Classification Membranophone | ||
 | ||
Hornbostel–Sachs classification 211.212.1
(Cylindrical drums) | ||
A bamboula is a type of drum made from a section of giant bamboo with skin stretched over the ends. It is also a dance accompanied by music from these drums.
Contents
Etymology
The term is derived from kam-bumbulu and ba m'bula in the Bantu languages which means drum.
History
Originating in Africa, the bamboula form appears in a Haitian song in 1757 and bamboula became a dance syncopation performed to the rhythm of the drum during festivals and ceremonies in Haiti (then Saint-Domingue). It was then exported to the United States (notably Mobile, Alabama, and the Virgin Islands) through Louisiana, by the Africans that were deported to New Orleans during the 18th century with the arrival of the displaced French settlers of the island of San Domingo especially after the Haitian Revolution. The slaves found themselves on the Congo Square to the edge of the area of the French Quarter of New Orleans to dance the bamboula.
In 1848, Louisiana, Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born in New Orleans but also a native of Saint-Domingue by his mother, who wrote the first swing, entitled The Bamboula.