Tuk Band - History

History

After being colonized in 1627 by the British, "Little England" (as Barbados was called) had much fusion of music. Eighty Englishmen and ten Africans were captured from a Spanish galleon and settled in Barbados in February in 1627. The result of this mixture of people was "African-based drum music and British folk ballads and religious songs ultimately led to the distinctively Barbadian sound of traditional tuk band music".

HISTORY OF THE TUK BAND

The music of the drums was brought to the island of Barbados by African slaves who arrived on the island in the mid-1600s.

The newly initiated slaves were forced to leave their drums behind, but found the Mahogany trees on the island well suited for the drum base, and they fashioned the drum skin from sheep, goats and cattle.

The English slave owners instituted a law in the late 1600s to outlaw the playing of drums, with one of the penalties being death.

The plantation owners were afraid the slaves would use the drums to "talk to each other", and organize rebellions.

The drums were an intricate part of the African culture, and the African slaves could no more stop playing the drum as they could stop breathing.

The slaves simply altered their drum playing to sound like the music of the English fife and drum corps. After this was accomplished, they played during the weekend celebrations and when away from the sugar cane fields.

No doubt the slaves did figure out a way to communicate with their drums, and Barbados was one of the earlier islands to abolish slavery.