{"id":38598,"date":"2013-08-23T08:29:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T12:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=38598"},"modified":"2013-08-23T08:37:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T12:37:35","slug":"new-generation-takes-up-rake-scrape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/08\/new-generation-takes-up-rake-scrape","title":{"rendered":"New Generation Takes Up Rake & Scrape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the island of Rake & Scrape, the drama of the music is best brought to life by Bohog and the Rooters \u2013 a champion band from Cat Island. Crystal Smith vigorously scrapes away as she bends her saw, alternating between different musical tones. Cedelle Hunter beats at the goatskin drum as if fueled by a primordial fire.<\/p>\n

She keeps rhythm with the 68 year old Pompey \u201cBohog\u201d Johnson, who belts out a smooth set of lyrics, as he maneuvers his accordion song. The songs read like old time stories: \u201cI\u2019m going away gal looking for some work, say a little prayer gal you will be alright\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Cat Island is the home of Rake & Scrape. Every summer, musicians of all ages, from across the island and the wider Bahamas, converge on the Rake & Scrape Festival grounds for a musical show down.<\/p>\n

Veterans like Bohog are doing their part to keep the rich musical tradition alive. His band is breaking many barriers, bringing young blood\u2026and women\u2026to the art form.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started about two years ago with Bohog and the Rooters,\u201d said Crystal, who moved to Cat Island five years ago.\u2028\u201cWe went away to Paris for a week and were able to expose the Bahamian culture of Rake & Scrape. It was a new experience for me, a good experience. Bohog brought me into the music. He said you have to learn something and I decided to go for it,\u201d said Cedelle.<\/p>\n

Both women are in their twenties. They represent a fresh ocean breeze to the male dominated art from. Not only do they play professionally, but they are actively encouraging younger people to learn the tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage younger folks as much as I can. I tell them that our main culture of Rake & Scrape is dying out. Pompey is one of the few masters we have left, so we have to learn it to carry it on,\u201d said Cedelle.<\/p>\n

Pompey\u2019s involvement with Rake & Scrape began in 1956, when he picked up a discarded accordion that a family friend had left with his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a few weeks my sister and I began playing and then I branched out. I taught a lot of people,\u201d said Pompey. \u201cMy involvement now is mainly with the young people in Arthur\u2019s Town and New Bight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pompey recalls learning to play the accordion and concertina from elders in the community, such as Pa Davis, who had picked up the skills while working on the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me that the concertina and accordion were a part of the Spanish culture. They got involved with it and brought it home,\u201d said Pompey.
\nIn the early days, Rake & Scrape bands also used the banjo, tambourine and washtub base. While some elders still possess skills on these instruments, they have largely fallen out of use.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had to be a very bad tub because we used to patch our tubs with soap. We used the number three and number two tubs. Before they began using saws they used to use the wooden scrub boards that they made themselves,\u201d said Pompey.\u2028Alworth Rolle, President of the Cat Island Rake & Scrape Festival Committee, said the people of Cat Island are very much committed to keeping the tradition alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to get the older ones to impart the knowledge to the younger ones. Every year we try to get more young ones, so the tradition will not be lost. Because once they get to grade twelve they go to college or go off to Nassau and they never return,\u201d said Mr Rolle.<\/p>\n

Source: Ministry of Tourism<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the island of Rake & Scrape, the drama of the music is best brought to life by Bohog and the Rooters \u2013 a rake and scrape band from Cat Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}