Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases the viral video of Kenyan high school high jumpers & a video of the song that was used as that video's soundtrack.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Kenyan High School High Jump (OFFICIAL)
Michael Stewart, Published on May 23, 2013
To donate / get involved visit: https://www.facebook.com/KenyanHighJump.
This is at a high school track meet in the Rift Valley of Kenya in the town of Mosoriot. February, 2013.
To run a marathon here: http://riftvalleymarathon.com/
If anyone watching this video wants to help get these athletes proper facilities. Please inbox me.
Song Credit: Mr. Israel-- Young Man
www.signingonline.com
www.runforlife.ca
My blog: urbanbunnyproductions.blogspot.com
-snip-
For more information about the program highlighted in this video, click http://mashable.com/2013/05/31/kenyan-high-school-high-jump/
****
Young Man - Mr. Israel - Kalenjin Song
Kiptoo Steve Kisorio, Published on Jan 24, 2013
Mr. Isael Young Man - Kalenjin Song 2012
Posted and Edited By Steve Kisorio
IT Centre Eldoret
-snip-
Here's information about the Kalenjin people from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalenjin_people:
"The Kalenjin are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting the Rift Valley Province in Kenya. They are estimated to number a little over 4.9 million individuals as per the Kenyan 2009 census numbers.[2]The Kalenjin are believed to have migrated to their present location from the South Sudan region around 2,000 years ago.
Until the early 1950s, the Kenyan peoples now known as the Kalenjin did not have a common name; they were usually referred to as the 'Nandi-speaking tribes' by scholars and administration officials, a practice that did not immediately come to a halt after the adoption of the common name 'Kalenjin' (cf. Evans-Pritchard 1965).
In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, several Nandi-speaking peoples united to assume the common name 'Kalenjin', a Nandi expression meaning I say (to you). Due to this effort, the peoples were transformed into a major ethnic group in Kenya. The adoption of the name Kalenjin also involved a standardisation of the different dialects of Nandi."...
****
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the sponsors of that athletic program.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Arrow - Hot Hot Hot (sound file, video, lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases Arrow's 1980s Soca hit song "Hot Hot Hot".
Information about Arrow is also provided in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT ARROW
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_%28musician%29
"Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell MBE (16 November 1949[1] – 15 September 2010) was a calypso and soca musician who performed under the stage name Arrow, and is regarded as the first superstar of soca from Montserrat.[2]...
In 1982, Cassell began working with arranger Leston Paul, and, with his Multi National Force band, recorded the album Hot Hot Hot, the title track, "Hot Hot Hot", becoming his first pan-Caribbean hit and the biggest selling soca hit of all time.[2] It was adopted as the theme song of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico...
Cassell co-headlined Bermuda's Soca '96 festival, and continued to regularly release albums. In 1988, he was given the Living Legends award by the organizers of the Caribbean Song Festival and the Bahamas Tourist Board.[2]...
Cassell continued to be much in demand in the Caribbean. He last performed at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremonies with Shaggy, Byron Lee and Kevin Lyttle."
****
LYRICS - HOT HOT HOT
(Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell MBE)
olay olay olay olay olay olay olay olay
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
my mind's on fire
my soul's on fire
feeling hot hot hot
party people
all around me
feeling hot hot hot
what to do on a night like this
music sweet I can't resist
we need a party song
so with a rum bum bum
let me rum bum bum bum
CHORUS
olay olay olay olay olay olay olay olay
let me rum bum bum bum
let me rum bum bum bum
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
see people rocking
yeah people jamming
feeling hot hot hot
keep the spirit
come on let's do it
feeling hot hot hot
hands in the air
celebration time
the music can't erase you mind
we have this party song
a fundamental jam
so we can rum bum bum bum
yeah we rum bum bum bum
CHORUS
people in the party hot hot hot
people in the party hot hot hot
people in the party hot hot hot
people in the party hot hot hot
Source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/a/arrowlyrics/hothothotlyrics.html
****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLES OF "HOT HOT HOT" BY ARROW
Example #1: Hot Hot Hot - Arrow (Soca)
rasmusbrockmichelsen• Uploaded on Jun 5, 2008
Be happy
-snip-
Here are two comments from this sound file's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN9lUzaV4uQ
[In response to a commenter writing that this was a Buster Poindexter song:
"...it's the other way around Arrow first then Buster Poindexter did his own remake."
-zk0101, 2008
**
PROPER CHUNEEE
-l2onniel, 2009
-snip-
"Chune" is a Caribbean patois way of writing "tune".
****
Example #2: Arrow, HOT! HOT! HOT!
FramebyFrameJa, Uploaded on Sep 18, 2010
www.framebyframejm.tv.
A selection of performances by Arrow, Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell, MBE, from the 10th anniversary of the St. Kitts Music festival, and The 2006 Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, Montego Bay, Jamaica, where he participated in celebrating his friend's, Byron Lee, 50th anniversary in music.
Arrow, November 16, 1949 -- September 15, 2010, Montserrat.
Thanks for keeping the party going HOT! HOT! HOT!
****
Thanks to Arrow for his musical legacy.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This post showcases Arrow's 1980s Soca hit song "Hot Hot Hot".
Information about Arrow is also provided in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT ARROW
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_%28musician%29
"Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell MBE (16 November 1949[1] – 15 September 2010) was a calypso and soca musician who performed under the stage name Arrow, and is regarded as the first superstar of soca from Montserrat.[2]...
In 1982, Cassell began working with arranger Leston Paul, and, with his Multi National Force band, recorded the album Hot Hot Hot, the title track, "Hot Hot Hot", becoming his first pan-Caribbean hit and the biggest selling soca hit of all time.[2] It was adopted as the theme song of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico...
Cassell co-headlined Bermuda's Soca '96 festival, and continued to regularly release albums. In 1988, he was given the Living Legends award by the organizers of the Caribbean Song Festival and the Bahamas Tourist Board.[2]...
Cassell continued to be much in demand in the Caribbean. He last performed at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremonies with Shaggy, Byron Lee and Kevin Lyttle."
****
LYRICS - HOT HOT HOT
(Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell MBE)
olay olay olay olay olay olay olay olay
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
my mind's on fire
my soul's on fire
feeling hot hot hot
party people
all around me
feeling hot hot hot
what to do on a night like this
music sweet I can't resist
we need a party song
so with a rum bum bum
let me rum bum bum bum
CHORUS
olay olay olay olay olay olay olay olay
let me rum bum bum bum
let me rum bum bum bum
feeling hot hot hot
feeling hot hot hot
see people rocking
yeah people jamming
feeling hot hot hot
keep the spirit
come on let's do it
feeling hot hot hot
hands in the air
celebration time
the music can't erase you mind
we have this party song
a fundamental jam
so we can rum bum bum bum
yeah we rum bum bum bum
CHORUS
people in the party hot hot hot
people in the party hot hot hot
people in the party hot hot hot
people in the party hot hot hot
Source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/a/arrowlyrics/hothothotlyrics.html
****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLES OF "HOT HOT HOT" BY ARROW
Example #1: Hot Hot Hot - Arrow (Soca)
rasmusbrockmichelsen• Uploaded on Jun 5, 2008
Be happy
-snip-
Here are two comments from this sound file's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN9lUzaV4uQ
[In response to a commenter writing that this was a Buster Poindexter song:
"...it's the other way around Arrow first then Buster Poindexter did his own remake."
-zk0101, 2008
**
PROPER CHUNEEE
-l2onniel, 2009
-snip-
"Chune" is a Caribbean patois way of writing "tune".
****
Example #2: Arrow, HOT! HOT! HOT!
FramebyFrameJa, Uploaded on Sep 18, 2010
www.framebyframejm.tv.
A selection of performances by Arrow, Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell, MBE, from the 10th anniversary of the St. Kitts Music festival, and The 2006 Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, Montego Bay, Jamaica, where he participated in celebrating his friend's, Byron Lee, 50th anniversary in music.
Arrow, November 16, 1949 -- September 15, 2010, Montserrat.
Thanks for keeping the party going HOT! HOT! HOT!
****
Thanks to Arrow for his musical legacy.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Examples Of The Children's Cheer "Rock The Boat"
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part series on the 1974 Disco song "Rock The Boat" and children's "Rock The Boat" cheers.
This post features video & text examples of "Rock The Boat" cheers and also provides some comments about the structure of those cheers.
Part I showcases the song "Rock The Boat" as recorded by The Hues Corporation (1973).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-hues-corporation-rock-boat-video.html for Part I.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
THE STRUCTURE OF "ROCK THE BOAT" CHILDREN'S CHEERS
"Rock The Boat" children's cheers demonstrate the influence that foot stomping cheers have had on the structure of cheers that are performed by children's cheerleading squads & children's athletic teams. These cheers are composed using a call & response structure that is quite different from the older "mainstream" "Go Team Go" type of cheerleader cheers.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
(These videos are posted in chronological order with the oldest video posted first.)
Video #1: Aniya Rocks The Boat :-)
ti55, Uploaded on Mar 16, 2008
-snip-
This is an example of the "She Slides" sub-category of "Rock The Boat" cheers.
A transcription of this video is given as Example #1 below.
****
Video #2: ROCK THE BOAT
RainbowBrite895, Uploaded on Jul 3, 2008
haha this is my softball team doing one of our cheers
-snip-
Examples of cheers from this video's viewer comment thread are found below. Because those examples are very similar to the cheer that is chanted in that video, I didn't transcribe that video. This "Rock The Boat" cheer is from that cheer's "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" sub-category. It appears from my review of these cheers that examples include either the "She slides" or "the Bang Bang" verses, however there may be examples of this cheer that include both of these verses.
****
Video #3: Bulldogs Rock the Boat (cheer)
mlisa73, Uploaded on Dec 23, 2011
The girls cheering.
-snip-
This cheer is from the "bang bang choo choo train" category of
"Rock The Boat" cheers. A sub-category of that cheer includes the line "bang bang and pull that spirt". Examples of these cheers are found below.
****
Keira & aliyah rock the boat cheer
shawn cavanagh, Published Sep 27, 2012
-snip-
This is an example of the "She Slides" sub-category of "Rock The Boat" cheers.
****
EXAMPLES OF "ROCK THE BOAT" CHEERS
(These examples are from the featured videos presented above or their viewer comment threads. They aren't presented in any particular order.)
Example #1: ROCK THE BOAT
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Can you rock the boat? "No way."
Can you rock the boat?! "Ok."
She slides. She slides. She do The Butterfly.
She dips. She dips. She shakes her little hips!
-ti55, Mar 16, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY
-snip-
This is my transcription of the video given above as "Video #1". This cheer is composed using the traditional foot stomping cheer structure. That The Hues Corporations' 1974 record "Rock The Boat" is the source of this cheer is clearly indicated by the "rock the boat/don't tip it over" line.
Furthermore, the group asking the girl to do something, and the girl's first response being "no way" marks this as what I refer to as a "command/compliance" type of [dance style] foot stomping cheer. Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/command-compliance-foot-stomping-cheers for information & examples of command/compliance foot stomping cheers.
"The Butterfly" is a dance of Jamaican origin that was picked up & integrated into American R&B/Hip Hop dance repertoire of the 1990s. A number of mainstream cheers include a referent to doing "The Butterfly". There are also some references to "The Butterfly" dance in certain foot stomping cheers.
****
Example #2: ROCK THE BOAT
I learned
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"I might"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"Alright!"
"Rock the boat, Don't tip it over,
Rock the boat, Don't tip it over"
-TheKaitybugs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2012
****
Example #3: ROCK THE BOAT
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
My name is ___
(rock the boat)
I cheer for bulldogs
(rock the boat)
And if I didn’t*
(rock the boat)
it goes a little something like this
bang bang get it get it
Ah!
And pull that spirit.
[continue with the next girl who says the same words except her name]
-mlisa73, Uploaded on Dec 23, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKGOoqGcWvw
-snip-
This is my transcription of the cheer given in Video #3.
* "And if I didn't" is usually given as “and when I do). Those words make more sense in the context of this cheer.
****
Example #4: ROCK THE BOAT
this is how we do it at my school:
rock the boat dont tip it over
rock the boat dont tip it over
my name is __
yeah!
im feelin fine!
yeah!
u mess with me
yeah!
ill blow ur mind
so bang bang choo choo train
u look at me and i do my thang
no recces pieces no butter cup
i kno karate i kno kung fu
u mess with ill mes with u!
i kno its tottaly off to wat everyone else is sayin but thats wat we sing on the bus all the time.
-slimeshady100, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2010
****
Example #4: ROCK THE BOAT
[Editor's note: I assigned numbers for the lines to provide an text analysis of this example. The group's lines are indicated by "G" in brackets. The soloist's lines are indicated by "S" in brackets. The entire group's lines are indicated by G&S in brackets.
we do it like this for cheerleading
1. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
2. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
3. hey_____, [G]
4. hey what? [S]
5. hey_____, [G]
6. hey what? [S]
7. can u rock the boat? [G]
8.no way [S]
9. can u rock the boat? [G]
10. Ok [S]
11. she slides she slides *
12. she gets on a horse and rides,
13. she dips she dips,
14. she shakes her little hips
15. she wants you and you
16. to rock the boat too
-Brooke Esposito, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2011
*It seems that this line until the end of the cheer might be chanted only by the Group but those lines might also be chanted by the Group plus the soloist.
-snip-
One significant difference between traditional & some mainstream "Rock The Boat" cheers is whether the group commands (or demands that the soloist) do something or whether the group asks the soloist to do something. If that action is demanded of the soloist or asked of her creates a different tone for those cheers and also conveys an entirely different cultural message. It seems to me that these are crucial differences.
In traditional examples of these cheers, the fact that the girl initially refuses to do what is demanded of her may demonstrate that a value is placed on being independent and not (immediately) acceding to orders (or expectations?) that others have for you. In contrast, in mainstream examples of these cheers, the soloist's refusal to do what is asked of her comes across as rude or bad mannered.
It's possible that "Can you rock the boat" could be interpreted as "Are you able to rock the boat?" However, in the context of that cheer, the soloist's surly answer of "No way" doesn't mean "There's no way that I'm able to do that action that you ask me can I do." Instead, "No way" means that "There's no circumstances which would make me [no reason why] I would do what you ask. The difference between that and the traditional meaning may be subtle, but I think that a difference does exist.
That said, I'm not certain that the girls who chanted/chant the traditional "demanding" version of this cheer and other "command/compliance" cheers consciously recognize the message that the cheer conveys with thpse "command" or demand and refusal to comply lines.
****
RELATED LINK
Visit http://www.cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 for additional examples of "Rock The Boat" cheers. The earliest dated examples that I've collected of those cheers are from the 1980s.)
****
This concludes Part II of this series.
My thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and all those whose cheer examples are presented in this post.
Thank you to for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of a two part series on the 1974 Disco song "Rock The Boat" and children's "Rock The Boat" cheers.
This post features video & text examples of "Rock The Boat" cheers and also provides some comments about the structure of those cheers.
Part I showcases the song "Rock The Boat" as recorded by The Hues Corporation (1973).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-hues-corporation-rock-boat-video.html for Part I.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
THE STRUCTURE OF "ROCK THE BOAT" CHILDREN'S CHEERS
"Rock The Boat" children's cheers demonstrate the influence that foot stomping cheers have had on the structure of cheers that are performed by children's cheerleading squads & children's athletic teams. These cheers are composed using a call & response structure that is quite different from the older "mainstream" "Go Team Go" type of cheerleader cheers.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
(These videos are posted in chronological order with the oldest video posted first.)
Video #1: Aniya Rocks The Boat :-)
ti55, Uploaded on Mar 16, 2008
-snip-
This is an example of the "She Slides" sub-category of "Rock The Boat" cheers.
A transcription of this video is given as Example #1 below.
****
Video #2: ROCK THE BOAT
RainbowBrite895, Uploaded on Jul 3, 2008
haha this is my softball team doing one of our cheers
-snip-
Examples of cheers from this video's viewer comment thread are found below. Because those examples are very similar to the cheer that is chanted in that video, I didn't transcribe that video. This "Rock The Boat" cheer is from that cheer's "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" sub-category. It appears from my review of these cheers that examples include either the "She slides" or "the Bang Bang" verses, however there may be examples of this cheer that include both of these verses.
****
Video #3: Bulldogs Rock the Boat (cheer)
mlisa73, Uploaded on Dec 23, 2011
The girls cheering.
-snip-
This cheer is from the "bang bang choo choo train" category of
"Rock The Boat" cheers. A sub-category of that cheer includes the line "bang bang and pull that spirt". Examples of these cheers are found below.
****
Keira & aliyah rock the boat cheer
shawn cavanagh, Published Sep 27, 2012
-snip-
This is an example of the "She Slides" sub-category of "Rock The Boat" cheers.
****
EXAMPLES OF "ROCK THE BOAT" CHEERS
(These examples are from the featured videos presented above or their viewer comment threads. They aren't presented in any particular order.)
Example #1: ROCK THE BOAT
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Can you rock the boat? "No way."
Can you rock the boat?! "Ok."
She slides. She slides. She do The Butterfly.
She dips. She dips. She shakes her little hips!
-ti55, Mar 16, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY
-snip-
This is my transcription of the video given above as "Video #1". This cheer is composed using the traditional foot stomping cheer structure. That The Hues Corporations' 1974 record "Rock The Boat" is the source of this cheer is clearly indicated by the "rock the boat/don't tip it over" line.
Furthermore, the group asking the girl to do something, and the girl's first response being "no way" marks this as what I refer to as a "command/compliance" type of [dance style] foot stomping cheer. Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/command-compliance-foot-stomping-cheers for information & examples of command/compliance foot stomping cheers.
"The Butterfly" is a dance of Jamaican origin that was picked up & integrated into American R&B/Hip Hop dance repertoire of the 1990s. A number of mainstream cheers include a referent to doing "The Butterfly". There are also some references to "The Butterfly" dance in certain foot stomping cheers.
****
Example #2: ROCK THE BOAT
I learned
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"I might"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"Alright!"
"Rock the boat, Don't tip it over,
Rock the boat, Don't tip it over"
-TheKaitybugs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2012
****
Example #3: ROCK THE BOAT
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
My name is ___
(rock the boat)
I cheer for bulldogs
(rock the boat)
And if I didn’t*
(rock the boat)
it goes a little something like this
bang bang get it get it
Ah!
And pull that spirit.
[continue with the next girl who says the same words except her name]
-mlisa73, Uploaded on Dec 23, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKGOoqGcWvw
-snip-
This is my transcription of the cheer given in Video #3.
* "And if I didn't" is usually given as “and when I do). Those words make more sense in the context of this cheer.
****
Example #4: ROCK THE BOAT
this is how we do it at my school:
rock the boat dont tip it over
rock the boat dont tip it over
my name is __
yeah!
im feelin fine!
yeah!
u mess with me
yeah!
ill blow ur mind
so bang bang choo choo train
u look at me and i do my thang
no recces pieces no butter cup
i kno karate i kno kung fu
u mess with ill mes with u!
i kno its tottaly off to wat everyone else is sayin but thats wat we sing on the bus all the time.
-slimeshady100, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2010
****
Example #4: ROCK THE BOAT
[Editor's note: I assigned numbers for the lines to provide an text analysis of this example. The group's lines are indicated by "G" in brackets. The soloist's lines are indicated by "S" in brackets. The entire group's lines are indicated by G&S in brackets.
we do it like this for cheerleading
1. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
2. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
3. hey_____, [G]
4. hey what? [S]
5. hey_____, [G]
6. hey what? [S]
7. can u rock the boat? [G]
8.no way [S]
9. can u rock the boat? [G]
10. Ok [S]
11. she slides she slides *
12. she gets on a horse and rides,
13. she dips she dips,
14. she shakes her little hips
15. she wants you and you
16. to rock the boat too
-Brooke Esposito, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2011
*It seems that this line until the end of the cheer might be chanted only by the Group but those lines might also be chanted by the Group plus the soloist.
-snip-
One significant difference between traditional & some mainstream "Rock The Boat" cheers is whether the group commands (or demands that the soloist) do something or whether the group asks the soloist to do something. If that action is demanded of the soloist or asked of her creates a different tone for those cheers and also conveys an entirely different cultural message. It seems to me that these are crucial differences.
In traditional examples of these cheers, the fact that the girl initially refuses to do what is demanded of her may demonstrate that a value is placed on being independent and not (immediately) acceding to orders (or expectations?) that others have for you. In contrast, in mainstream examples of these cheers, the soloist's refusal to do what is asked of her comes across as rude or bad mannered.
It's possible that "Can you rock the boat" could be interpreted as "Are you able to rock the boat?" However, in the context of that cheer, the soloist's surly answer of "No way" doesn't mean "There's no way that I'm able to do that action that you ask me can I do." Instead, "No way" means that "There's no circumstances which would make me [no reason why] I would do what you ask. The difference between that and the traditional meaning may be subtle, but I think that a difference does exist.
That said, I'm not certain that the girls who chanted/chant the traditional "demanding" version of this cheer and other "command/compliance" cheers consciously recognize the message that the cheer conveys with thpse "command" or demand and refusal to comply lines.
****
RELATED LINK
Visit http://www.cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 for additional examples of "Rock The Boat" cheers. The earliest dated examples that I've collected of those cheers are from the 1980s.)
****
This concludes Part II of this series.
My thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and all those whose cheer examples are presented in this post.
Thank you to for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Hues Corporation- Rock The Boat (video & information)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part series on the 1974 Disco song "Rock The Boat" and children's "Rock The Boat" cheers.
This posts showcases the song "Rock The Boat" as recorded by The Hues Corporation (1973).
Part II features examples of "Rock The Boat" cheers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/examples-of-childrens-cheer-rock-boat.html for Part II of this series.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO - Rock The Boat 1974 Hues Corporation
Jasminne2009·Uploaded on Aug 18, 2009
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dndAXxqJbc0 for this video's summary which includes the lyrics for this song. Those lyrics include this refrain:
-snip-
Here's information about The Hues Corporation's "Rock The Boat" from their Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Boat_(Hues_Corporation_song)
"Rock the Boat" is a disco song by the group Hues Corporation in 1974. "Rock the Boat" was written by Waldo Holmes, who also wrote the Blacula songs.
"Rock the Boat" was first featured on the Hues Corporation's 1973 album, Freedom For The Stallion (an edited version later appeared on certain editions of the band's follow-up album, 1974's Rockin' Soul).[1] and was released as the second single from the album in early 1974 to follow-up Stallion's title song, which had peaked at #63 on the Hot 100. Initially, "Rock the Boat" appeared as though it would flop, as months went by without any radio airplay or sales activity. Not until the song became a disco/club favorite in New York did Top 40 radio finally pick up on the song, leading the record to finally enter the Hot 100 and zip up the chart to #1 in July 1974. The record also reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom (number 6). It is a heavy airplay favorite on oldie and adult-contemporary stations today
-snip-
This write up doesn't mention that a large number of children's cheerleader cheers are titled "Rock The Boat" and have their source in the Hue Corporation' "Rock The Boat" song. The "Rock The Boat" cheers that I've collected online use a foot stomping cheer structure, but are probably not performed with the foot stomping activity that is the same as historically Black Greek lettered organizations' steppin foot work, (individual handclaps, and sometimes also (individual) body patting. Examples of those cheers are featured in Part II of this pancocojams series.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for a pancocojams post on foot stomping cheers.
Notice that one of the dance movements that the Hues Corporation does while singing "Rock The Boat" is to lean to the side and smoothly (gently) swing their hips from side to side. That "rock the boat" dance movement became part of many young African Americans' mid 1970s R&B dance repertoire and is still done when people want to perform "old school" dances.
In contrast, here's a link to a video of the 2011 Hip-Hop dance [crank that]* "rock dat boat"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWyB6BgISs
*"Crank that" is often used in front of the name of a Hip-Hop dance. It means "do that [dance name] dance" or "start doing that [dance name] dance".
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP0S2J4_Q94 for a 1973 Reggae song entitled "Don't Rock My Boat" by Bob Marley. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that the Hues Corporation song & Bob Marley's song had such similar titles.
Click http://www.allmusic.com/song/dont-rock-my-boat-mt0000009939 for information on that Bob Marley song including the fact that Bob Marley recorded three different versiond of "Don't Rock My Boat, the first one being in 1968.
**
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5AAcgtMjUI for a video of the 2001 R&B song "Rock The Boat" by Aaliyah. That song's tune & lyrics are completely different from The Hues Corporations tune & lyrics. A number of dance routines are based on the choreography that Aaliyah did in that video.
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Boat_(Aaliyah_song) for information about this record.
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
My thanks to The Hues Corporation & the other artists mentioned for their musical legacies.
Thank you to for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a two part series on the 1974 Disco song "Rock The Boat" and children's "Rock The Boat" cheers.
This posts showcases the song "Rock The Boat" as recorded by The Hues Corporation (1973).
Part II features examples of "Rock The Boat" cheers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/examples-of-childrens-cheer-rock-boat.html for Part II of this series.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO - Rock The Boat 1974 Hues Corporation
Jasminne2009·Uploaded on Aug 18, 2009
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dndAXxqJbc0 for this video's summary which includes the lyrics for this song. Those lyrics include this refrain:
-snip-
Here's information about The Hues Corporation's "Rock The Boat" from their Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Boat_(Hues_Corporation_song)
"Rock the Boat" is a disco song by the group Hues Corporation in 1974. "Rock the Boat" was written by Waldo Holmes, who also wrote the Blacula songs.
"Rock the Boat" was first featured on the Hues Corporation's 1973 album, Freedom For The Stallion (an edited version later appeared on certain editions of the band's follow-up album, 1974's Rockin' Soul).[1] and was released as the second single from the album in early 1974 to follow-up Stallion's title song, which had peaked at #63 on the Hot 100. Initially, "Rock the Boat" appeared as though it would flop, as months went by without any radio airplay or sales activity. Not until the song became a disco/club favorite in New York did Top 40 radio finally pick up on the song, leading the record to finally enter the Hot 100 and zip up the chart to #1 in July 1974. The record also reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom (number 6). It is a heavy airplay favorite on oldie and adult-contemporary stations today
-snip-
This write up doesn't mention that a large number of children's cheerleader cheers are titled "Rock The Boat" and have their source in the Hue Corporation' "Rock The Boat" song. The "Rock The Boat" cheers that I've collected online use a foot stomping cheer structure, but are probably not performed with the foot stomping activity that is the same as historically Black Greek lettered organizations' steppin foot work, (individual handclaps, and sometimes also (individual) body patting. Examples of those cheers are featured in Part II of this pancocojams series.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for a pancocojams post on foot stomping cheers.
Notice that one of the dance movements that the Hues Corporation does while singing "Rock The Boat" is to lean to the side and smoothly (gently) swing their hips from side to side. That "rock the boat" dance movement became part of many young African Americans' mid 1970s R&B dance repertoire and is still done when people want to perform "old school" dances.
In contrast, here's a link to a video of the 2011 Hip-Hop dance [crank that]* "rock dat boat"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWyB6BgISs
*"Crank that" is often used in front of the name of a Hip-Hop dance. It means "do that [dance name] dance" or "start doing that [dance name] dance".
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP0S2J4_Q94 for a 1973 Reggae song entitled "Don't Rock My Boat" by Bob Marley. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that the Hues Corporation song & Bob Marley's song had such similar titles.
Click http://www.allmusic.com/song/dont-rock-my-boat-mt0000009939 for information on that Bob Marley song including the fact that Bob Marley recorded three different versiond of "Don't Rock My Boat, the first one being in 1968.
**
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5AAcgtMjUI for a video of the 2001 R&B song "Rock The Boat" by Aaliyah. That song's tune & lyrics are completely different from The Hues Corporations tune & lyrics. A number of dance routines are based on the choreography that Aaliyah did in that video.
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Boat_(Aaliyah_song) for information about this record.
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
My thanks to The Hues Corporation & the other artists mentioned for their musical legacies.
Thank you to for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
New Orleans Buck Jumping (information & videos)
Edited by Azizi Powell
TBC Brass Band performing Donny Hathaway's 'This Christmas' at the Big Nine 2009 Second Line Parade
BigRedCotton, Uploaded on Dec 24, 2009
****
This is Part II of a two part series on the 19th century dance known as the "buck & wing", and the "buck jumping" dances that derived from it.
This post features information about & several videos of buck jumping.
Part I provides information & video demonstrations of buck & wing, buck dancing, and several wing movements in tap dancing.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-pigeon-wing-buck-wing-and-buck.html for Part I of this series.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owner.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dancer or a dance historian. My comments are shared in the interest of eliciting more information & opinions about this subject.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT BUCK JUMPING
"Buck jumping" is a rhythmic, percussive style of dancing that emphasizes fast foot work. This style of dancing is closely associated with members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs & New Orleans second line paraders.
"Buck jumping" is derived from 19th century African American originated "buck & wing" dancing. Buck jumping is closely related to- if not the same as- the 21st century HIp-Hop dances known as footwork, gangsta walkin, jookin, buckin, and other terms. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangsta_Walking for information about these Hip Hop dances. That article that traces the origin of gangsta walkin suggests that it may have "a New Orleans connection. Early gangsta-walking in Memphis was often called "buck jumping", and "buck jumping" was another name for second-lining in New Orleans.”...
Here's some information about "buck jumping" & New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs from http://nolabounce.com/?p=4499 "Second Line Jump: New Orleans Rap And Brass Band Music" By Matt Miller; September 27, 2010
"The number of brass bands has expanded along with the proliferation of “second Line” clubs, so-called “social and pleasure” organizations which hire bands for parades. These clubs stage parades on Sunday afternoons throughout the second line “season” (which spans much of the Fall, Winter and Spring), often to celebrate the anniversary of the club’s founding. These second line parades, along with the “jazz funerals” and Mardi Gras parades that often define New Orleans in the national imagination, serve as a central venue for brass bands and play a key role in disseminating and reinforcing a commonly-held musical sensibility. To outsiders, second line parades might seem like a purely celebratory event, but they can also channel more destructive energies. The bands are often joined by a rowdy group of spontaneous participants (often teenagers or young men) who contribute highly expressive dance and ad-hoc music-making. “Buck jumping,” an individual dance form associated with both brass bands and local rap, is one of the many features of New Orleans’s musical culture that in concept and nomenclature can be traced back to the 19th century and the era of slavery.”...
-snip-
Here's information about the New Orleans Social & And Pleasure Clubs from http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/multicultural/multiculturaltraditions/socialaid.html
"Strutting and jumping and high-stepping underneath their decorated parasols, blowing whistles and waving feathered fans, the African-American members of New Orleans’ social aid and pleasure clubs are the organizers, originators, and sponsors of the second line parades for which the city is famous. The brass band that follows the parade’s grand marshal and club members, who are always dressed in coordinated suits and classy hats, blast out exuberant rhythms to propel everyone’s high-spirited march through the streets. The club and brass band are known as the first line, and the audience that forms behind the parade to join in the festivities is the second, hence the term second line parade.
African-American social aid and pleasure clubs aren’t just about parading, however. They grew out of organizations of the mid to late 1800s called benevolent societies, which many different ethnic groups in New Orleans formed. Serving a purpose that today has largely been supplanted by insurance companies, benevolent societies would help dues-paying members defray health care costs, funeral expenses, and financial hardships. They also fostered a sense of unity in the community, performed charitable works, and hosted social events. Benevolent societies always had strong support in the African-American population, and some scholars trace the roots of the African-American societies back to initiation associations of West African cultures from where the majority of New Orleans blacks originally came."
-snip-
The members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs (SAPC) & the second line paraders certainly strut, and they may also jump. But their dancing is a particular fast hopping kind of jumping, sometimes with leg lifts and squatting, and more that typifies "buck jumping". It seems to me that the brass bands perform the high stepping more than the SAPC members or the second liners. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwGxSV5-cR0 for a video of such a brass band in a SAPC parade.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are posted in chronological order with the videos with the oldest dates posted first.
Video #1: New Orleans Secondline Dancing
SneakinSal, Uploaded on Dec 25, 2006
Secondline dancing on a porch on Washington Avenue, New Orleans. New Generation Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade, December 10, 2006.
****
Video #2: Sudan 2008 Second Line featuring Rebirth
Posted by BigRedCotton, December 03, 2008
-snip-
Notice the dancer crawling under the legs of another dancer. I've seen this same dance movement in some traditional West African dances & in African American "krumping".
****
Video #3: The Hot 8 Brass Band with Ladies And Men of Unity -'Poppa Was A Rolling Stone'
Uploaded by BigRedCotton on Apr 6, 2009
Ladies and Men of Unity Social Aid and Pleasure Club 2nd Annual Second Line Uptown
****
Video #4: Divine Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Club 2009 Annual Parade
Uploaded by BigRedCotton on May 17, 2009
-snip-
Notice the "wing"* leg movements (leg lifts) that are done in this video (such as at 1:54-1:57; 2:50-2:53, and 6:27-6:32).
*derived from the buck & the wing dance
****
Video #5: Buck-jumping dance-off on Oak St. during the Pigeon Town Steppers Easter Second Line
Lisa Pal, Uploaded on Apr 5, 2010
****
RELATED LINK
Click this page of my jambalayah website for more New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Club & Brass Band videos http://www.jambalayah.com/node/1145.
Note that I included comments about the source for the word "buck" in buck jumping. I wrote that that term came from a description of deer jumping. I'm much less convinced of that information now & wish that I could retract that statement. However, for some reason, that page won't accept any edits.
****
This concludes Part II of this series.
Thanks to those whose comment I quoted. Thanks also to those who are featured in these videos, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
TBC Brass Band performing Donny Hathaway's 'This Christmas' at the Big Nine 2009 Second Line Parade
BigRedCotton, Uploaded on Dec 24, 2009
****
This is Part II of a two part series on the 19th century dance known as the "buck & wing", and the "buck jumping" dances that derived from it.
This post features information about & several videos of buck jumping.
Part I provides information & video demonstrations of buck & wing, buck dancing, and several wing movements in tap dancing.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-pigeon-wing-buck-wing-and-buck.html for Part I of this series.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owner.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dancer or a dance historian. My comments are shared in the interest of eliciting more information & opinions about this subject.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT BUCK JUMPING
"Buck jumping" is a rhythmic, percussive style of dancing that emphasizes fast foot work. This style of dancing is closely associated with members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs & New Orleans second line paraders.
"Buck jumping" is derived from 19th century African American originated "buck & wing" dancing. Buck jumping is closely related to- if not the same as- the 21st century HIp-Hop dances known as footwork, gangsta walkin, jookin, buckin, and other terms. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangsta_Walking for information about these Hip Hop dances. That article that traces the origin of gangsta walkin suggests that it may have "a New Orleans connection. Early gangsta-walking in Memphis was often called "buck jumping", and "buck jumping" was another name for second-lining in New Orleans.”...
Here's some information about "buck jumping" & New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs from http://nolabounce.com/?p=4499 "Second Line Jump: New Orleans Rap And Brass Band Music" By Matt Miller; September 27, 2010
"The number of brass bands has expanded along with the proliferation of “second Line” clubs, so-called “social and pleasure” organizations which hire bands for parades. These clubs stage parades on Sunday afternoons throughout the second line “season” (which spans much of the Fall, Winter and Spring), often to celebrate the anniversary of the club’s founding. These second line parades, along with the “jazz funerals” and Mardi Gras parades that often define New Orleans in the national imagination, serve as a central venue for brass bands and play a key role in disseminating and reinforcing a commonly-held musical sensibility. To outsiders, second line parades might seem like a purely celebratory event, but they can also channel more destructive energies. The bands are often joined by a rowdy group of spontaneous participants (often teenagers or young men) who contribute highly expressive dance and ad-hoc music-making. “Buck jumping,” an individual dance form associated with both brass bands and local rap, is one of the many features of New Orleans’s musical culture that in concept and nomenclature can be traced back to the 19th century and the era of slavery.”...
-snip-
Here's information about the New Orleans Social & And Pleasure Clubs from http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/multicultural/multiculturaltraditions/socialaid.html
"Strutting and jumping and high-stepping underneath their decorated parasols, blowing whistles and waving feathered fans, the African-American members of New Orleans’ social aid and pleasure clubs are the organizers, originators, and sponsors of the second line parades for which the city is famous. The brass band that follows the parade’s grand marshal and club members, who are always dressed in coordinated suits and classy hats, blast out exuberant rhythms to propel everyone’s high-spirited march through the streets. The club and brass band are known as the first line, and the audience that forms behind the parade to join in the festivities is the second, hence the term second line parade.
African-American social aid and pleasure clubs aren’t just about parading, however. They grew out of organizations of the mid to late 1800s called benevolent societies, which many different ethnic groups in New Orleans formed. Serving a purpose that today has largely been supplanted by insurance companies, benevolent societies would help dues-paying members defray health care costs, funeral expenses, and financial hardships. They also fostered a sense of unity in the community, performed charitable works, and hosted social events. Benevolent societies always had strong support in the African-American population, and some scholars trace the roots of the African-American societies back to initiation associations of West African cultures from where the majority of New Orleans blacks originally came."
-snip-
The members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs (SAPC) & the second line paraders certainly strut, and they may also jump. But their dancing is a particular fast hopping kind of jumping, sometimes with leg lifts and squatting, and more that typifies "buck jumping". It seems to me that the brass bands perform the high stepping more than the SAPC members or the second liners. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwGxSV5-cR0 for a video of such a brass band in a SAPC parade.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are posted in chronological order with the videos with the oldest dates posted first.
Video #1: New Orleans Secondline Dancing
SneakinSal, Uploaded on Dec 25, 2006
Secondline dancing on a porch on Washington Avenue, New Orleans. New Generation Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade, December 10, 2006.
****
Video #2: Sudan 2008 Second Line featuring Rebirth
Posted by BigRedCotton, December 03, 2008
-snip-
Notice the dancer crawling under the legs of another dancer. I've seen this same dance movement in some traditional West African dances & in African American "krumping".
****
Video #3: The Hot 8 Brass Band with Ladies And Men of Unity -'Poppa Was A Rolling Stone'
Uploaded by BigRedCotton on Apr 6, 2009
Ladies and Men of Unity Social Aid and Pleasure Club 2nd Annual Second Line Uptown
****
Video #4: Divine Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Club 2009 Annual Parade
Uploaded by BigRedCotton on May 17, 2009
-snip-
Notice the "wing"* leg movements (leg lifts) that are done in this video (such as at 1:54-1:57; 2:50-2:53, and 6:27-6:32).
*derived from the buck & the wing dance
****
Video #5: Buck-jumping dance-off on Oak St. during the Pigeon Town Steppers Easter Second Line
Lisa Pal, Uploaded on Apr 5, 2010
****
RELATED LINK
Click this page of my jambalayah website for more New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Club & Brass Band videos http://www.jambalayah.com/node/1145.
Note that I included comments about the source for the word "buck" in buck jumping. I wrote that that term came from a description of deer jumping. I'm much less convinced of that information now & wish that I could retract that statement. However, for some reason, that page won't accept any edits.
****
This concludes Part II of this series.
Thanks to those whose comment I quoted. Thanks also to those who are featured in these videos, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
The Pigeon Wing, The Buck & Wing, and Buck Dancing (information & videos)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part series on the 19th century dance known as the "buck & wing", and "buck jumping" dances that derived from it.
Part I provides information about & video demonstrations of buck & wing, buck dancing, and several wing movements in tap dancing.
Part II of this series features information & comments about "buck jumping", a style of dancing that is closely associated with members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs & New Orleans second line paraders.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-orleans-buck-jumping-information.html for Part II.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owner.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dancer or a dance historian. My comments are shared in the interest of eliciting more information & opinions about this subject.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT BUCK & WING AND BUCK DANCING
These comments are posted in no particular order & are given numbers for referral purposes only.
Notice the different descriptions in these quotes about what a "wing" was. My take on these descriptions was that the wing started out as flapping the arms and minstrelsy & vaudeville changed it to flapping a leg.
Comment #1: Tap roots: The Early History Of Tap Dancing
by Mark Knowles (McFarland & Company Jefferson, North Carolina May 2002)
Page 44
"Old style buck dancing consisted mainly of stamps and chugs, sometimes embellished with toe bounces. The origins of buck dancing are unclear, but sources indicate that it has many elements in common with the Cherokee stomp dance. There is conjecture that it is also related to the ceremonial dances in which Indians braves would put on the antlers and skin of a male deer...
One of the most popular buck dances among African American slaves was the pigeon wing (also called the chicken wing), When performing the pigeon wing, dancers strutted like a bird and scrapped their feet, while their arms bent at the sides, were flapped like wings. When interviewed for the Virginia’s Writers Project, ex-slave Fannie Berry described the pigeon wing thus:
"Dere was cuttin’ de pigeon wings-dat was flippin’ you arms an legs roun’ an’ holdin ya neck stiff like a bird do.” "
****
Comment #2: Lynne Fauley Emery's 1989 book Black Dance: From 1619 to Today(page 90):
"The Pigeon Wing appears to have been performed over a large geographical area. References were made to the Pigeon Wing from South Carolina to Texas, and from Indiana to Mississippi. Horace Overstreet, of Beaumont, Texas, remembered the dance by another name. Overstreet stated that on Christmas and July 4, a big dance would be held on their plantation. '...jus' a reg'lar old breakdown dance. Some was dancin' Swing de Corner, and some in de middle de floor cuttin' de chicken wing.' ...
The Pigeon Wing and the Buck dance appear as authentic dances of the Negro on the plantation, much before they were picked up for the minstrel shows and billed as the "Buck and Wing"."
****
Comment #3: From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buckw1.htm
"Buck dancing is a pre-tap dance routine that was done by Minstrels and Vaudeville performers in the mid nineteenth century portraying the African American males known as “bucks.” Originally, the pigeon wing step (foot shaking in the air) was a big part of this early folk dance but later separated when variations began such as the shooting out of one leg making a “Wing”....
The legendary dancer “Master Juba”* did a buck and a wing in the 1840s. It was said that the first buck & wing routine was performed on the New York stage in 1880 by James McIntrye as well as inventing the “Syncopated Buck & Wing”…
The Buck and Wing was adapted to the Minstrel stage from the recreational clogs and shuffles of African Americans...
Buck: Rhythm and Percussive. Originally just a stamping of the feet to interpret the music which later became much more refined when mixed with the Jig and Clog. Buck dancers danced alone and in a small area of space...
Flatfoot is mostly Buck dancing... but much more laid back in which the soles of the feet stay very close to the floor and without the soles of the dancers’ shoes making much noise, nor stomping. The flatfoot dancer seems relaxed and carefree while he or she dances, even though the feet are constantly moving. If you can imagine a “soft shoe” Buck dance. This dance is a spot dance (done in place) with the arms moving only slightly to flow with the dancer’s balance giving them a fluid look. If more than one person wants to dance at the same time, they each dance individually, i.e. “freestyle”, but still adhere to the rhythm of the music being played...
Pigeon wing (1830s) was originally just shaking one foot in the air...
-snip-
*”Master Juba” was Black. My assumption is that James McIntrye was also Black.
****
Comment #4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clogging
"Solo dancing (outside the context of the big circle dance) is known in various places as buck dance, flatfooting, hoedown, jigging, sure-footing, and stepping…One source states that buck dancing was the earliest combination of the basic shuffle and tap steps performed to syncopated rhythms in which accents are placed not on the straight beat, as with the jigs, clogs, and other dances of European origin, but on the downbeat or offbeat, a style derived primarily from the rhythms of African tribal music.[16]
Buck dancing was popularized in America by minstrel performers in the late 19th century. Many folk festivals and fairs utilize dancing clubs or teams to perform both Buck and regular clogging for entertainment.
Traditional Appalachian clogging is characterized by loose, often bent knees and a "drag-slide" motion of the foot across the floor, and is usually performed to old-time music."
-snip-
That Wikipedia page also includes theories about the source of the word “buck”.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1:Thomas F. DeFrantz: Buck, Wing and Jig
Duke University
Published on Mar 26, 2012
How did dances on slave plantations develop into the Charleston and the Kid n' Play? DeFrantz demonstrates three traditional African American social dances.
Learn more. Thomas F. DeFrantz discusses dance, technology and African American culture.
http://today.duke.edu/2012/03/thomasdefrantz
-snip-
This demonstration video focuses on three social dances that emerged in the 19th century and became very important.
Here are excerpts of Thomas F. DeFrantz's comments:
Buck, wing, and jig are dances were developed by African Americans outside of the eyes of the clergy and the White slave owners who were only interested in dances that could be tied to Christian movements...
Buck dances were forms that were very very percussive, and weighted down into the foot.
All these dances are about rhythm and percussion.
Wing dances are very important and have a lot more visibility in the 20th century and on into the 21st century. Wing dances are dances were you literally flap parts of your body like ..as if they were wings. (shown flapping; spreading wide] his arms and his legs]...So you can see how 150 years later in the 21st century the wing dances could become popping.
Jig dances are dances that have lots and lots of energy and lots of velocity. So if you put jigs and wings together we get something that we might recognize as footwork or something we might recognize as the Charleston or the Kid n Play. Or if we go back to the wing, we’d get something that we might have known or heard of called The Butterfly."
-snip-
Here’s a portion of the comment that I posted on this video's viewwer comment thread:
“Prior to viewing this video, I hadn't connected historically Black Greek letter fraternity & sorority steppin' to 19th century Buck dances. Buck dancing seems also to be a source of foot stomping routines that once were informal recreational activities for (mostly) Black girls & now are being incorporated into some pre-university mainstream cheerleading routines. Those 2 movement arts also may incorporate body patting (pattin Juba).”
****
Video #2: Buck Dancing at Mabry Mill
slockamy2, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2011
Jay Bland & Thomas Maupin buck dancing at Mabry Mill July 4th weekend. They are both champion dancers, (state & national) & we were fortunate to be there the same time as they were.
****
Video #3: Over the Top Be-Bop: Honi Coles & Cholly Atkins.
crackedoreo,Uploaded on Sep 12, 2011
A discussion of the history of tap dance with Marshall Stearns. Charles (Honi) Coles and Charlie Atkins demonstrate various dance steps such as: "over the top," "bebop, " "buck and wing, " and "slow drag."
-snip-
The demonstration of several “wings” steps starts at 8:59.
One of the observers who introduces this segment said “There are apparently as many wings as there are time steps”.,
****
RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/various-late-19th-century-early-20th.html "Various Late 19th Century & Early 20th Century African American Bird Dances"
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks to those whose comment I quoted.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a two part series on the 19th century dance known as the "buck & wing", and "buck jumping" dances that derived from it.
Part I provides information about & video demonstrations of buck & wing, buck dancing, and several wing movements in tap dancing.
Part II of this series features information & comments about "buck jumping", a style of dancing that is closely associated with members of New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs & New Orleans second line paraders.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-orleans-buck-jumping-information.html for Part II.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owner.
Disclaimer: I'm not a dancer or a dance historian. My comments are shared in the interest of eliciting more information & opinions about this subject.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT BUCK & WING AND BUCK DANCING
These comments are posted in no particular order & are given numbers for referral purposes only.
Notice the different descriptions in these quotes about what a "wing" was. My take on these descriptions was that the wing started out as flapping the arms and minstrelsy & vaudeville changed it to flapping a leg.
Comment #1: Tap roots: The Early History Of Tap Dancing
by Mark Knowles (McFarland & Company Jefferson, North Carolina May 2002)
Page 44
"Old style buck dancing consisted mainly of stamps and chugs, sometimes embellished with toe bounces. The origins of buck dancing are unclear, but sources indicate that it has many elements in common with the Cherokee stomp dance. There is conjecture that it is also related to the ceremonial dances in which Indians braves would put on the antlers and skin of a male deer...
One of the most popular buck dances among African American slaves was the pigeon wing (also called the chicken wing), When performing the pigeon wing, dancers strutted like a bird and scrapped their feet, while their arms bent at the sides, were flapped like wings. When interviewed for the Virginia’s Writers Project, ex-slave Fannie Berry described the pigeon wing thus:
"Dere was cuttin’ de pigeon wings-dat was flippin’ you arms an legs roun’ an’ holdin ya neck stiff like a bird do.” "
****
Comment #2: Lynne Fauley Emery's 1989 book Black Dance: From 1619 to Today(page 90):
"The Pigeon Wing appears to have been performed over a large geographical area. References were made to the Pigeon Wing from South Carolina to Texas, and from Indiana to Mississippi. Horace Overstreet, of Beaumont, Texas, remembered the dance by another name. Overstreet stated that on Christmas and July 4, a big dance would be held on their plantation. '...jus' a reg'lar old breakdown dance. Some was dancin' Swing de Corner, and some in de middle de floor cuttin' de chicken wing.' ...
The Pigeon Wing and the Buck dance appear as authentic dances of the Negro on the plantation, much before they were picked up for the minstrel shows and billed as the "Buck and Wing"."
****
Comment #3: From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buckw1.htm
"Buck dancing is a pre-tap dance routine that was done by Minstrels and Vaudeville performers in the mid nineteenth century portraying the African American males known as “bucks.” Originally, the pigeon wing step (foot shaking in the air) was a big part of this early folk dance but later separated when variations began such as the shooting out of one leg making a “Wing”....
The legendary dancer “Master Juba”* did a buck and a wing in the 1840s. It was said that the first buck & wing routine was performed on the New York stage in 1880 by James McIntrye as well as inventing the “Syncopated Buck & Wing”…
The Buck and Wing was adapted to the Minstrel stage from the recreational clogs and shuffles of African Americans...
Buck: Rhythm and Percussive. Originally just a stamping of the feet to interpret the music which later became much more refined when mixed with the Jig and Clog. Buck dancers danced alone and in a small area of space...
Flatfoot is mostly Buck dancing... but much more laid back in which the soles of the feet stay very close to the floor and without the soles of the dancers’ shoes making much noise, nor stomping. The flatfoot dancer seems relaxed and carefree while he or she dances, even though the feet are constantly moving. If you can imagine a “soft shoe” Buck dance. This dance is a spot dance (done in place) with the arms moving only slightly to flow with the dancer’s balance giving them a fluid look. If more than one person wants to dance at the same time, they each dance individually, i.e. “freestyle”, but still adhere to the rhythm of the music being played...
Pigeon wing (1830s) was originally just shaking one foot in the air...
-snip-
*”Master Juba” was Black. My assumption is that James McIntrye was also Black.
****
Comment #4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clogging
"Solo dancing (outside the context of the big circle dance) is known in various places as buck dance, flatfooting, hoedown, jigging, sure-footing, and stepping…One source states that buck dancing was the earliest combination of the basic shuffle and tap steps performed to syncopated rhythms in which accents are placed not on the straight beat, as with the jigs, clogs, and other dances of European origin, but on the downbeat or offbeat, a style derived primarily from the rhythms of African tribal music.[16]
Buck dancing was popularized in America by minstrel performers in the late 19th century. Many folk festivals and fairs utilize dancing clubs or teams to perform both Buck and regular clogging for entertainment.
Traditional Appalachian clogging is characterized by loose, often bent knees and a "drag-slide" motion of the foot across the floor, and is usually performed to old-time music."
-snip-
That Wikipedia page also includes theories about the source of the word “buck”.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1:Thomas F. DeFrantz: Buck, Wing and Jig
Duke University
Published on Mar 26, 2012
How did dances on slave plantations develop into the Charleston and the Kid n' Play? DeFrantz demonstrates three traditional African American social dances.
Learn more. Thomas F. DeFrantz discusses dance, technology and African American culture.
http://today.duke.edu/2012/03/thomasdefrantz
-snip-
This demonstration video focuses on three social dances that emerged in the 19th century and became very important.
Here are excerpts of Thomas F. DeFrantz's comments:
Buck, wing, and jig are dances were developed by African Americans outside of the eyes of the clergy and the White slave owners who were only interested in dances that could be tied to Christian movements...
Buck dances were forms that were very very percussive, and weighted down into the foot.
All these dances are about rhythm and percussion.
Wing dances are very important and have a lot more visibility in the 20th century and on into the 21st century. Wing dances are dances were you literally flap parts of your body like ..as if they were wings. (shown flapping; spreading wide] his arms and his legs]...So you can see how 150 years later in the 21st century the wing dances could become popping.
Jig dances are dances that have lots and lots of energy and lots of velocity. So if you put jigs and wings together we get something that we might recognize as footwork or something we might recognize as the Charleston or the Kid n Play. Or if we go back to the wing, we’d get something that we might have known or heard of called The Butterfly."
-snip-
Here’s a portion of the comment that I posted on this video's viewwer comment thread:
“Prior to viewing this video, I hadn't connected historically Black Greek letter fraternity & sorority steppin' to 19th century Buck dances. Buck dancing seems also to be a source of foot stomping routines that once were informal recreational activities for (mostly) Black girls & now are being incorporated into some pre-university mainstream cheerleading routines. Those 2 movement arts also may incorporate body patting (pattin Juba).”
****
Video #2: Buck Dancing at Mabry Mill
slockamy2, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2011
Jay Bland & Thomas Maupin buck dancing at Mabry Mill July 4th weekend. They are both champion dancers, (state & national) & we were fortunate to be there the same time as they were.
****
Video #3: Over the Top Be-Bop: Honi Coles & Cholly Atkins.
crackedoreo,Uploaded on Sep 12, 2011
A discussion of the history of tap dance with Marshall Stearns. Charles (Honi) Coles and Charlie Atkins demonstrate various dance steps such as: "over the top," "bebop, " "buck and wing, " and "slow drag."
-snip-
The demonstration of several “wings” steps starts at 8:59.
One of the observers who introduces this segment said “There are apparently as many wings as there are time steps”.,
****
RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/various-late-19th-century-early-20th.html "Various Late 19th Century & Early 20th Century African American Bird Dances"
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks to those whose comment I quoted.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Deconstructing The Stereotype Of Black People As Apes & Monkeys
Edited by Azizi Powell
I was motivated to publish this post as a result of reading about the Australian football (soccer) player Adam Goodes who was called "monkey" by a 13 year old girl during a game during that nation's week dedicated to honoring indigenous athletes.
Here's a video of an interview of that player in which he talks about that incident:
Adam Goodes response to a racist taunt, unedited.
Published on May 25, 2013
20 years after Nicky Winmar took a historic stand against racist taunts from the crowd, a spectator again hurled racist abuse at AFL star Adam Goodes.
It happened a day after the Australian Football League launched the indigenous round, intended to celebrate the role of aboriginal players.
This was Adam Goodes's response. This video is the unedited news conference.
-snip-
In that interview Adam Goodes talked about how hurtful it was to him, his family, and other Black people to be called ape or monkey. He repeatedly thanked his fellow players and others for the support that he has been given and asked for support for the 13 year old who called him an ape. Goodes indicated that he thought that the girl was repeating what she had heard and didn't understand what such a taunt meant.
Click http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/adam-goodes-full-racism-press-conference-transcript/story-fni5fan7-1226650424034 for a full transcript of that interview.
Click http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211965/-13-yo-Australian-Spectator-Thrown-Out-of-Football-Stadium-For-Racist-Remark for a discussion about that particular incident & about other incidents in which Black or Brown people are called apes or monkeys.
****
That incident motivated me to surf the internet to find information about the history of the stereotypess of Black peopel as apes & monkeys. Here's an excerpt of one article that I found:
From http://www.authentichistory.com/diversity/african/3-coon/6-monkey/
"A hateful association of Blacks with apes and monkeys was yet another way that the antebellum South justified slavery. Blacks were considered by some to be more simian than human, and therefore had no self-evident rights including freedom…The general acceptance of the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin were easily twisted into a means of identifying further “evidence” of the primitive status of Blacks...
The depiction of Blacks as apes and monkeys found expression in mainstream popular culture around the turn of the century*, especially in post cards. Often it was the zip or urban coon that was being caricatured, for the amusement of white consumers. Note the simian appearance of Black Americans in each of the postcards to the left, and how they have been dandified. These images are intended to be ironic, and to cater to the notion that Black coons are too stupid to understand that their efforts to assimilate into white culture only emphasize their inherent inferiority."
-snip-
No century was specified in that paragraph, but given the references to the late 1800s, I think that that sentence refers to the 20th century.
****
There are numerous online documentation in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere of Black people being depicted as apes or monkeys, beng called apes or monkeys, and/or having banana peels thrown at them, alluded to this ape/monkey stereotype. Here's an excerpt from one website:
http://blackathlete.net/2012/11/king-kong-nuthin-me-monkey-business-sports-politcs/
"...this type of blatant in your face racism, especially coming from England, where the 2012 Olympic games were held, is almost the norm.
Just consider the racist history of how Black athletes are mocked, especially Black soccer players during soccer matches in England,Italy and Spain, when they are insulted by fans, who make monkey chants while they play.
Matter of fact, just last year, the Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos walked off the field when a banana was thrown toward him at a league match in Russia.
This is racism in its purest and rawest form.
Unfortunately, however, this evil practice and behavior of throwing bananas at Black athletes has even occurred during a NHL (National Hockey League)game as well.
For instance, a spectator threw a banana at Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds during an overtime shootout attempt during a the Flyers’ preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario.
This, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident.
Why? Because former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes had a banana thrown at him during a 2002 playoff series with the Montreal Canadians in Montreal as well.
Yeah, the more things change; the more they stay the same.
Because, unbelievably, just this year, during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, it showed up again, when Patricia Carroll, a Black camerawoman who works for CNN had peanuts thrown at her by two Caucasian males, who shouted at her “this is what we feed animals.”...
the real source of this fear of the Planet of Apes, is Barack Hussein Obama, who has had to experience the same type of racist name-calling that Black athletes like Jackie Robinson had to endured when he integrated Major League in April 15, 1947.
Obama, in fact, was called Curious George, who is cartoon monkey by South Carolina political consultant, Sen. Diane Black on Twitter the day after the election in 2008.
Plus, he was portrayed as a gorilla by NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas who depicted two policemen, one with smoking gun, standing over a dead chimpanzee with the words, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
****
Given the history of Black people (and Brown people) being called apes and monkeys as a short-hand way of saying that we are more simian that human, it's surprising that the first historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternity that is still in existence Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has adopted apes a its unofficial mascot.
It's clear from watching videos of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (A Phi A; Alphas) step shows & strolls that persons associated with that fraternity consider apes as their mascot, symbol, or icon. That this symbolism is unofficial is suggested by the fact that there doesn't appear to be an information about A Phi A and apes on that organization's website http://www.alpha-phi-alpha.com or on the Wikipedia page about that organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha.
Note this overview from that Wikipedia page:
"Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first Black, Inter-Collegiate Greek-Lettered fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) that soon followed in its footsteps. It employs an icon from Ancient Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza as its symbol, and its aims are "manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind," and its motto is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All."...
-snip-
The positive association of Alphas and apes is clear in the beginning portion of this Alpha Phi Alpha step show video:
Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic step show
Atlanta Greek Picnic,Published on Jun 17, 2012
Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 step show
-snip-
In a portion of that video (around 1:42 to around 2:10) & in some other A Phi A step routines, Alphas act like apes. They crouch down and jump up & down like apes. They hold their arms to the side like apes, hit their chest & hit the ground in front of where they are standing. And they make ape sounds while looking menacing. In some videos of Alpha strolls [party walks] one or more members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity wear a gorilla mask.
Here are two comments from viewers of the step show video that is featured above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjy2gHKIaqk
"MY BLACK MY BLACK MY BBBBBBBBBLACK!
A Phi to the Apes! Congrats bruhs!"
-Santwon Hines, 2012
**
"thats how APES do it . great performance PHRAT . you APES did your thing ."
PHROZEN spr' 12
Gamma Kappa
Miles College
-tri66z, 2012
-snip-
My guess is that the A Phi A's unofficial adoption of the ape was two-fold: 1. because that word is close in sound to that organization's Greek letter name & 2. because the ape is associated with the continent of Africa. Note that the Great Sphinx of Giza is that Alpha Phi Alpha's official symbol, and that organization prides itself on its connection to Egypt and Ethiopia. [Wikipedia pages, and official website links given above]
My guess also is that the Alpha's adoption of the ape as a mascot or symbol is relatively new. I think that this may have occurred in the 1990s or maybe a little earlier in the 1980s. Although I was actively associated with historically Black Greek lettered organizations in the late 1960s-as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc [Gamma Zeta chapter, 1967], I don't remember Alphas being associated with apes then. I don't recall Alphas having the ape as their mascot in the 1970s and 1980s, but I was and still am an inactive Greek, and didn't keep up with what was going on in Greek organizations. I didn't learn about the Alphas association with the ape characterization until I saw YouTube videos of Alphas step shows & (Alpha) ape walk.
Maybe the Alphas rationalize their adoption of the ape as their animal mascot as reclaiming that animal and taking the negativity out of its connotatiions - the same way that some Black people rationalize their use of the pejorative now known as "the n word". I don't buy either claim.
In light of the fact that Black and Brown people have been insulted & demeaned and continue to be insulted and demeaned by being characterized and called apes or monkeys, having banana peels thrown at us, and/or having monkey sounds directed to us, I strongly question the efficacy and wisdom of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. chosing the ape as their mascot, regardless of whether that choice is official or unofficial.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
I was motivated to publish this post as a result of reading about the Australian football (soccer) player Adam Goodes who was called "monkey" by a 13 year old girl during a game during that nation's week dedicated to honoring indigenous athletes.
Here's a video of an interview of that player in which he talks about that incident:
Adam Goodes response to a racist taunt, unedited.
Published on May 25, 2013
20 years after Nicky Winmar took a historic stand against racist taunts from the crowd, a spectator again hurled racist abuse at AFL star Adam Goodes.
It happened a day after the Australian Football League launched the indigenous round, intended to celebrate the role of aboriginal players.
This was Adam Goodes's response. This video is the unedited news conference.
-snip-
In that interview Adam Goodes talked about how hurtful it was to him, his family, and other Black people to be called ape or monkey. He repeatedly thanked his fellow players and others for the support that he has been given and asked for support for the 13 year old who called him an ape. Goodes indicated that he thought that the girl was repeating what she had heard and didn't understand what such a taunt meant.
Click http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/adam-goodes-full-racism-press-conference-transcript/story-fni5fan7-1226650424034 for a full transcript of that interview.
Click http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211965/-13-yo-Australian-Spectator-Thrown-Out-of-Football-Stadium-For-Racist-Remark for a discussion about that particular incident & about other incidents in which Black or Brown people are called apes or monkeys.
****
That incident motivated me to surf the internet to find information about the history of the stereotypess of Black peopel as apes & monkeys. Here's an excerpt of one article that I found:
From http://www.authentichistory.com/diversity/african/3-coon/6-monkey/
"A hateful association of Blacks with apes and monkeys was yet another way that the antebellum South justified slavery. Blacks were considered by some to be more simian than human, and therefore had no self-evident rights including freedom…The general acceptance of the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin were easily twisted into a means of identifying further “evidence” of the primitive status of Blacks...
The depiction of Blacks as apes and monkeys found expression in mainstream popular culture around the turn of the century*, especially in post cards. Often it was the zip or urban coon that was being caricatured, for the amusement of white consumers. Note the simian appearance of Black Americans in each of the postcards to the left, and how they have been dandified. These images are intended to be ironic, and to cater to the notion that Black coons are too stupid to understand that their efforts to assimilate into white culture only emphasize their inherent inferiority."
-snip-
No century was specified in that paragraph, but given the references to the late 1800s, I think that that sentence refers to the 20th century.
****
There are numerous online documentation in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere of Black people being depicted as apes or monkeys, beng called apes or monkeys, and/or having banana peels thrown at them, alluded to this ape/monkey stereotype. Here's an excerpt from one website:
http://blackathlete.net/2012/11/king-kong-nuthin-me-monkey-business-sports-politcs/
"...this type of blatant in your face racism, especially coming from England, where the 2012 Olympic games were held, is almost the norm.
Just consider the racist history of how Black athletes are mocked, especially Black soccer players during soccer matches in England,Italy and Spain, when they are insulted by fans, who make monkey chants while they play.
Matter of fact, just last year, the Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos walked off the field when a banana was thrown toward him at a league match in Russia.
This is racism in its purest and rawest form.
Unfortunately, however, this evil practice and behavior of throwing bananas at Black athletes has even occurred during a NHL (National Hockey League)game as well.
For instance, a spectator threw a banana at Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds during an overtime shootout attempt during a the Flyers’ preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario.
This, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident.
Why? Because former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes had a banana thrown at him during a 2002 playoff series with the Montreal Canadians in Montreal as well.
Yeah, the more things change; the more they stay the same.
Because, unbelievably, just this year, during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, it showed up again, when Patricia Carroll, a Black camerawoman who works for CNN had peanuts thrown at her by two Caucasian males, who shouted at her “this is what we feed animals.”...
the real source of this fear of the Planet of Apes, is Barack Hussein Obama, who has had to experience the same type of racist name-calling that Black athletes like Jackie Robinson had to endured when he integrated Major League in April 15, 1947.
Obama, in fact, was called Curious George, who is cartoon monkey by South Carolina political consultant, Sen. Diane Black on Twitter the day after the election in 2008.
Plus, he was portrayed as a gorilla by NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas who depicted two policemen, one with smoking gun, standing over a dead chimpanzee with the words, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
****
Given the history of Black people (and Brown people) being called apes and monkeys as a short-hand way of saying that we are more simian that human, it's surprising that the first historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternity that is still in existence Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has adopted apes a its unofficial mascot.
It's clear from watching videos of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (A Phi A; Alphas) step shows & strolls that persons associated with that fraternity consider apes as their mascot, symbol, or icon. That this symbolism is unofficial is suggested by the fact that there doesn't appear to be an information about A Phi A and apes on that organization's website http://www.alpha-phi-alpha.com or on the Wikipedia page about that organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha.
Note this overview from that Wikipedia page:
"Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first Black, Inter-Collegiate Greek-Lettered fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) that soon followed in its footsteps. It employs an icon from Ancient Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza as its symbol, and its aims are "manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind," and its motto is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All."...
-snip-
The positive association of Alphas and apes is clear in the beginning portion of this Alpha Phi Alpha step show video:
Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic step show
Atlanta Greek Picnic,Published on Jun 17, 2012
Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 step show
-snip-
In a portion of that video (around 1:42 to around 2:10) & in some other A Phi A step routines, Alphas act like apes. They crouch down and jump up & down like apes. They hold their arms to the side like apes, hit their chest & hit the ground in front of where they are standing. And they make ape sounds while looking menacing. In some videos of Alpha strolls [party walks] one or more members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity wear a gorilla mask.
Here are two comments from viewers of the step show video that is featured above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjy2gHKIaqk
"MY BLACK MY BLACK MY BBBBBBBBBLACK!
A Phi to the Apes! Congrats bruhs!"
-Santwon Hines, 2012
**
"thats how APES do it . great performance PHRAT . you APES did your thing ."
PHROZEN spr' 12
Gamma Kappa
Miles College
-tri66z, 2012
-snip-
My guess is that the A Phi A's unofficial adoption of the ape was two-fold: 1. because that word is close in sound to that organization's Greek letter name & 2. because the ape is associated with the continent of Africa. Note that the Great Sphinx of Giza is that Alpha Phi Alpha's official symbol, and that organization prides itself on its connection to Egypt and Ethiopia. [Wikipedia pages, and official website links given above]
My guess also is that the Alpha's adoption of the ape as a mascot or symbol is relatively new. I think that this may have occurred in the 1990s or maybe a little earlier in the 1980s. Although I was actively associated with historically Black Greek lettered organizations in the late 1960s-as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc [Gamma Zeta chapter, 1967], I don't remember Alphas being associated with apes then. I don't recall Alphas having the ape as their mascot in the 1970s and 1980s, but I was and still am an inactive Greek, and didn't keep up with what was going on in Greek organizations. I didn't learn about the Alphas association with the ape characterization until I saw YouTube videos of Alphas step shows & (Alpha) ape walk.
Maybe the Alphas rationalize their adoption of the ape as their animal mascot as reclaiming that animal and taking the negativity out of its connotatiions - the same way that some Black people rationalize their use of the pejorative now known as "the n word". I don't buy either claim.
In light of the fact that Black and Brown people have been insulted & demeaned and continue to be insulted and demeaned by being characterized and called apes or monkeys, having banana peels thrown at us, and/or having monkey sounds directed to us, I strongly question the efficacy and wisdom of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. chosing the ape as their mascot, regardless of whether that choice is official or unofficial.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Bless That Wonderful Name Of Jesus (videos & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post presents two videos of the Gospel song "Bless That Wonderful Name Of Jesus". My transcriptions of bot of these songs are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for religious, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Old fashioned, Hand Clapping, Foot Stomping, PRAISE
Apostle Stacey Woods, Uploaded on Oct 21, 2008
Apostle Stacey Woods leads the congregation in Praise and Worship
-snip-
LYRICS - BLESS THAT WONDERFUL NAME OF JESUS [Example #1]
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
[There’s] no other name I know.
There’s power in the name of Jesus
Power in the name of Jesus
There's power in the name of Jesus
No other name I know.
I’ve found deliverance in the name of Jesus
Deliverance in the name of Jesus
I’ve found deliverance in the name of Jesus
No other name I know.
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
Lead -No other name
Congregation -no other name
No other name
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
Like the name of Jesus
(no other name)
No, no no no no no
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
No other name I know
(no other name)
No other name like the name of Jesus
(no other name)
No other one
(no other name)
Can truly free us
(no other name)
There is no
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
There is no
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
And there is something
(No other name)
That the devil know
(No other name)
That at His name
(no other name)
He’s* got to go.
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
Please help me bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
There’s no other name I know.
-snip-
*He’s got to go= “He” here is the devil
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell. Additions & corrections are welcome.
****
Example #2: Bless That Wonderful Name of Jesus - Praise & Worship
matthew5and9, Uploaded on May 6, 2009
Rose Marie Rimson Brown leads the church into worship
-snip-
LYRICS - BLESS THAT WONDERFUL NAME OF JESUS [Example #2]
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know
[We come to] bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
[Won't you help me] bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
[There’s] deliverance in the name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know
Lead-What’s His name?
Congregation- (Jesus)
What His name?
(Jesus)
He’s a burden bearer.
(Jesus)
He's a heavy load sharer.
(Jesus)
He's a covenant keeper
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
What's His name?
(Jesus)
He's a burden bearer
(Jesus)
He’s a heavy load sharer
(Jesus)
He’s a friend in need
(Jesus)
He’s a friend indeed
(Jesus)
I love to call Him
(Jesus)
I love to call Him.
(Jesus)
There’s salvation in the name of
(Jesus)
Deliverance in the name of
(Jesus)
At that name every knee shall bow
(Jesus)
Every tongue confess
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
He's a salvation giver
(Jesus)
He’s a healer
(Jesus)
He’s a deliverer
(Jesus)
Oh bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
[Lead singer testifies]
Thank you
(Thank you)
Thank you
(Thank you)
Thank you
(Thank you)
[Oh] Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
-snip-
This isn't an exact transcription of this renditon of this song. However, I think that this transcription gives a "feel" for that song whose words & length isn't fixed. That said, additions & corrections are welcome.
****
COMMENTS
In both of these songs the church members effortlessly moved from a unison format verse format (with a lead singer starting the verse) to a call & response format and back to the unison format.
A 1991 Baptist Hymnal provides credits the words & tune for this song as "traditional African American". Here are the words from that Hymnal:
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
Other verses using the same format:
Sing that wonderful name...
Preach...
Praise...
Share...
Source: http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/BH1991/236
****
RELATED LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBCTDezLYJQ
Donnie McClurkin - Jesus Medley + Reprise [songs that Donnie McClurckin learned in the Church of God In Christ (COGIC) including "Bless That Wonderful Name Of Jesus".
****
Thanks to the lead singers and the congregations for sharing this wonderful song of praise.
Thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojam.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This post presents two videos of the Gospel song "Bless That Wonderful Name Of Jesus". My transcriptions of bot of these songs are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for religious, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Old fashioned, Hand Clapping, Foot Stomping, PRAISE
Apostle Stacey Woods, Uploaded on Oct 21, 2008
Apostle Stacey Woods leads the congregation in Praise and Worship
-snip-
LYRICS - BLESS THAT WONDERFUL NAME OF JESUS [Example #1]
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
[There’s] no other name I know.
There’s power in the name of Jesus
Power in the name of Jesus
There's power in the name of Jesus
No other name I know.
I’ve found deliverance in the name of Jesus
Deliverance in the name of Jesus
I’ve found deliverance in the name of Jesus
No other name I know.
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
Lead -No other name
Congregation -no other name
No other name
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
Like the name of Jesus
(no other name)
No, no no no no no
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
No other name I know
(no other name)
No other name like the name of Jesus
(no other name)
No other one
(no other name)
Can truly free us
(no other name)
There is no
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
There is no
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
And there is something
(No other name)
That the devil know
(No other name)
That at His name
(no other name)
He’s* got to go.
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
No other name
(no other name)
Please help me bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
There’s no other name I know.
-snip-
*He’s got to go= “He” here is the devil
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell. Additions & corrections are welcome.
****
Example #2: Bless That Wonderful Name of Jesus - Praise & Worship
matthew5and9, Uploaded on May 6, 2009
Rose Marie Rimson Brown leads the church into worship
-snip-
LYRICS - BLESS THAT WONDERFUL NAME OF JESUS [Example #2]
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know
[We come to] bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
[Won't you help me] bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
[There’s] deliverance in the name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know
Lead-What’s His name?
Congregation- (Jesus)
What His name?
(Jesus)
He’s a burden bearer.
(Jesus)
He's a heavy load sharer.
(Jesus)
He's a covenant keeper
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
What's His name?
(Jesus)
He's a burden bearer
(Jesus)
He’s a heavy load sharer
(Jesus)
He’s a friend in need
(Jesus)
He’s a friend indeed
(Jesus)
I love to call Him
(Jesus)
I love to call Him.
(Jesus)
There’s salvation in the name of
(Jesus)
Deliverance in the name of
(Jesus)
At that name every knee shall bow
(Jesus)
Every tongue confess
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
What’s His name?
(Jesus)
He's a salvation giver
(Jesus)
He’s a healer
(Jesus)
He’s a deliverer
(Jesus)
Oh bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
[Lead singer testifies]
Thank you
(Thank you)
Thank you
(Thank you)
Thank you
(Thank you)
[Oh] Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
-snip-
This isn't an exact transcription of this renditon of this song. However, I think that this transcription gives a "feel" for that song whose words & length isn't fixed. That said, additions & corrections are welcome.
****
COMMENTS
In both of these songs the church members effortlessly moved from a unison format verse format (with a lead singer starting the verse) to a call & response format and back to the unison format.
A 1991 Baptist Hymnal provides credits the words & tune for this song as "traditional African American". Here are the words from that Hymnal:
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus [3x]
No other name I know.
Other verses using the same format:
Sing that wonderful name...
Preach...
Praise...
Share...
Source: http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/BH1991/236
****
RELATED LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBCTDezLYJQ
Donnie McClurkin - Jesus Medley + Reprise [songs that Donnie McClurckin learned in the Church of God In Christ (COGIC) including "Bless That Wonderful Name Of Jesus".
****
Thanks to the lead singers and the congregations for sharing this wonderful song of praise.
Thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojam.
Visitor comments are welcome.
"Roll And Tumble Blues" & "Rollin And Tumblin" (Sound Files & Lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases a sound file of the Blues classic "Roll And Tumbled Blues" and two song files of the Blues classics "Rollin & Tumblin" which were adapted from that song.
These songs are presented in the order of their recording & are by Hambone Willie Newbern, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James. The lyrics to these versions are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED EXAMPLES & THEIR LYRICS
Example #1: Hambone Willie Newbern - Roll and Tumble Blues [1929]
wisdomisbetter, Uploaded on Jul 9, 2011
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLL AND TUMBLE BLUES
(Hambone Willie Newbern)
And I rolled and I tumbled
and I cried the whole night long
And I rosed this morning mama
and I didn't know right from wrong
Did you ever wake up
nd find your dough‑roller gone
And you wrings your hands
and you cry the whole day long
And I told my woman Lord
[just] before I left her town
Don't she let nobody
tear her barrelhouse down
And I fold my arms Lord
and I [slowly] walked away
Says that's all right sweet mama
your trouble going to come some day
Source: http://www.elyrics.net/read/h/hambone-willie-newbern-lyrics/roll-and-tumble-blues-lyrics.html
-snip-
your "dough roller" = your female lover
"Don't let nobody tear her barrelhouse down" = Don't have sex with anyone else.
****
Example #2: Muddy Waters - Rollin' & Tumblin' ( Chess 1950 )
cojwat, Uploaded on Apr 25, 2010
Recorded in the year 1950 at Chess label. There is also other versions of this song here in YouTube, but they are all worth of listening. Muddy Waters is the Father of Chicago Blues and absolutely one of the greatest blues musicians.
I hope owners of the rights want to see this as an honor to this artist, which it really is. And same goes to these random photos, paintings and artworks, which I have found from net.
My hope is that everyone can just listen to this fine musician. Enjoy!
Its so nice, that you can still buy these recordings on CD!
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLLIN AND TUMBLIN
(as performed by Muddy Waters)
Well, I rolled and I tumbled,
Cried the whole night long.
Well, I rolled and I tumbled,
Cried the whole night long.
Well, I woke up this mornin,
Didn't know right from wrong.
Well, I told my baby,
Before I left that town.
Well, I told my baby,
Before I left that town.
Well, don't you let nobody,
Tear my barrelhouse down.
Well, ahh, mmm-hmmm,
Owww, oww ooo, aww, oww, oh.
Aaa, mmm-hmmm, oww, oh oh oh
Owww, oww ooo, aww, oww, oh.
Well, if the river was whiskey,
And I was a divin duck.
Well, if the river was whiskey,
And I was a divin duck.
Well, I would dive to the bottom,
Never would I come up.
Well, I could a had a religion,
This bad old thing instead.
Well, I could a had a religion,
This bad old thing instead.
Well, all whiskey and women,
Would not let me pray.
Source: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/muddy_waters/rollin_tumblin.html [reformatted]
****
Example #3: Elmore James - Rollin' and Tumblin' [1960]
shortrax, Uploaded on Aug 18, 2008
Fiery version of the blues standard by Mississippi slide guitar legend Elmo. It is basically the same tune as Robert Johnson's Travellin' Riverside Blues, but even that was not the earliest version.
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwW2fX1Yew for a sound file of Robert Johnson's Travelin Riverside Blues.
Also, click http://www.lyricsmania.com/traveling_riverside_blues_lyrics_robert_johnson.html for the lyrics to that song. Warning: The lyrics are rather risque.
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLLIN AND TUMBLIN
(as performed by Elmore James)
I roll and I tumble,
cried the whole night long
Yes I roll and I tumble,
I cried the whole night long
I got up this morning,
feeling that something going on wrong
Well now want you to love me baby,
or please let me be
Yes love me baby,
or please let me be
If you don't like my peaches
please don't shake my tree
Well I want you to love me baby,
and come on and say you'll be mine
I want you to love me baby,
come and say you'll be mine
If you don't like my potatoes,
please don't dig up my vine
Source: http://www.lyricstime.com/elmore-james-rollin-and-tumblin-lyrics.html [reformatted]
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to these Bluesmen for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the publishers of these sound files on YouTube, and thanks to the transcribers of these lyrics.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This post showcases a sound file of the Blues classic "Roll And Tumbled Blues" and two song files of the Blues classics "Rollin & Tumblin" which were adapted from that song.
These songs are presented in the order of their recording & are by Hambone Willie Newbern, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James. The lyrics to these versions are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED EXAMPLES & THEIR LYRICS
Example #1: Hambone Willie Newbern - Roll and Tumble Blues [1929]
wisdomisbetter, Uploaded on Jul 9, 2011
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLL AND TUMBLE BLUES
(Hambone Willie Newbern)
And I rolled and I tumbled
and I cried the whole night long
And I rosed this morning mama
and I didn't know right from wrong
Did you ever wake up
nd find your dough‑roller gone
And you wrings your hands
and you cry the whole day long
And I told my woman Lord
[just] before I left her town
Don't she let nobody
tear her barrelhouse down
And I fold my arms Lord
and I [slowly] walked away
Says that's all right sweet mama
your trouble going to come some day
Source: http://www.elyrics.net/read/h/hambone-willie-newbern-lyrics/roll-and-tumble-blues-lyrics.html
-snip-
your "dough roller" = your female lover
"Don't let nobody tear her barrelhouse down" = Don't have sex with anyone else.
****
Example #2: Muddy Waters - Rollin' & Tumblin' ( Chess 1950 )
cojwat, Uploaded on Apr 25, 2010
Recorded in the year 1950 at Chess label. There is also other versions of this song here in YouTube, but they are all worth of listening. Muddy Waters is the Father of Chicago Blues and absolutely one of the greatest blues musicians.
I hope owners of the rights want to see this as an honor to this artist, which it really is. And same goes to these random photos, paintings and artworks, which I have found from net.
My hope is that everyone can just listen to this fine musician. Enjoy!
Its so nice, that you can still buy these recordings on CD!
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLLIN AND TUMBLIN
(as performed by Muddy Waters)
Well, I rolled and I tumbled,
Cried the whole night long.
Well, I rolled and I tumbled,
Cried the whole night long.
Well, I woke up this mornin,
Didn't know right from wrong.
Well, I told my baby,
Before I left that town.
Well, I told my baby,
Before I left that town.
Well, don't you let nobody,
Tear my barrelhouse down.
Well, ahh, mmm-hmmm,
Owww, oww ooo, aww, oww, oh.
Aaa, mmm-hmmm, oww, oh oh oh
Owww, oww ooo, aww, oww, oh.
Well, if the river was whiskey,
And I was a divin duck.
Well, if the river was whiskey,
And I was a divin duck.
Well, I would dive to the bottom,
Never would I come up.
Well, I could a had a religion,
This bad old thing instead.
Well, I could a had a religion,
This bad old thing instead.
Well, all whiskey and women,
Would not let me pray.
Source: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/muddy_waters/rollin_tumblin.html [reformatted]
****
Example #3: Elmore James - Rollin' and Tumblin' [1960]
shortrax, Uploaded on Aug 18, 2008
Fiery version of the blues standard by Mississippi slide guitar legend Elmo. It is basically the same tune as Robert Johnson's Travellin' Riverside Blues, but even that was not the earliest version.
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwW2fX1Yew for a sound file of Robert Johnson's Travelin Riverside Blues.
Also, click http://www.lyricsmania.com/traveling_riverside_blues_lyrics_robert_johnson.html for the lyrics to that song. Warning: The lyrics are rather risque.
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLLIN AND TUMBLIN
(as performed by Elmore James)
I roll and I tumble,
cried the whole night long
Yes I roll and I tumble,
I cried the whole night long
I got up this morning,
feeling that something going on wrong
Well now want you to love me baby,
or please let me be
Yes love me baby,
or please let me be
If you don't like my peaches
please don't shake my tree
Well I want you to love me baby,
and come on and say you'll be mine
I want you to love me baby,
come and say you'll be mine
If you don't like my potatoes,
please don't dig up my vine
Source: http://www.lyricstime.com/elmore-james-rollin-and-tumblin-lyrics.html [reformatted]
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to these Bluesmen for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the publishers of these sound files on YouTube, and thanks to the transcribers of these lyrics.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Videos Of The Cha Cha Slide (Casper Slide) & Mississippi Cha Cha Slide (Stomp)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases videos of the line dances "Cha Cha Slide" (also known as "the Casper Slide") and the Mississippi Cha Cha Slide (also known as "Stomp", and the Mississippi Slide".
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
COMMENT ABOUT THE TERMS "SLIDE" AND "STOMP"
The word "slide" and the word "stomp" are often found in the title of dance songs. These terms refer to foot movements:
"Slide" = to move smoothly across a surface
and
"Stomp" = to hit down hard on the surface of the floor.
The slide and the stomp movements are found in the videos of these dances.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
[The video of the Cha Cha Slide is presented first since its the oldest of these twoo dances, having been recorded in 2000. The other dance videos are posted in chronological order with the oldest video posted first.]
DJ Casper - "Cha Cha Slide"
MrCTheSlideManVEVO | June 16, 2009
Music video by Mr. C The Slide Man performing Cha-Cha Slide. (C) 2000 Universal Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
****
Video #2: Mississippi Cha Cha Slide Aka Stomp
Glen Cannon, Uploaded on Oct 14, 2006
web promo for alpine Records and Mixx Master Lee
"Stomp"aka Cha-Cha Slide Download the song @ songkingmusic.com
****
Video #3: Step / Line Dance - "The Stomp/Cha Cha Slide"
StepInTheNameOfLife, Uploaded on Sep 1, 2007
Watch the latest Step/Line Dance, "The Stomp/Cha Cha Slide"
****
Video #4: cha cha Slide - Mississippi Stomp version
sukeap spazzo, Uploaded on Oct 11, 2008
-snip-
The Mississippi Cha Cha Slide (Stomp) was recorded by Mixx Master Lee in 2007.
The video uploader was incorrect when he or she wrote that this was the Electric Slide. The "Electric Slide" is a different line dance. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/selected-videos-of-electric-slide.html for a pancocojam post on the Electric Slide.
****
Video #5: Mississippi_Slide.mov
.
Michael Ivy, Uploaded on Dec 6, 2009
Line Dance
****
BONUS VIDEO - McDonald's Happy Meal Ad Cha Cha Slide (long version)
lttsrh, Uploaded on Sep 19, 2007
Hilarious!
-snip-
This McDonalds commercial aired in 2005.
****
RELATED LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_Cha_Slide
http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/casper-lyrics/cha-cha-slide-lyrics.html
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos & thanks to those who published these video on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome
This post showcases videos of the line dances "Cha Cha Slide" (also known as "the Casper Slide") and the Mississippi Cha Cha Slide (also known as "Stomp", and the Mississippi Slide".
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
COMMENT ABOUT THE TERMS "SLIDE" AND "STOMP"
The word "slide" and the word "stomp" are often found in the title of dance songs. These terms refer to foot movements:
"Slide" = to move smoothly across a surface
and
"Stomp" = to hit down hard on the surface of the floor.
The slide and the stomp movements are found in the videos of these dances.
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
[The video of the Cha Cha Slide is presented first since its the oldest of these twoo dances, having been recorded in 2000. The other dance videos are posted in chronological order with the oldest video posted first.]
DJ Casper - "Cha Cha Slide"
MrCTheSlideManVEVO | June 16, 2009
Music video by Mr. C The Slide Man performing Cha-Cha Slide. (C) 2000 Universal Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
****
Video #2: Mississippi Cha Cha Slide Aka Stomp
Glen Cannon, Uploaded on Oct 14, 2006
web promo for alpine Records and Mixx Master Lee
"Stomp"aka Cha-Cha Slide Download the song @ songkingmusic.com
****
Video #3: Step / Line Dance - "The Stomp/Cha Cha Slide"
StepInTheNameOfLife, Uploaded on Sep 1, 2007
Watch the latest Step/Line Dance, "The Stomp/Cha Cha Slide"
****
Video #4: cha cha Slide - Mississippi Stomp version
sukeap spazzo, Uploaded on Oct 11, 2008
-snip-
The Mississippi Cha Cha Slide (Stomp) was recorded by Mixx Master Lee in 2007.
The video uploader was incorrect when he or she wrote that this was the Electric Slide. The "Electric Slide" is a different line dance. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/selected-videos-of-electric-slide.html for a pancocojam post on the Electric Slide.
****
Video #5: Mississippi_Slide.mov
.
Michael Ivy, Uploaded on Dec 6, 2009
Line Dance
****
BONUS VIDEO - McDonald's Happy Meal Ad Cha Cha Slide (long version)
lttsrh, Uploaded on Sep 19, 2007
Hilarious!
-snip-
This McDonalds commercial aired in 2005.
****
RELATED LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_Cha_Slide
http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/casper-lyrics/cha-cha-slide-lyrics.html
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos & thanks to those who published these video on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome
Friday, May 24, 2013
Overview of Stomp & Shake Cheerleading
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html for Part I of this series.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers.
Click
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for Part II.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
PART III
WHAT IS STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING
Stomp & shake is a referent for an African American originated style of cheerleading (first mention of these cheers that I've found is early 1970, but most of the earliest mention I've found is mid 1970s, the same time frame as the first documentation that I've found for foot stomping cheers.
Although there are some male stomp & shake cheerleaders, most of the squads consist of females. The synchronized, choreographed routines that the squad does while chanting include upstomps foot stomping movements. ("Upstomps" are "high kicks" such as those popularized by Black University marching bands). Those cheerleaders also performd "jigga pops", a rhythmical, fast double shake of their hips that is best shown off when the cheerleaders wear pleated cheerleader skirts.
Stomp & shake cheer routines may include some body patting but that isn't necessarily a part of stomp & shake routines.
These movements are done while the squad is reciting cheers. These cheers are usually introduced by one squad members, who says the name of the cheer, but unlike foot stomping cheers, they are unison cheers. Also, many stomp & shake cheers are similar in tone-but not in structure-to the insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. However, stomp & shake cheerleaders may also perform their routines to recorded music.
It's important to remember that drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging stomp & shake cheers. The cheer performance fails if the stomper/chanter doesn't act as if she is confident, strong, assertive, and unafraid of the members of the rival cheerleading squad. The facial expression and persona of stomp & cheer cheerleaders is almost diametrically the opposite of the perky, always smiling mainstream cheerleader, particularly when it comes to battle cheers. "Battle cheers" are chanted to big up (brag about) your athletic team and/or your cheerleading squad. The name refers to the fact that the cheerleaders use their words and their movement routines in a contest as to which squad can succeed the most in getting their fans "hyped".
Although there appears to be a certain amount of stigma and disapproval associated with cheerleading squads who use other squad's cheers and cheer routines without permission, thanks to the internet and YouTube in particular, certain stomp & shake cheers & their routines have become part of the cheer repertoire of pre-university cheerleading squads.
Here's a video of a widely replicated "battle cheer":
Howard University Bison Cheerleaders 2
CoachSpence, Uploaded on Oct 19, 2006
Howard University Battle Cheer "Sit Back Down"
-snip-
The words to this cheer & the university stomp & shake cheer given as example #1 below are found on this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/stomp-and-shake-cheerleader-cheers.
****
VIDEOS OF TWO ADDITIONAL UNIVERSITY STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUADS
Example #1: The World Renown Woo Woos of Virginia State University
GoTrojans·Uploaded on Sep 30, 2010
2009 Freedom Classic
January 2009
Richmond, VA
****
Example #2: WSSU Red Team Cheerleaders NC Stomp & Shake Competition
Kiaerica Krishelle, Published on Feb 23, 2013
WSSU opening up the show at the FIRST annual Stomp n Shake cheerleading competition on Saturday 2/23/2013
-snip-
The way the cheerleaders held their hands when they eentered the gym reminds me of the way that the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc step teams perform their signature cheer "It's A Serious Matter". That post and other sorority & fraternity posts can be found on pancocojams by clicking the "steppin" or "fraternity and sorority chants" tags.
****
VIDEO OF A HIGH SCHOOL STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUAD
SASSY (We Shake The Best)
woowooworkit·Uploaded on Feb 17, 2007
JV And Varsity SASSY cheerleaders cheer at the last game against bluestone
-snip-
The words to each of this cheer and other pre-university cheerleader cheers, including several stomp & shake cheers are found on this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-cheerleader-cheers.
****
RELATED LINK
Click http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/07/21/race-and-the-changing-shape-of-cheerleading/ for a post on stomp & shake cheerleading that I wrote which was published on the sociological images blog.
****
This concludes Part III of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of these cheers and the performers of these featured stomp & shake cheer routines. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part III of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html for Part I of this series.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers.
Click
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for Part II.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
PART III
WHAT IS STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING
Stomp & shake is a referent for an African American originated style of cheerleading (first mention of these cheers that I've found is early 1970, but most of the earliest mention I've found is mid 1970s, the same time frame as the first documentation that I've found for foot stomping cheers.
Although there are some male stomp & shake cheerleaders, most of the squads consist of females. The synchronized, choreographed routines that the squad does while chanting include upstomps foot stomping movements. ("Upstomps" are "high kicks" such as those popularized by Black University marching bands). Those cheerleaders also performd "jigga pops", a rhythmical, fast double shake of their hips that is best shown off when the cheerleaders wear pleated cheerleader skirts.
Stomp & shake cheer routines may include some body patting but that isn't necessarily a part of stomp & shake routines.
These movements are done while the squad is reciting cheers. These cheers are usually introduced by one squad members, who says the name of the cheer, but unlike foot stomping cheers, they are unison cheers. Also, many stomp & shake cheers are similar in tone-but not in structure-to the insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. However, stomp & shake cheerleaders may also perform their routines to recorded music.
It's important to remember that drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging stomp & shake cheers. The cheer performance fails if the stomper/chanter doesn't act as if she is confident, strong, assertive, and unafraid of the members of the rival cheerleading squad. The facial expression and persona of stomp & cheer cheerleaders is almost diametrically the opposite of the perky, always smiling mainstream cheerleader, particularly when it comes to battle cheers. "Battle cheers" are chanted to big up (brag about) your athletic team and/or your cheerleading squad. The name refers to the fact that the cheerleaders use their words and their movement routines in a contest as to which squad can succeed the most in getting their fans "hyped".
Although there appears to be a certain amount of stigma and disapproval associated with cheerleading squads who use other squad's cheers and cheer routines without permission, thanks to the internet and YouTube in particular, certain stomp & shake cheers & their routines have become part of the cheer repertoire of pre-university cheerleading squads.
Here's a video of a widely replicated "battle cheer":
Howard University Bison Cheerleaders 2
CoachSpence, Uploaded on Oct 19, 2006
Howard University Battle Cheer "Sit Back Down"
-snip-
The words to this cheer & the university stomp & shake cheer given as example #1 below are found on this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/stomp-and-shake-cheerleader-cheers.
****
VIDEOS OF TWO ADDITIONAL UNIVERSITY STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUADS
Example #1: The World Renown Woo Woos of Virginia State University
GoTrojans·Uploaded on Sep 30, 2010
2009 Freedom Classic
January 2009
Richmond, VA
****
Example #2: WSSU Red Team Cheerleaders NC Stomp & Shake Competition
Kiaerica Krishelle, Published on Feb 23, 2013
WSSU opening up the show at the FIRST annual Stomp n Shake cheerleading competition on Saturday 2/23/2013
-snip-
The way the cheerleaders held their hands when they eentered the gym reminds me of the way that the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc step teams perform their signature cheer "It's A Serious Matter". That post and other sorority & fraternity posts can be found on pancocojams by clicking the "steppin" or "fraternity and sorority chants" tags.
****
VIDEO OF A HIGH SCHOOL STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUAD
SASSY (We Shake The Best)
woowooworkit·Uploaded on Feb 17, 2007
JV And Varsity SASSY cheerleaders cheer at the last game against bluestone
-snip-
The words to each of this cheer and other pre-university cheerleader cheers, including several stomp & shake cheers are found on this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-cheerleader-cheers.
****
RELATED LINK
Click http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/07/21/race-and-the-changing-shape-of-cheerleading/ for a post on stomp & shake cheerleading that I wrote which was published on the sociological images blog.
****
This concludes Part III of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of these cheers and the performers of these featured stomp & shake cheer routines. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
An Overview Of Foot Stomping & Foot Stomping Cheers
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers and also provides information about the syncopated, choreographed performance movement of "foot stomping".
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html for Part I of this series.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part III.
****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Another longer version of this post is found as an introduction to this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0.
****
PART II
****
WHAT ARE FOOT STOMPING CHEERS?
Foot stomping cheers are a category of children's cheerleading cheers that have a characteristic call & response structure. Unlike other children's playground rhymes & cheers, rhyming verses may only make up a small portion of a foot stomping cheer.
Since at least the beginning of the 21st century, foot stomping cheers have been adapted & integrated into the repertoire of mainstream children's cheerleading & team cheer activities. That integration means that in discussing those cheers it may be best to refer to "traditional foot stomping cheers" and "mainstream" foot stomping cheers. For instance, traditionally, foot stomping cheers were chanted by two or more girls who performed synchronized, choreographed foot stomp routines similar to historically Black Greek letter organizations' steppin. However, the performance of foot stomps need not be, and often appears not to be, a part of mainstream cheerleaders or team cheers' experiences of foot stomping cheers.
Traditionally, foot stomping cheers start with the group voice. The group may begin by chanting the name of the cheer, and then calls on a member of the group. Or the cheer may begin with the group calling that person & stating their demand. Usually, the soloist responds to the group in a surly manner, and initially refuses to comply with their demand. However, the soloist eventually complies and chants a soloist portion & performs a brief foot stomping routine/dance. At the conclusion of that portion, that rendition of the cheer ends.
However, in other examples of foot stomping cheers, the group chants the same words as the soloist did, and then the cheer ends- only to immediately start again from the beginning with a new soloist. In some foot stomping cheers the soloist's lines are exactly the same, with the exception of the soloist's name or some personal information such as her astrological sign, or her favorite color. In other foot stomping cheers, the soloist's lines can be different, but must fit into the same theme as the cheer, and must follow the same cheer's metronome style beat.
In contrast to that traditional model, in mainstream cheer performances, there's likely not to be any soloist foot stomping or dance performance, and the foot stomping cheer itself may end before every member of the group has a turn as soloist.
Here's an example of a foot stomping cheer that begins with the group call & is followed by the group demand:
This foot stomping cheer starts again from the beginning with the next soloist who says the same soloist lines but traditionally isn't supposed to repeat the same foot stomping/dance routine. This pattern continues until every member has had one turn as soloist.
In the version of same cheer that begins with the title of the chant, prior to the group calling the soloist by name, the entire group (including the first soloist) chants:
"I saida D. O. WN and that's the way we get down.
D. O. WN and that's the way we get down."
My term for this distinctive modified call & response structure is "group/consecutive soloists". Foot stomping cheers that don't start with the group speaking in unison are called "modified foot stomping cheers". A crucial characteristic of foot stomping cheers- the cheer immediately starts again with the next designated soloist. This pattern is supposed to continue without pause until every member of the group gets one turn as soloist for that particular cheer.
Traditionally, foot stomping cheers were chanted while girls performed a synchronized, choreographed foot stomping routine.
Children who performed foot stomping cheers as an informal leisure time activity were able to perform these cheers in the consecutive soloist format where every member of the group has an equal turn as the soloist. However, actual cheerleaders aren't able to do that, given the time constraints that they face during an actual game or during half-time.
One result of the limited time that cheerleaders have to perform during half-time is that modified forms of stomping cheers and perhaps even modified forms of stomping performances have been integrated into many pre-university cheerleader squads in African American communities as well as in non-African American communities. Read my comments about the changes that may be occuring to "stomps" in my comments after the video given below as Example #3.
Also, since at least the late 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, a number of foot stomping cheers have retained their distinctive structure but have been separated from their foot stomping movement activity. These cheers have become part of mainstream repertoires of children's softball cheers & other cheers for children's sports games.
****
TWO TYPES OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
While there are a number of different categories of foot stomping cheers, "insult & bragging cheers" & "dance" foot stomping cheers are the ones that are most widely known. The most widely known foot stomping cheer, "Shabooya Roll Call" is an example of a insult/bragging cheer. A video clip of that cheer is found below.
It's important to remember that drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. The chant performance fails if the stomper/chanter doesn't act as if she is confident and unafraid of her (imaginary, unnamed) opponent.
Another widely found (although not very well recognized) category of foot stomping cheers is what I call "dance style" cheers. These cheers provide an opportunity for their performers to stomp and do particular dance movements. Many of these cheers can be immediately recognizable by what I call the "Hey (person's name)" line that is found early in that cheer. "Get Down" is an example of a dance style foot stomping cheer.
Unlike the prohibition that is attached to the performance of step routines & chants of historically Black Greek lettered organization, and the disapproval that is associated with performing a stomp & shake cheerleader squad's cheers or routines without permission, there's no prohibition or social disapproval attached to chanting any particular foot stomping cheer. Since the synchronized, choreographed movements in foot stomping are formulaic, there can be no prohibition against any other group performing those routines.
****
WHAT IS FOOT STOMPING?
"Foot stomping" is an African American originated performance art in which two or more persons (usually girls) chant a distinctive type of cheer while doing a synchronized, choreographed, rehearsed routine. That routine emphasizes the creation of bass sounding foot stomps that alternate with (individual) hand claps. In many foot stomping cheer routines the foot stomps alternate with body pats (chest, thigh, or foot pats, meaning the soles of the shoe). Unlike hand games, there are no partners in foot stomping, and there is rarely if ever any physical touching of another person.
The main pattern for traditional foot stomp routines is stomp clap stomp stomp clap )stomp x stomp stomp x). Another common fiit stomping routine is stomp stomp clap stomp stomp (stomp stomp x stomp stomp x). While the words to foot stomping cheers is important, the most important thing in the performance of foot stomping cheers is keeping the beat. Foot stomping is performed in a metronome like manner throughout the entire cheer. Once the beat starts, it continues until the end of the cheer.
The idea of a metronome beat can best be demonstrated by the Pop group Queen's 1977 hit song "We Will Rock You":
Queen - We Will Rock You
d4v1s, Uploaded on Apr 13, 2006
-snip-
The "We will we will rock you" words of that song are used in a number of mainstream cheerleader cheers. Examples of those cheers can be found on Cocojams's Children's Cheerleader Cheers page http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-cheerleader-cheers. However, in this post, the focus is on that song's beat pattern.
Notice that the beat pattern for this song continues without change throughout the entire song. Since people are often seated when singing this song on school buses or in the stands at football games, they might use their two hands at the same time to pat both of their thighs (body pat body pat clap (pat pat x).
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Shabooya Roll Call
Editor's note:
"Shabooya Roll Call" is undoubtedly the most widely known example of a foot stomping cheer. Although "Shabooya Roll Call" is included in Spike Lee's 1996 movie Get On The Bus, it is best known from the 2006 cheerleader movie series Bring It On: All Or Nothing.
Here's the video of the Bring It On-All Or Nothing cafeteria dance scene with the words to the Shabooya cheer superimposed on the video screen. (Warning! There is a curse word used prior to the cheer starting.)
bring it on roll call
Uploaded by LoVee2MusiC on Jul 16, 2009
-snip-
In my opinion, the movement performance for this foot stomping cheer was greatly exagerrated. However, this clip shows the similarity between the foot stomping movements & stepping, and the foot stomping movements and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Again, traditionally, it's the cheer pattern with its consecutive soloists & the group voice being heard first & the soloist responding to that group voice that makes a cheer a foot stomping cheer.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/right-rhyming-pattern-for-shabooya-roll.html for a pancocojams post on Shabooya Roll Call.
****
Example #2: Dailey Tigers "Rock Steady"
daileytigers, Published on Nov 17, 2012
Cheerleaders
-snip-
This video is an example of a dance style foot stomping cheer. However, unlike the "standard" structure for foot stomping cheers, the cheer begins with a soloist's voice.
****
Example #3: Stomp Cheer
kmt122181, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2008
Stomp Cheer
-anip-
The narrator says "You have to remember that the most difficult thing about this cheer is keeping the beat".
Here's the pattern these girls are using for this routine:
"stomp x stomp stomp x stomp stomp xx stomp stomp x"
**
"x" stands for "hand clap".
I'm curious if this pattern of stomps & handclaps is or was used by found in formal cheerleader squads, or in informal groups of African Americans. As shown in the video, this pattern works, but it seems different to me.
Overall, I consider this to be a pretty decent basic tutorial video for how to do "stomps". However, I continue to think that these stompers and a number of other stompers in videos I've watched of non-African Americans performing this type of cheers aren't raising their feet off the ground high enough. Consequently, their "stomps" don't produce a bass sound.
I've also noticed in a large number of videos of the "Shabooya Roll Call" cheer that many non-African Americans are substituting miming type actions or swaying back and forth instead of actual foot stomping routines. Those kinds of changes to the ways foot stomping cheers are performed were heralded in the first 2000 Bring It On cheerleader cheer movie when the majority Black & Latina cheerleading squad's routine was modified for the majority White cheerleading squad. In that movie, the performance of the foot stomping cheer "Introduce Yourself" was simplified and much of its foot stomping activity was removed, perhaps because it was difficult to do for those persons who weren't surrounded by that cultural rhythm & beat a much as many African Americans have been. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWG4AX09mqQ for a video of the "Introduce Yourself" scene. Text examples of that cheer are found on my Cocojams Foot Stomping Cheers page. A link for that page is given in this post.
It should be expected that the integration of foot stomping into mainstream cheerleading is resulting in changes to that performance art. However, it seems to me that some critiquing should be done abou certain ways that "stomps" and "steps" are being performed by mainstream cheerleading squads, unless we wake up one morning and anything that can be called "stomps" and "steps" and accepted as being high quality when those routines actually fail to meet the standards of what high quality stepping and high quality foot stomping (as well as what high quality stomp & shake cheerleading) used to be.
****
RELATED LINK
Click http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 for more information and examples of foot stomping and foot stomping cheers.
****
This concludes Part II of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of these cheers and the performers of these featured foot stomping cheer routines. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers and also provides information about the syncopated, choreographed performance movement of "foot stomping".
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html for Part I of this series.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part III.
****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Another longer version of this post is found as an introduction to this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0.
****
PART II
****
WHAT ARE FOOT STOMPING CHEERS?
Foot stomping cheers are a category of children's cheerleading cheers that have a characteristic call & response structure. Unlike other children's playground rhymes & cheers, rhyming verses may only make up a small portion of a foot stomping cheer.
Since at least the beginning of the 21st century, foot stomping cheers have been adapted & integrated into the repertoire of mainstream children's cheerleading & team cheer activities. That integration means that in discussing those cheers it may be best to refer to "traditional foot stomping cheers" and "mainstream" foot stomping cheers. For instance, traditionally, foot stomping cheers were chanted by two or more girls who performed synchronized, choreographed foot stomp routines similar to historically Black Greek letter organizations' steppin. However, the performance of foot stomps need not be, and often appears not to be, a part of mainstream cheerleaders or team cheers' experiences of foot stomping cheers.
Traditionally, foot stomping cheers start with the group voice. The group may begin by chanting the name of the cheer, and then calls on a member of the group. Or the cheer may begin with the group calling that person & stating their demand. Usually, the soloist responds to the group in a surly manner, and initially refuses to comply with their demand. However, the soloist eventually complies and chants a soloist portion & performs a brief foot stomping routine/dance. At the conclusion of that portion, that rendition of the cheer ends.
However, in other examples of foot stomping cheers, the group chants the same words as the soloist did, and then the cheer ends- only to immediately start again from the beginning with a new soloist. In some foot stomping cheers the soloist's lines are exactly the same, with the exception of the soloist's name or some personal information such as her astrological sign, or her favorite color. In other foot stomping cheers, the soloist's lines can be different, but must fit into the same theme as the cheer, and must follow the same cheer's metronome style beat.
In contrast to that traditional model, in mainstream cheer performances, there's likely not to be any soloist foot stomping or dance performance, and the foot stomping cheer itself may end before every member of the group has a turn as soloist.
Here's an example of a foot stomping cheer that begins with the group call & is followed by the group demand:
GET DOWN-snip-
Group- Hey, Shayla
Shayla - What?
Group- Hey, Shayla.
Shayla - What
Group - Show me how you get down.
Shayla - No way.
Group- Show me how you get down.
Shayla - Okay.
[Shayla does a hip swinging dance while saying]
I saida D. O. WN.
And that's the way
And that's the way
And that's the way I get down.
[Group does dance with Shayla and says]
Group - She saida D. O. WN.
And that's the way
And that's the way
And that's the way she gets down.
-T.M.P, mid 1980s, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; collected by Azizi Powell
This foot stomping cheer starts again from the beginning with the next soloist who says the same soloist lines but traditionally isn't supposed to repeat the same foot stomping/dance routine. This pattern continues until every member has had one turn as soloist.
In the version of same cheer that begins with the title of the chant, prior to the group calling the soloist by name, the entire group (including the first soloist) chants:
"I saida D. O. WN and that's the way we get down.
D. O. WN and that's the way we get down."
My term for this distinctive modified call & response structure is "group/consecutive soloists". Foot stomping cheers that don't start with the group speaking in unison are called "modified foot stomping cheers". A crucial characteristic of foot stomping cheers- the cheer immediately starts again with the next designated soloist. This pattern is supposed to continue without pause until every member of the group gets one turn as soloist for that particular cheer.
Traditionally, foot stomping cheers were chanted while girls performed a synchronized, choreographed foot stomping routine.
Children who performed foot stomping cheers as an informal leisure time activity were able to perform these cheers in the consecutive soloist format where every member of the group has an equal turn as the soloist. However, actual cheerleaders aren't able to do that, given the time constraints that they face during an actual game or during half-time.
One result of the limited time that cheerleaders have to perform during half-time is that modified forms of stomping cheers and perhaps even modified forms of stomping performances have been integrated into many pre-university cheerleader squads in African American communities as well as in non-African American communities. Read my comments about the changes that may be occuring to "stomps" in my comments after the video given below as Example #3.
Also, since at least the late 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, a number of foot stomping cheers have retained their distinctive structure but have been separated from their foot stomping movement activity. These cheers have become part of mainstream repertoires of children's softball cheers & other cheers for children's sports games.
****
TWO TYPES OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
While there are a number of different categories of foot stomping cheers, "insult & bragging cheers" & "dance" foot stomping cheers are the ones that are most widely known. The most widely known foot stomping cheer, "Shabooya Roll Call" is an example of a insult/bragging cheer. A video clip of that cheer is found below.
It's important to remember that drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. The chant performance fails if the stomper/chanter doesn't act as if she is confident and unafraid of her (imaginary, unnamed) opponent.
Another widely found (although not very well recognized) category of foot stomping cheers is what I call "dance style" cheers. These cheers provide an opportunity for their performers to stomp and do particular dance movements. Many of these cheers can be immediately recognizable by what I call the "Hey (person's name)" line that is found early in that cheer. "Get Down" is an example of a dance style foot stomping cheer.
Unlike the prohibition that is attached to the performance of step routines & chants of historically Black Greek lettered organization, and the disapproval that is associated with performing a stomp & shake cheerleader squad's cheers or routines without permission, there's no prohibition or social disapproval attached to chanting any particular foot stomping cheer. Since the synchronized, choreographed movements in foot stomping are formulaic, there can be no prohibition against any other group performing those routines.
****
WHAT IS FOOT STOMPING?
"Foot stomping" is an African American originated performance art in which two or more persons (usually girls) chant a distinctive type of cheer while doing a synchronized, choreographed, rehearsed routine. That routine emphasizes the creation of bass sounding foot stomps that alternate with (individual) hand claps. In many foot stomping cheer routines the foot stomps alternate with body pats (chest, thigh, or foot pats, meaning the soles of the shoe). Unlike hand games, there are no partners in foot stomping, and there is rarely if ever any physical touching of another person.
The main pattern for traditional foot stomp routines is stomp clap stomp stomp clap )stomp x stomp stomp x). Another common fiit stomping routine is stomp stomp clap stomp stomp (stomp stomp x stomp stomp x). While the words to foot stomping cheers is important, the most important thing in the performance of foot stomping cheers is keeping the beat. Foot stomping is performed in a metronome like manner throughout the entire cheer. Once the beat starts, it continues until the end of the cheer.
The idea of a metronome beat can best be demonstrated by the Pop group Queen's 1977 hit song "We Will Rock You":
Queen - We Will Rock You
d4v1s, Uploaded on Apr 13, 2006
-snip-
The "We will we will rock you" words of that song are used in a number of mainstream cheerleader cheers. Examples of those cheers can be found on Cocojams's Children's Cheerleader Cheers page http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-cheerleader-cheers. However, in this post, the focus is on that song's beat pattern.
Notice that the beat pattern for this song continues without change throughout the entire song. Since people are often seated when singing this song on school buses or in the stands at football games, they might use their two hands at the same time to pat both of their thighs (body pat body pat clap (pat pat x).
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Shabooya Roll Call
Editor's note:
"Shabooya Roll Call" is undoubtedly the most widely known example of a foot stomping cheer. Although "Shabooya Roll Call" is included in Spike Lee's 1996 movie Get On The Bus, it is best known from the 2006 cheerleader movie series Bring It On: All Or Nothing.
Here's the video of the Bring It On-All Or Nothing cafeteria dance scene with the words to the Shabooya cheer superimposed on the video screen. (Warning! There is a curse word used prior to the cheer starting.)
bring it on roll call
Uploaded by LoVee2MusiC on Jul 16, 2009
-snip-
In my opinion, the movement performance for this foot stomping cheer was greatly exagerrated. However, this clip shows the similarity between the foot stomping movements & stepping, and the foot stomping movements and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Again, traditionally, it's the cheer pattern with its consecutive soloists & the group voice being heard first & the soloist responding to that group voice that makes a cheer a foot stomping cheer.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/right-rhyming-pattern-for-shabooya-roll.html for a pancocojams post on Shabooya Roll Call.
****
Example #2: Dailey Tigers "Rock Steady"
daileytigers, Published on Nov 17, 2012
Cheerleaders
-snip-
This video is an example of a dance style foot stomping cheer. However, unlike the "standard" structure for foot stomping cheers, the cheer begins with a soloist's voice.
****
Example #3: Stomp Cheer
kmt122181, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2008
Stomp Cheer
-anip-
The narrator says "You have to remember that the most difficult thing about this cheer is keeping the beat".
Here's the pattern these girls are using for this routine:
"stomp x stomp stomp x stomp stomp xx stomp stomp x"
**
"x" stands for "hand clap".
I'm curious if this pattern of stomps & handclaps is or was used by found in formal cheerleader squads, or in informal groups of African Americans. As shown in the video, this pattern works, but it seems different to me.
Overall, I consider this to be a pretty decent basic tutorial video for how to do "stomps". However, I continue to think that these stompers and a number of other stompers in videos I've watched of non-African Americans performing this type of cheers aren't raising their feet off the ground high enough. Consequently, their "stomps" don't produce a bass sound.
I've also noticed in a large number of videos of the "Shabooya Roll Call" cheer that many non-African Americans are substituting miming type actions or swaying back and forth instead of actual foot stomping routines. Those kinds of changes to the ways foot stomping cheers are performed were heralded in the first 2000 Bring It On cheerleader cheer movie when the majority Black & Latina cheerleading squad's routine was modified for the majority White cheerleading squad. In that movie, the performance of the foot stomping cheer "Introduce Yourself" was simplified and much of its foot stomping activity was removed, perhaps because it was difficult to do for those persons who weren't surrounded by that cultural rhythm & beat a much as many African Americans have been. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWG4AX09mqQ for a video of the "Introduce Yourself" scene. Text examples of that cheer are found on my Cocojams Foot Stomping Cheers page. A link for that page is given in this post.
It should be expected that the integration of foot stomping into mainstream cheerleading is resulting in changes to that performance art. However, it seems to me that some critiquing should be done abou certain ways that "stomps" and "steps" are being performed by mainstream cheerleading squads, unless we wake up one morning and anything that can be called "stomps" and "steps" and accepted as being high quality when those routines actually fail to meet the standards of what high quality stepping and high quality foot stomping (as well as what high quality stomp & shake cheerleading) used to be.
****
RELATED LINK
Click http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 for more information and examples of foot stomping and foot stomping cheers.
****
This concludes Part II of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of these cheers and the performers of these featured foot stomping cheer routines. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
An Overview Of Black Greek Letter Organization Steppin & Step Cheers
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for Part II.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part III.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
PART I
OVERVIEW OF STEPPIN'
Steppin, foot stomping, and stomp & shake cheerleading are three closely related but distinct movement performance arts. Each of these performance art forms originated among African Americans. Steppin (stepping) is the oldest of these performance arts.
Steppin (Stepping) is a syncopated, choreographed performance art that occurs at competitive "step shows" and other venues. The performance art of steppin originated among historically Black (African American) university based Greek lettered fraternities & sororities.
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34OD4eA17o for a video demonstration of 19th century Buck dances, Wing dances, and Jigs. Duke University professor Thomas F. DeFrantz describes Buck dances as those which were very percussive, and weighted down into the foot. It seems clear from that description & his demonstration that Buck dances is one of the sources of Steppin.
I've seen the 1940s given as the date that historically Black Greek lettered organizations began steppin'. I'm willing to accept that 1940s date as long as it's understood that the beginning of what steppin has become didn't look like steppin now.
in her book Soul Stepping Elizabeth Fine quotes a 1924 Howard University student newspaper The Hilltop article entitled "Hell-Week" in which members of Omega Psi Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternites are described as pledges "dancing about the campus..." (p.15).
However that dancing or that marching on campus that is also documented didn't look the same as the Black Greek letted organizations' steppin' styles that developed in the 1980s and 1990s. Elizabeth Fine also wrote that "The shift from the old-style circular stepping of the 1940s and 1950s to the increasingly complex synchronized movement style of the 1980s and 1990s attests to the new role stepping has in asserting black cultural identity" (p. 6).
Since at least the 1990s among historically Black Greek lettered organizations (BGLO), the performance art of strolls (party walks) has been added to most step routines, particularly at the end of those routines. "Strolls" (party walks) are done in a vertical line to recorded music, usually from the R&B/Hip-Hop genres, Those referents describe the strutting, dancing walk that the organizations' members informally do at dances/parties. While steppin is almost always a competitive performance, fraternities against fraternities, and sororities against sororities, "strolls" can be either competitive within those gender groupings, or non-competitive.
Each fraternity & sorority, including those which belong to The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities NPHC, has its own distinctive way of stepping. Some organizations usually step with props such as canes while others never use canes. One of those organizations, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. has a distinctive hopping movement to its steppin routines, and actually prefers the reference "Hops" rather than steps to describe their routines. Body patting ("Hambone", pattin Juba") can be but is not necessarily an element of the steppin routines of each of "Divine Nine" members of the NPHC.
Since at least the 1990s among historically Black Greek lettered organizations (BGLO), the performance art of strolls (party walks) has been added to most step routines, particularly at the end of those routines. "Strolls" (party walks) are done in a vertical line to recorded music, usually from the R&B/Hip-Hop genres. The names "strolls" and "party walks" refer to the strutting, dancing walk that the organizations' members informally do at dances/parties. While steppin is almost always a competitive performance, fraternities against fraternities, and sororities against sororities, "strolls" can be either competitive within those gender groupings, or non-competitive
Click http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-sorority-step-stroll-related-videos for an expanded version of this Overview
****
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF CATEGORIES OF BLACK FRATERNITY & SORORITY CHANTS
Historically Black Greek lettered fraternity & sorority chants are composed in two lined rhyming verses. These verses are usually chanted or sung in unison but may also be in call & response style. The lyrics of the chants are usually adapted from other song genres such as Spirituals, R&B, and other popular music. There are at least three types of fraternity & sorority chants & songs. In the first category are chants/songs that praise & profess their love for a specific organization, provide information about that organization's history, and/or extol the public persona of that organization's members.
The second category of fraternity & sorority chants is "pledging" chants/songs, These chants/songs express the desire for membership in & the commitment to a specific organization that persons striving for membership in that organization have.
The third category of fraternity & sorority chants & songs are those in which a particular fraternity compares itself favorably with other fraternities and/or insults (disses) other fraternities or a specific fraternity, or a sorority does the same toward other sororities or a specific sorority. This category also includes chants/song is one in which a fraternity praises a sorority with which it has informal or formal ties and vice versa.
Traditionally, persons who aren't associated with a specific fraternity or sorority are prohibited against doing that organization's stepping routines or performing songs and chants that are associated with that specififc organization. That prohibition is still in place today.
****
TWO EXAMPLES OF HISTORICALLY BLACK GREEK LETTERED ORGANIZATION STEPPIN & CHANTING
Below is one steppin & step chant example from the first historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternity that is still in existence - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (Alphas; founded 1906]. Below also is one example of the first historically Black (African American Greek lettered sorority that is still in existence [Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, (AKA; founded 1908.]
Click http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-and-sorority-chants for more text examples & videos of fraternity & sorority chants.
Also click http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-sorority-step-stroll-related-videos for videos of fraternity & sorority stepping.
Example #1: King Tut and Finale - Spring 2011 - Beta Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc
Theophilus Woodley,Uploaded on May 17, 2011
Recorded on March 18, 2011 using a Flip Video camcorder.
-snip-
Here's one version of this signature chant by an Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. step team.
King Tut went to Egypt the other day
To Check out the greeks that were coming his way
He saw the Ques, and he said thay acted like a fool
He saw the Kappas, and he said that they were not cute
He saw the Sigmas, and he said that they made him sick
Then he saw the A-PHI!, and he made his pick
-ENewton; http://www.stophazing.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000243 ; 09-30-2005
Click this page of my Cocojams website for a longer example of this chant http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-and-sorority-chants.
****
FEATURED EXAMPLE #2: Alpha Kappa Alpha
Uploaded by MissAmariG on Aug 30, 2010
Fall 2009 Yard Show (San Diego Undergraduate City Wide (UCSD, SDSU, USD). The Mu Iota Chapter)
-snip-
I'm particularly interested in the first example which was chanted when the step team entered the plaza. That chant is clearly based on the Duckworth chant ("Sound Off"). Here's my transcription of that sorority chant. A lead chants the first line and the rest of the group chants the words that are in parenthesis.
I don't know what you've been told
[I don't know what you've been told]
AKA's my heart and soul.
[AKA's my heart and soul]
One thing that I know for sure
[One thing that I know for sure]
Don't want no red, no blue, no gold*
Don't want no red, no blue, no gold*
19
[08]
19
[08]
1908
1908!
-Fall 2009 Yard Show (San Diego Undergraduate City Wide (UCSD, SDSU, USD). The Mu Iota Chapter) ; video uploaded by MissAmariG on Aug 30, 2010
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of this chant & the performers of this featured step routine. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for Part II.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part III.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
PART I
OVERVIEW OF STEPPIN'
Steppin, foot stomping, and stomp & shake cheerleading are three closely related but distinct movement performance arts. Each of these performance art forms originated among African Americans. Steppin (stepping) is the oldest of these performance arts.
Steppin (Stepping) is a syncopated, choreographed performance art that occurs at competitive "step shows" and other venues. The performance art of steppin originated among historically Black (African American) university based Greek lettered fraternities & sororities.
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34OD4eA17o for a video demonstration of 19th century Buck dances, Wing dances, and Jigs. Duke University professor Thomas F. DeFrantz describes Buck dances as those which were very percussive, and weighted down into the foot. It seems clear from that description & his demonstration that Buck dances is one of the sources of Steppin.
I've seen the 1940s given as the date that historically Black Greek lettered organizations began steppin'. I'm willing to accept that 1940s date as long as it's understood that the beginning of what steppin has become didn't look like steppin now.
in her book Soul Stepping Elizabeth Fine quotes a 1924 Howard University student newspaper The Hilltop article entitled "Hell-Week" in which members of Omega Psi Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternites are described as pledges "dancing about the campus..." (p.15).
However that dancing or that marching on campus that is also documented didn't look the same as the Black Greek letted organizations' steppin' styles that developed in the 1980s and 1990s. Elizabeth Fine also wrote that "The shift from the old-style circular stepping of the 1940s and 1950s to the increasingly complex synchronized movement style of the 1980s and 1990s attests to the new role stepping has in asserting black cultural identity" (p. 6).
Since at least the 1990s among historically Black Greek lettered organizations (BGLO), the performance art of strolls (party walks) has been added to most step routines, particularly at the end of those routines. "Strolls" (party walks) are done in a vertical line to recorded music, usually from the R&B/Hip-Hop genres, Those referents describe the strutting, dancing walk that the organizations' members informally do at dances/parties. While steppin is almost always a competitive performance, fraternities against fraternities, and sororities against sororities, "strolls" can be either competitive within those gender groupings, or non-competitive.
Each fraternity & sorority, including those which belong to The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities NPHC, has its own distinctive way of stepping. Some organizations usually step with props such as canes while others never use canes. One of those organizations, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. has a distinctive hopping movement to its steppin routines, and actually prefers the reference "Hops" rather than steps to describe their routines. Body patting ("Hambone", pattin Juba") can be but is not necessarily an element of the steppin routines of each of "Divine Nine" members of the NPHC.
Since at least the 1990s among historically Black Greek lettered organizations (BGLO), the performance art of strolls (party walks) has been added to most step routines, particularly at the end of those routines. "Strolls" (party walks) are done in a vertical line to recorded music, usually from the R&B/Hip-Hop genres. The names "strolls" and "party walks" refer to the strutting, dancing walk that the organizations' members informally do at dances/parties. While steppin is almost always a competitive performance, fraternities against fraternities, and sororities against sororities, "strolls" can be either competitive within those gender groupings, or non-competitive
Click http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-sorority-step-stroll-related-videos for an expanded version of this Overview
****
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF CATEGORIES OF BLACK FRATERNITY & SORORITY CHANTS
Historically Black Greek lettered fraternity & sorority chants are composed in two lined rhyming verses. These verses are usually chanted or sung in unison but may also be in call & response style. The lyrics of the chants are usually adapted from other song genres such as Spirituals, R&B, and other popular music. There are at least three types of fraternity & sorority chants & songs. In the first category are chants/songs that praise & profess their love for a specific organization, provide information about that organization's history, and/or extol the public persona of that organization's members.
The second category of fraternity & sorority chants is "pledging" chants/songs, These chants/songs express the desire for membership in & the commitment to a specific organization that persons striving for membership in that organization have.
The third category of fraternity & sorority chants & songs are those in which a particular fraternity compares itself favorably with other fraternities and/or insults (disses) other fraternities or a specific fraternity, or a sorority does the same toward other sororities or a specific sorority. This category also includes chants/song is one in which a fraternity praises a sorority with which it has informal or formal ties and vice versa.
Traditionally, persons who aren't associated with a specific fraternity or sorority are prohibited against doing that organization's stepping routines or performing songs and chants that are associated with that specififc organization. That prohibition is still in place today.
****
TWO EXAMPLES OF HISTORICALLY BLACK GREEK LETTERED ORGANIZATION STEPPIN & CHANTING
Below is one steppin & step chant example from the first historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternity that is still in existence - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (Alphas; founded 1906]. Below also is one example of the first historically Black (African American Greek lettered sorority that is still in existence [Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, (AKA; founded 1908.]
Click http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-and-sorority-chants for more text examples & videos of fraternity & sorority chants.
Also click http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-sorority-step-stroll-related-videos for videos of fraternity & sorority stepping.
Example #1: King Tut and Finale - Spring 2011 - Beta Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc
Theophilus Woodley,Uploaded on May 17, 2011
Recorded on March 18, 2011 using a Flip Video camcorder.
-snip-
Here's one version of this signature chant by an Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. step team.
King Tut went to Egypt the other day
To Check out the greeks that were coming his way
He saw the Ques, and he said thay acted like a fool
He saw the Kappas, and he said that they were not cute
He saw the Sigmas, and he said that they made him sick
Then he saw the A-PHI!, and he made his pick
-ENewton; http://www.stophazing.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000243 ; 09-30-2005
Click this page of my Cocojams website for a longer example of this chant http://cocojams.com/content/fraternity-and-sorority-chants.
****
FEATURED EXAMPLE #2: Alpha Kappa Alpha
Uploaded by MissAmariG on Aug 30, 2010
Fall 2009 Yard Show (San Diego Undergraduate City Wide (UCSD, SDSU, USD). The Mu Iota Chapter)
-snip-
I'm particularly interested in the first example which was chanted when the step team entered the plaza. That chant is clearly based on the Duckworth chant ("Sound Off"). Here's my transcription of that sorority chant. A lead chants the first line and the rest of the group chants the words that are in parenthesis.
I don't know what you've been told
[I don't know what you've been told]
AKA's my heart and soul.
[AKA's my heart and soul]
One thing that I know for sure
[One thing that I know for sure]
Don't want no red, no blue, no gold*
Don't want no red, no blue, no gold*
19
[08]
19
[08]
1908
1908!
-Fall 2009 Yard Show (San Diego Undergraduate City Wide (UCSD, SDSU, USD). The Mu Iota Chapter) ; video uploaded by MissAmariG on Aug 30, 2010
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of this chant & the performers of this featured step routine. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.