The Rhythm of our Culture

The Rhythm of Our Culture (El ritmo de nuestra cultura) is a short video-documentary produced by Bluefields Sound System under the supervision of his director Michael Britton Allen (2016). The goal of this video is to honor May Pole music, by far the most original and most closely related to Bluefields identity. With a fifteen minutes duration and the song “See the rondon bubbling” as a theme, several of the traditional members of famous Zinica Band are presented. Enjoying a tasty rondon, Aldrin Nash, Cipriano Urbina, René Casells, Herbbert Perry, David González y Putchie, weave memories and explain the characteristics of May Pole music and its importance for the festival that each May takes Bluefields by storm to celebrate the end of the dry season and the coming of the rains. According to Creole historian Johnny Hodgson, this music originated in Great Britain and arrived at the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua via Jamaica. Then, it mixed with other Caribbean rhythms present in the area. As Britton explains, Palo the Mayo is a combination of mento music and jazz, a rhythm that arrived to Bluefields by the end of the XIX century hand in hand with the banana enclave. Bluefields Sound System and director Michael Britton Allen hope to produce a second video including the music of the other ethnic groups that live in the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.

Mayra Herra Monge

Retired professor

Universidad de Costa Rica

...and they came and stayed...

…y llegaron para quedarse… (…and they came and stayed…) is a brief account of the arrival and permanence of Afro Caribbean people coming to Costa Rica in the late XIX century.  As it is said in the title, they came to stay. And to contribute to progress and wellness of this country, despite marginalization and oblivion casted on them given the cultural hegemonic paradigm based on the concepts of “whiteness” and “vallecentralismo” proper of Costa Rica culture. The … at the beginning and end of the title, are symbolic in that they express the continuity of this narrative. At the beginning they express the fact that the afrodescendendts in Costa Rica does not begin with the arrival of afro-caribbean peoples since 1872 but from colonial times indeed; at the end because their descendents, now Afro-Costarricans are now an integral part of our society and we hope it continues to be that. It is the goal of this video to serve as a didactic means to be used in elementary and secondary schools and other institutions; therefore its simple and explanatory character., in the hope that many Costarricans and peoples from elsewhere, get acquainted with a major chapter of our history and value the great contribution of Afro-Costarricans to our common land.

Mayra Herra Monge

Retired professor

Universidad de Costa Rica