tambú drum and the ''agan'' (a piece of iron or ploughshare) or ''chapi'' (a hoe), along with

clapping A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), ...

(usually only by the women in the audience). Previously, drums were outlawed for slaves, and the ''bastèl'', a large

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvested young to be consumed ...

in a water barrel, was used instead. It is accompanied by an erotic dance that involves no physical touching. The dance was so racy that the government and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

sought to end the practice.Curacao Culture
The ''seú'' was performed during the harvest festival during traditional times, but is now continued during annual parades in the city of

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the capital of the Netherlands Antilles pr ...

. Formerly the seú was a march through the fields, during which the workers brought the crops to the warehouses, the men playing drums, kachu and chapi, while the women carried produce on their heads. It was accompanied by a dance called ''wapa'', which gracefully re-enacted the movements associated with planting and harvesting, often including

work songs A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. Definitions and ...

in Guene, the old slave language. As traditional agriculture began dying out with modern industrialization, the seú too began to fade away. The Curaçao Department of Culture now organizes an annual parade in Willemstad on Easter Monday, which sees as many as 2500 people or more participate.

Modern music on Curaçao

The indigenous Papiamento ( Papiamento Song) record industry emerged after the 1950s. Three men were instrumental in this renaissance: Jules de Palm, Rene de Rooy and Pierre Lauffer. They published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Julio Perennal, including a

cancionero A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

and a manifesto that called for more Papiamento songs to be written. Many did so, recording throughout the '50s in a mixture of styles, including Cuban and Dominican genres including

son montuno Son montuno is a subgenre of son cubano developed by Arsenio Rodríguez in the 1940s. Although ''son montuno'' ("mountain sound") had previously referred to the ''sones'' played in the mountains of eastern Cuba, Arsenio repurposed the term to de ...

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

pambiche Pambiche is a Dominican music genre and dance form derived from merengue típico, the traditional style of merengue. It has a slower tempo than standard merengue and its tambora rhythm is based on the cinquillo. This style of merengue was orig ...

, merengue and

guaracha The guaracha () is a genre of music that originated in Cuba, of rapid tempo and comic or picaresque lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical thea ...

. Nowadays the Tumba is especially popular particularly in the Carnival period. Also Ritmo Kombina (literally meaning "combined rhythm") is a combination of different types of music. It is very popular among the young crowd in Curaçao and is played throughout the year.

Notes

References

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Classical and traditional music of Curaçao

Modern music on Curaçao

Notes

References

Further reading