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| Price: |
$87.95
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| Sale Price: |
No Price
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| Prod. Code: |
HS-514-34 |
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Haitian art. Decorative Haitian Recycled Steel Drum Metal Art, Haitian metal art
Metal art wall hanging depicting a Haitian Rara band. A conversation starter for your home decor. Measures 17" x 34". A colored photo is shown below of a RaRa band in Haiti, parading throughout the village.
A bit of information: During the days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, one very often comes across a Rara band marching on the dusty country roads of Haiti. The bands construct unique instruments such as drums, maracas and trumpets, which are made from large cooking oil cans. These produce an amazing variety of rhythms and melody. Long bamboo tubes, with leather covering one end, produce haunting bass tones. In addition, long metal cylinders, that look similar to a large nutmeg grater, are rubbed with bent wire to produce a unique scratching sound.
Rara bands typically sing songs in Haitian Creole to celebrate Haiti's African ancestry. The songs generally address the difficult issues of life, poverty and political situations of the day. (See below picture for more information.)
Information from Wikipedia concerning Rara Bands in Haiti:
Originating in Hait, rara is a form of festival music used for street processions, typically during Easter Week. The music centers on a set of cylindrical bamboo trumpets called vaksen (which may also be made of metal pipes), but also features drums, and metal bells, as well as sometimes also cylindrical metal trumpets which are made from recycled metal, often coffee cans. The vaksen-s perform repeating patterns in hocket and often strike their instruments rhythmically with a stick while blowing into them. In the modern day, standard trumpets and saxophones may also be used. The genre though predominantly Afro-based has some TainoAmerindian elements to it.
The songs are always performed in Haitian Creole and typically celebrate the African ancestry of the Afro-Haïtian masses. Vodou is often implemented through the procession. The genre was imported to the Dominican Republic and is now an integral part of the Afro-Dominican music scene, where it is known colloquially as Gaga. In the Dominican Republic, the music is often played by the Afro-Dominican population as a cultural tribute to their African ancestors in the same manner as their counterparts in Haiti. Rara in Haiti is often used for political purposes, with candidates commissioning songs praising them and their campaigns. Rara lyrics also often address difficult issues, such as political oppression or poverty. Consequently, rara groups and other musicians have been banned from performing and even forced into exile—most notably, folk singer Manno Charlemagne who later returned to Haïti and was elected mayor of Port au Prince in the 1990s.
Rara performances are often performed while marching, and are often accompanied by twirlers employing metal batons. Performances generally begin on Ash Wednesday and culminate at Easter weekend.
