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GUYANA FOLK FESTIVAL
Kwe-Kwe Nite
2007!
Good Nite
Aye, Good Nite Oh, Awe Come Cum tell Yuh,
Good Nite aye!
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They came from Buxton, they came from Plaisance, they came from
Toronto, and from as far as Venezuela and London. They all came for
the Guyana Folk Festival 2007 Kwe-Kwe Nite. It was a capacity audience who came prepared to enjoy a night of
Guyanese Kwe-Kwe songs and dancing and to "bessy-down" to good old
Guyanese Folk songs. From 8.30 p.m. Friday evening to 2.00 a.m. Saturday
morning, Guyanese and friends from all parts of the world sang those old
familiar folk songs and challenged each other to "show me yuh motion" in
the ring. For those unfamiliar with the various stages of the Kwe-Kwe,
Kwe-Kwe Master and Lead singer Lio Britton along with Rose October-Edun,
Verna Walcott-
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White, Akoyah Rudder, Hilton Hemerding and Winston"Jeggae"
Hoppie first demonstrated the "Kwe-Kwe steps" and later brought patrons
running from outside to see what was causing the sound made by "jumbie
pass."
Whether it was an invitation to "sciunce yuh sciunce" join the
Kwe-Kwe "Break-dancer" in the ring or screw out the light-bulb to "dil-day-ka-day-koh"
Kwe-Kwe Nite 2007 was a nite of community participation and good old
GT fun. We had a fine time Kwe-Kwe nite!
GET A TASTE OF KWE-KWE NITE 2007 ON YOUTUBE.COM |
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Come to
My Kwe-Kwe
Friday August 31, 2007
7pm - 1am
Rising Star Auditorium
1234 East 87 Street, (Between Avenues L-M)
Canarsie, Brooklyn, NY 11236
Click for flyer |
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Kwe Kwe takes place on the
night before the marriage of an African-Guyanese couple. It
is an evening of singing, dance, eating and drinking. The
purpose of the Kwe Kwe is jollification, emphasizing new
relationships created by the union, and, traditionally, to
provide instructional and psychological preparation to the
bride and groom for married life.
At the start of Kwe Kwe,
participants arrange themselves in the house or outside on a
specially made wooden floor and the Leader sings the solo
parts of the songs which are sung in a call-and-response
pattern. A song continues until someone shouts "bato-bato".
This is a signal to stop and change a song. A new song can
be introduced by any member of the group but it is the
Leader who raises the tune.
The main purposes of
marriage in the society were and continue to be the
continuation of the lineage and the granting of legitimacy
to sexual relations. In the communities from which African
Guyanese claim their ancestry and traditions, the ability by
the mothers or grooms, variously,
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was much prized and admired. But
virginity on the part of the brides was even more prized giving rise to
such songs in the tradition of the Guyanese Kwe Kwe as:
Woman
lie down and the man can't function
Wu kinda man laika da, laika da
Take yuh calabash, wash yuh bembe
Na me shame a yuh Muma shame.
Although the Kwe Kwe dance is no
longer as socially significant as it used to be, the songs provide an
important insight into the customs, beliefs, practices and the highly
creative ability of older generations of people of African descent for
adapting to their new environment, releasing their tensions, and dealing
with the problems of everyday life.
Kwe Kwe is still a celebration not
only in the secular sense of village unity but in the larger "Guyanese"
sense by the incorporation and binding of elements that are African,
East Indian and European. |
