Mureau, Mureau the Devil

DESCRIPTION: The singer, Mureau "the devil," is so bad that his mother made his father disown him. Be careful or his fighting stick will come down on your head and that fighting stick will be used to measure your coffin.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (WITrinidadVillage01)
KEYWORDS: bragging warning fight violence nonballad
FOUND IN: West Indies(Trinidad)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: J.D. Elder, "'Kalinda': Song of the Battling Troubadours of Trinidad" in _The Journal of the Folklore Institute_, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Aug., 1966 (made available online by JSTOR)) #1 pp. 198-199,202-203, "Me Mother Bring Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Henry Williams, Allan Lovelace and George Roberts, "Mureau, Mureau the Devil" (on WITrinidadVillage01)
NOTES [157 words]: This is a Trinidadian Carnival kalinda song. That is, it is a song used by stick fighters advertising how threatening they are. This song is typical of kalinda song in that it is in a minor key.
For a few references on kalinda, see
Donald R. Hill, Maureeen Warner-Lewis, John Cowley, Lise Winer, liner notes on WITrinidadVillage01
Donald R. Hill, Calypso Calaloo (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1993), p. 56),
John H. Cowley, "Canboulay, Carnival, and Calenda," liner notes on "West Indian Rhythm", pp. 259-271, Bear Family Records 10CD BCD 16623 JM, 2006
J.D. Elder, "Color, Music, and Conflict: A Study of Aggression in Trinidad with Traditional Music" in Ethnology, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May, 1964 (made available online by JSTOR)),
and especially, J.D. Elder, "'Kalinda': Song of the Battling Troubadours of Trinidad" in The Journal of the Folklore Institute, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Aug., 1966 (made available online by JSTOR)). - BS
Last updated in version 5.2
File: RcMuMutD

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