A. Kori Hill
Do you know about the bamboula? It’s a music-dance form whose name comes from the bamboula drum. It developed in Africa and was brought to the United States and Caribbean by enslaved Africans. The bamboula moved from Haiti (Saint-Domingue) to Alabama and Louisiana, especially in New Orleans. The bamboula became one of many music-dance traditions that became part of the city’s soundscape.
When New Orleans was colonized by the French and Spanish (1718–1803), enslaved people were allowed Sundays off, but there were no laws in place that respected their right to gather. In 1817, a law was passed that required enslaved people to gather in one location – Congo Square. Located in what is now the Tremé neighborhood in Louis Armstrong Park, Congo Square is a major location in the history of American culture, music, and spiritual practice. Enslaved peoples played music, including drums, violins, banjo-esque instruments, marimbas, and pan flutes; performed vodou and hoodoo rituals – two religions that developed from the intersection of Catholic and African and African and folk practices, respectively – and enjoyed their time together and away from work. New Orleans is also known for its Creole culture, developed from the intermixture of African, Indigenous, French, and Spanish people and their cultures.
The bamboula and Creole culture is the root of Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s Bamboula, Op. 2 for piano. A native of New Orleans, Louis’ grandmother grew up in Saint-Domingue, so there’s a possibility he learned about the bamboula through his grandmother as well as his time growing up in the city. Bamboula was written in 1848 while he was in France, battling a fever. It’s based on two Creole songs: “Musieu Bainjo” (“Mister Banjo”) and “Quan’ patate la cuite”(“When Your Potato’s Done, It’s Time to Eat It”), set in a bamboula texture.
But what is a bamboula texture? It consists of three patterns: the first is a foundational rhythm; the second is a more active rhythmic cell, and the final rhythm on top is a short-long-short pattern. Louis uses this rhythm in the main theme of Bamboula, introduced after an intro that features an imitation of a vertical drumbeat, with hints of the main theme poking through.
Looking at the score, you can see how Louis incorporated the polymetric contents of the bamboula: the left hand holds the foundational rhythm; the second rhythm moves between the left and right hands, while the final rhythm is used in the melodic line. The bamboula is a key part of New Orleans music; its rhythm has been incorporated as the second line – a key formal element of a lot of New Orleans music. Bamboula is the first of several pieces that Louis would write that are seen as his “Louisiana Creole” Pieces.
Louis also brings in elements of western classical piano music: improvisatory flourishes, and virtuosic sequences, especially in the middle section when he quotes the potato song. As you listen, see if you can identify when Louis quotes “Musieu Bainjo” and “Quan’ patate la cuite;” how do they sound in this style versus more traditionally-informed recordings? Would you have known Louis was using the bamboula just by listening to? If not, what does that say about how much we know about the impact of folk, popular, and sacred music on western classical music?
