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Traditional Songs of Jamaica

by Lili Verona

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1.
2.
3.
Solas Market 02:17
4.
Bongo Man 01:26
5.
Massa Johnny 02:42
6.
Mattie Rag 01:32
7.
Sammy Dead 01:37
8.
Hosannah 01:15
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10.
11.
12.
Sly Mongoose 01:57
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14.
15.
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17.
Belly Lick 01:40
18.
Ada 01:06
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22.

about

Not much is known about Lili Verona except that she is another rare female calypso singer from the 1950s–'60s. Born Lillian Samuels, Verona recorded one 19-track album for EMI, and several singles. Eight of the album tracks were issued as a 7"EP on the His Master's Voice (RCA Victor) label, year unknown. Both the LP and the EP feature liner notes—the former by Peter Leslie, the latter by Denis Preston. These essays are oddly similar, though not identical. They both write about Jamaican culture and musical traditions, but neither discloses even a clue about Lili, who possesses a lovely, expressive voice, brimming with personality. She is not pictured on either release—the covers feature stock tropical photography—and her accompanists are unidentified.

Verona (as "Samuels") is credited on the label with having "collected" these traditional songs, many of which are familiar to calypso enthusiasts—although most existing recordings of these titles are sung by male singers. Consequently, Verona has little stylistic competition and her renditions sound inventive and fresh.

The EP liner notes by Denis Preston:

Like its close neighbors in the Caribbean, Haiti and Cuba, Jamaica is rich in folkways and song. This record presents a brief but varied cross section of the island’s colorful musical heritage.

There are two work songs—‘"Hosanna," a hammer song, and "Ada," a traditional digging song, which is both well-known and very popular.

America’s Uncle Remus stories about Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit find echo in Jamaican folklore in tales of Brer Rat, Brer Puss and Brer Anancy (the spider). "Rattah Madnalah” (Rat’s Mother-in-law) is a song based on the exploits of the traditional fairy tale character, Brer Rat.

In contrast to such happy, rhythmic songs as "Hosanna’," ‘*Ada,” and "Rattah Madnalah,” ’Sammy Dead” is a rather sad little ditty about country life. Sammy’s death was due to the workings of Obeah—the Jamaican name for witchcraft, in which the older country folk of Jamaica still believe.

There are two religious songs in this collection. "Pocomania" is a cult whose origin goes back to rites practiced by the West African slaves who peopled prosperous plantations of the island as long ago as the 17th century. A Pocomania meeting is led by a man called "The Shepherd," dressed in a long white gown and turban head-dress, and whose chief followers, including drummers and fifers, are dressed in a similar fashion. They march in procession, headed by "The Shepherd” to the incessant beating of drums and the singing of songs like "A Little More Oil in Your Lamp."

"Heddow, Heddow” is an invocation of different caliber. Heddow is a god of the Arawak Indians—the original inhabitants of Jamaica—whose descendants, intermixed with escaped slaves of an earlier generation, inhabit Maroon Town and are known as "Maroons."

Popular songs, both ancient and modern, are represented respectively by "Bongo Man” and "Miss Marjorie"—a song which in musical form reflects the influence of the Trinidad calypso. Lili Verona sings these songs in the colorful patois spoken by the peasant folk of Jamaica—a form of Pidgin-English as warm as Jamaican sunshine and as piquant to the unaccustomed ear as some exotic foreign language.

credits

released November 5, 2021

All songs trad. arr. by Lillian Samuels

Audio restoration from vinyl by Irwin Chusid

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Cosmic Spy Music Hoboken, New Jersey

Finding things on the scrapheap of history that we know don't belong there, and salvaging them.

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