Blow Fo' Ma Dogoma

DESCRIPTION: For x=("Play", "Blow", "Root", "Dance"), "x boy, x boy, x fo' Ma Dogoma. Anansi oh! x fo' Ma Dogoma. See how them boys are. x fo' Ma Dogoma. Anansi oh! x fo' Ma Dogoma"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Elder-FolksongsFromTobago)
KEYWORDS: death ritual dancing music nonballad religious
FOUND IN: West Indies(Tobago)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Elder-FolkSongAndFolkLifeInCharlotteville, p. 60, "Blow Fo' Ma Dogoma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Elder-FolksongsFromTobago 9, "Ma Dogoma" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [78 words]: The current description is based on the Elder-Charlottville text.
Elder-Charlottville: "Ma Dogoma the folk say, guards the gates of Death. No one can die unless she comes. At a wake-house 'the boys sing for Ma Dogoma' and dance the bongo. The bongo is a 'mirror-dance' i.e. two dancers compete with each other in performing identical steps to choral singing ...."
Anansi is the eponymous spider trickster of West Indian and Ashanti (West African) "Anansi stories." - BS
Last updated in version 4.0
File: ElCh060

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