The Dinizulu Archives's video: The Journey - Ancestral Spirits - Nana Kimati Dinizulu

Published November 26, 2012 The Journey - Nana Kimati Dinizulu (ancestral spirits) by Dr. Salim Washington PhD The voice narrating the details of the Middle Passage speaks with the distinctive musical patois of Jamaica, recited by Abajonai. In fact, the vast majority of the African captives were actually brought to the Caribbean. The afuche, agogo bells, marimba, and rhythmic exhortations create a mosaic of interlocking motives that remain steady throughout, save for periodic pauses during poignant passages of the narration. But during the breaks the rhythm goes on in our heads and is returned to faithfully after the pause without any disruption. We are musically drawn to contemplating the monotony of the long voyage. Would that monotony was the worse of it. We learn of the physical conditions of slave ships made famous through the iconic photograph, published in an article in The Youth's Cabinet in July 7, 1837, showing how people were packed like sardines in a can to maximize the "cargo". The stench, the inability to sit upright, the darkness and suffocating closeness enforced by chains, are all narrated over the steady beat. Production notes: Abajonai - Recitations, Kimati Dinizulu - Percussion, Yolanda Lee - Field Hollers, Composed and Arranged by Kimati Dinizulu, Recorded by Kimati Dinizulu at African Room Music Studios and Tuff Gong Studio, Jamaica, West Indies Copyright Kimati Dinizulu all rights reserved