Maringa, Merengue, and West African Music

I do not believe anyone has verified if there is indeed a link between Caribbean merengue and Sierra Leone's maringa, although the ties between Caribbean music and that of West Africa have been fruitful in terms of highlife. The names sound too similar to be a coincidence, and we know maringa's early history in Sierra Leone was linked to Krio people with descent from across the Atlantic, according to Paul Austerlitz. Nonetheless, after listening to some recordings of maringa or "maringar" music from Sierra Leone, particularly the music of Ebenezer Calendar, the music sounds more like Caribbean calypso and highlife (although the rhythms of some songs actually remind me of baião music from Brazil, such as in "Fire, Fire, Fire").

From songs like these, it is difficult to see any correlation between Sierra Leone's maringa and the Dominican merengue, although one can find songs from the United States, such as a classic blues from Bessie Smith re-recorded by Ebenezer Calendar. It's possible maringa from Central Africa was an influence, too, given the popularity of dance called maringa in colonial Brazzaville, according to Phyllis Martin. For similar music from Sierra Leone, check out Famous Scrubbs, and palm-wine music (like the Kumasi Trio), which spread throughout West Africa partly because of coastal sailors, such as the Kru. It seems undeniable that Afro-Caribbean influences were part of this thick musical stew that connected various parts of West Africa from the 19th century to the rise of highlife, but merengue as we know it does not seem to have been a large part of it, at least not as significant as calypso and Cuban son.

n addition, one cannot forget how recaptives, colonialism, religion, and migration shaped culture in West Africa, leading to cosmopolitan or diverse influences for musical culture. Perhaps one day someone will write an exhaustively researched history of highlife music in West Africa that demonstrates how all of these aforementioned influences. Adidtional research is needed on the question of the relationship between the Congolese maringa and that of West Africa, too. For a great example of how West African music as early as the 1920s reflected several cultural influences and was shaped by Europe and the Americas, check out the West African Instrumental Quintet recordings from 1929, here and here.

Edward Wilmot Blyden

Edward Wilmot Blyden, West Indian-born, educated in US, and significant pan-Africanist intellectual in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Blyden criticized Krio elites for emulating Western culture, praised Islamic West Africa's intellectual tradition (as well as romanticized them), believed Islam was better suited for blacks, supported a Dress Reform Society to push Krio men to wear African-styled clothes, supported "Africanization" of Krio names (something already in practice before Blyden's time), and argued for a 'Negro personality' that would lead to development on its own. Blyden was something of a hypocrite, since he never 'Africanized' his name, but his influence is sometimes overstated. Regardless, he was a towering figure in 19th century Black Atlantic intellectual thought.