CALENDA: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF A CULTURAL IMAGE


 In the case of St. Lucia, around the same period, Breen also spoke of the
bamboula, using the term for the activity rather than the drum, which he
called tamtam. Breen was more than a casual visitor, having spent a number
of years in St. Lucia, and was not short of confidence about his knowledge of
St. Lucia. His comments on "Negro dances" were part of his description of
the Rose and Marguerite activities in St. Lucia:

 The Negro dances are of two kinds: the ball and the bamboula. When
 conducted within doors it is always called a ball when "sub dio" a bamboula.
 The use of them varies according to the state of the weather; but there is a
 marked predilection for the out-door recreation (1844:196, footnote).
 The tamtam is a small barrel, covered at one end with a strong skin. To
 this, placed between his legs, the Negro applies the open hand and fingers,
 beating time to the belair with the most astonishing precision (1844: 197,
 footnote).

Breen's description of the bamboula, however, did not match that of Max-
Radiguet in its details.
 Bilby and Marks (1999) noted in their comments on the 1962 recordings
of Alan Lomax, which were produced as a compact disc titled Caribbean
Voyage: Dominica-Creole Crossroads:

 The performers told Lomax that this wake song/boula was originally from
 Guadeloupe, where, they explained wakes are occasions for both mourning
 and rejoicing the deceased individual's passage to the next life. They further
 explained that this type of musical event is known in Guadeloupe as boula.

 Bilby and Marks go on to say that the related term bamboula was used in
Guadeloupe during slavery to refer to African-based dance and drumming
events in general, as opposed to musical events characterized by European-
influenced styles, which were called soirees.
 The fact that the boula in Guadeloupe was characterized as a wake song
does not mean that it was sombre; it could have been quite the contrary.
Throughout the slavery period one event which captured the attention of
Europeans was slave funerals and this was because of the level of rejoicing
that they exhibited.
 If the dance that had been identified as the calenda had evolved into the
bamboula, what happened to the name calenda? The fact is that the calenda
as a dance had not disappeared, for toward the end of the nineteenth century
Lafcadio Hearn, speaking of Martinique, said the following: "The old African
dances, the caleinda and the b6i6 (which latter is accompanied by chanted
improvisation) are danced on Sundays to the sound of the drum on almost
every plantation in the island([ 1890] 2001: 110)." Hearn then went on to say:

 The caleinda is danced by men only, all stripped to the waist, and twirling
 heavy sticks in a mock fight. Sometimes, however especially at the great