photo courtesy of NPR

As part of the Secret Disco series of posts, I included a song by the group Exuma. Unfortunately, I didn’t give much information about the track or it’s origins. Exuma is artist who hails from the Caribbean where a kind of music called Junkanoo is popular. On New Year’s Day in the Bahamas Junkanoo festivals are held. They commemorate one of the two days when Caribbean slaves were given “free days” (days when they were at liberty to sing, dance and entertain themselves without being at the beck and call of slavemasters.) The other day is December 26. Every year there are big street parties, festivals and parades to mark the occasion. The music is incredible. I’m including a couple of clips here so that you can get a sense of the festivities.

This clip is special to me because I’ve actually been on this street when I visited Nassau at age 17. It’s where I found an awesome music store and bought handfuls of cassette tapes that I still listen to till this day.

More on Junkanoo festivals from NPR.

And for a bit of fun: