Deep the water, shallow the shore : three essays on shantying in the West Indies / Roger D. Abrahams ; music transcribed by Linda Sobin.
| Author/creator | Abrahams, Roger D. |
| Other author | American Folklore Society. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Austin : Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press, ©1974. |
| Description | xiv, 125 pages : music ; 22 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Publications of the American Folklore Society. Memoir series ; v. 60 Publications of the American Folklore Society. Memoir series ; v. 60. ^A21377 |
| Contents | Shantying in the West Indies -- "Row, bully, row boy": singing the fishing on Nevis and Tobago -- "Solid fas'" our captain cry out: blackfishing at Barouallie. |
| Abstract | "This short volume surveys the importance, historical and contemporary, of sea shanties in the British West Indies. In the first chapter, Roger Abrahams surveys documentary records of shantying in the area. Early visitors to the West Indies remarked at some length on shantying as an accompaniment to all kinds of group tasks. The travelers associated the songs not so much with deep-sea experiences as with a wide range of shore jobs--hauling coal, rowing boats, and working on the plantations. The comments of early travelers on the singers and their songs and Roger Abrahams' own field work show that the British West Indies has been and is an area of great importance in the creation and maintenance of the sea-shantying tradition. The rest of the book describes shanties and their uses in three communities: Newcastle, Nevis; Plymouth, Tobago; and Barouallie, St. Vincent. Forty-five song plates accompany the text. On Nevis, where fishing is an individual activity, most shanties arise in connection with other cooperative undertakings, such as housemoving or removing boats from the water before hurricane season. However, Nevis, in the height of the whaling industry, was visited by whalers and large sailing ships, and shanties heard there are primarily from the repertoire of the deep-sea sailor. Plymouth is off the main-traveled routes of sailing ships, and shanties from there stem from local tradition. Fishing is a cooperative activity, and shanties are heard in fishing operations as well as in on-shore occupations. The dramatically rich shanties of Barouallie, where the whaling trade is still very much alive, sing of whaling and the confrontation between man and whale. Shanties also comment on local happenings and personalities; such shanties are a retention of the African traditions of praise songs and scandal songs."--Dust jacket. |
| Bibliography note | Bibliography: pages 123-125. |
| Biographical note | "Roger Abrahams is professor of English and anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin and former director of the African and Afro-American Research Institute. He is the author of Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia, Positively Black, Anglo-American Folksong Style, A Singer and Her Songs, and Jump-Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary."--Dust jacket. |
| Genre/form | Sea shanties. |
| LCCN | 73019540 |
| ISBN | 0292715021 |
| Stock number | $7.50 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML3565 .A27 1974 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |