History & description

Beginning in the 17th century, large numbers of enslaved Africans escaped from Spanish and then British plantations in Jamaica and coalesced into organized groups in the wilderness of the interior. These escapees later became known as “Maroons.” By the early 18th century two major federations of Maroons had formed, those in the eastern part of the island known as the “Windwards,” and those in the west known as the “Leewards.” Until the British sued for peace in the 1730s, both groups waged an unrelenting guerrilla war against the colonial plantation society. In 1739 the British completed treaties with the two groups, recognizing their freedom and their right to govern themselves.

Today the descendants of these Maroons maintain four major communities in Jamaica: Accompong, one of the original Leeward villages in the rugged Cockpit Country; and Moore Town, Charles Town, and Scot’s Hall in the Blue Mountains, originally settled by Windward Maroons.
Present-day Maroons in these communities are in many ways indistinguishable from other Jamaicans. But one cultural sphere in which they have maintained a clearly distinct tradition is that of music and dance. Each of the communities has its own musical genres.

The Windward communities have the most varied traditional musical repertoire. Their older varieties of music are practiced in the context of an African-based religious tradition known as Kromanti (named after Cormantin, a settlement and fort on the coast of what is today Ghana). Kromanti ceremonies, which are concerned primarily with spiritual and herbal healing, include several music, drumming, and dance genres named after West African peoples or regions that contributed to the original Windward Maroon groups.
Among these are Papa (related to Ewe and other Fongbe-speaking peoples), Mandinga (related to Mande peoples), Ibo (related to Igbo), and Mongala (related to the Congo-Angola region). Most of the songs in these categories are sung in African-derived esoteric languages. These songs are effective in calling the spirits of ancestors, who use the bodies of Kromanti dancers to communicate with the living. There are also several kinds of “lighter” songs and drumming styles used primarily for enjoyment, including Jawbone, Tambu, Sa Leone, and John Thomas -- although these sometimes draw spirits as well.

The traditional music of the Leeward community of Accompong shows more evidence of outside influence. Almost all songs are in the Jamaican Creole language (also known as Patwa) and are backed by a single style of drumming, which appears to have been influenced by European military parade music, although it remains fundamentally African in style. This type of music is used most often to accompany formal processions. Though less explicitly tied to religious ceremonies than the Kromanti music of the Windward Maroons, this processional music also has the power to call ancestral spirits at times. The Accompong Maroons also maintain a special category of Kromanti songs making use of esoteric words from their own Kromanti language. These are reserved for death rites and special occasions such as the annual celebration of Maroon heritage on January 6. When performed over the graves of ancestors, or by grave diggers preparing graves, they are usually sung a capella.