Photos: ‘Gombey Saturdays in the Park’
The weekly ‘Gombey Saturdays in the Park’ took place yesterday [Aug.6], and saw both tourists and locals stop by Par-la-Ville Park for a welcome by the City of Hamilton’s Town Crier, live entertainment followed by the Gombeys.
‘Gombey Saturdays in the Park’ takes place every Saturday until October 29, with live entertainment from 12:00 noon to 12:30pm, and a Gombey performance from 12:30pm to 12:50pm.
Bermuda’s Gombey tradition — marked by snare drum-driven rhythms, peacock-feathered headdresses and expressive dances — dates back to at least the mid-18th century. The island’s preeminent folk art, the word Gombey is thought to derive from either the Bantu word for “rhythm” or an African type of drum.
Photos by Carlton Saunders, click to enlarge:
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I love the Gombeys and admire the drummers and the dancers and the kids are cute and they work hard and entertain very well
but with no means to insult, the gombey culture is really native american in origin, and is very different from what we see in Bermuda. I often wonder what tourists think when they see the gombeys. Do they think it is the native’s dance? lol
When my wife came here to get married she was so confused by the Gombeys because it seems like a tribal performance, and Bermuda has no tribal people.
I think more publicity is needed on the origins of our Gombey dancing which is now enthreaded into our culture. I mean, it is like a town in Germany doing tribal African dance routines as part of German culture. Funny eh?