Performance by Rasta Samba Gynin

General Note/Comment

• One reel to reel tape. (Copied onto C86-99) Rasta Samba Gynin is a Rasta group of four Haitians formed in 1984 to play Rasta cultural songs. Most of the songs (written by group member Yamba Ye) are spiritual, and follow traditional tunes. Their music stresses their African roots. For more information, see T86-57 (C86-100) for interviews with group members. Members are: Yamba Ye (writer, drums and vocal); Pierre Joseph Jabouin (drum and vocal); Henry Frederic Massena (drum and vocal); and Rodrick Maurice St. Cyr (voice and percussion). The Rasta movement (whose members are called Rastafarians) began with Marcus Garvey's back-to-Africa movement. When the Ethiopian prince Ras Tafari Makkonen was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I in the 1930s, many in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean looked to him as a messiah, and Rasta was born. It combines elements of African and New World beliefs. Sommers's field notes on the group may be found in S 1628, Box 1, folder 11. Recorded at the Little River Community Center. The Dade Folk Arts Survey was conducted in 1986 by folklorists Tina Bucuvalas, Nancy Nusz and Laurie Sommers in order to identify folk arts and folk artists for the special folklife area at the 34th Annual Florida Folk Festival. The traditions are mainly Haitian, Jamaican, Mexican, Bahamian, Cuban and Jewish and cover a wide range of skills and art forms.