My Most Wonderful Junkanoo Experience (Part 6 and The End)

The first chance I got after returning from the Bahama company trip was to go looking for a Junkanoo record or cassette tape...yes, it was that long ago. There was nothing to be found on any shelf anywhere. Within the year I booked myself into an ex-governors mansion turned B&B that was at the edge of town away from the hotels but not into the hills where I was warned from a travel book to never go. I felt that would be safe.

On my first day, I went from record shop to record shop looking for something Junkanoo and there was nothing. I was finally told they have never recorded the music because it is everywhere all the time, schools, parties, funerals, weddings, etc.

I also learned the only Junkanoo happening is a small diner called Johnny Canoes that had a little Junkanoo group go through the diner once every half hour or so and I learn that on Thursday nights the entire country meets in family groups all over the island to practice the Junkanoo for the parades. The B&B home I was staying in was right down the road from one of the parks where a group practiced. That bit of information moved right up to the top of my priority list.

I headed down to Johny Canoes for lunch and tried to make the soup last for an hour so I could catch a couple of five-minute Junkanoo mini rushes. I went out back to talk to the drummers to see if they would play for me but they had to leave and said they would come back tomorrow at the same place. I gave them twenty dollars to show I was sincere. I came back the next day to Johnny Canoes and no one showed up.

Thursday finally came and as soon as I saw smoke from the bonfire I headed out. That meant they were heating up the drum skins. A group gathered of about 30 people practicing and bounce marching. I followed them all over the park. I did not want it to end and it must have been obvious to one of the leaders. He approached me and told me of another group practicing farther out and they would be there for another couple of hours so off we went throwing any cares to the wind. Upon arriving at the practice location, a dark unused road lined with about 50 cars on each side with people sitting on the hoods and on lawn chairs partying, I was offered a drink and had planned on sitting down and visiting before the second half of the practice was to start when the four young men I had met at Johnny Canoes came running up to me and calling my name. They were all talking at the same time trying to explain why they didn't meet me on Saturday. It turns out they were just high school kids who didn't have control of transportation to get there.

These young men took me out onto the road with the family band and had me march in the middle of their 200+ member group and when we got to the end of the route they all circled around me and played. It was powerful and at times I thought I might faint. They loved that I loved their music and gave me their best.

Through the years I have made several trips back to hear the music with family and friends. I stumbled into learning to play the African Rhythms while looking for Junkanoo which leads me to the next twenty years of trying to hear rhythms. I never wanted to play, I just wanted to hear the music. At this time, the late '90s, even if we would have had the internet there was very little of the African style drumming. The music was not recorded or being played anywhere in most towns at that time so, I had to learn it, starting at Colorado College then traveling to annual camps in Santa Fe, Seattle, and Boulder Colorado. I didn't know about drum circles or how they are different. I will write about the differences in an upcoming post.