Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Jamesie's Crucian Music

2008; University of Puerto Rico; Volume: 36; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/crb.0.0040

1940-9095

Daniel T. Neely,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Jamesie's Crucian Music Daniel T. Neely (bio) Jamesie, King of Scratch. Produced and directed by Andrea E. Leland. AndreaLelandFilms, LLC., 2006. DVD. 70 minutes. In Jamesie, King of Scratch, filmmaker Andrea Leland presents a portrait of Crucian musician, James "Jamesie" Brewster. A talented performer, Jamesie's contributions to the history and development of the music now called quelbe are well known in the Caribbean, particularly by people in the Leeward Islands. Shot mainly in St. Croix USVI, Denmark and the continental United States, Leland's film is organized into three acts. The first touches on Jamesie's life, Crucian culture and quelbe's historical background, the second follows Jamesie on trips to Denmark and mainland United States, and the third documents his return to St. Croix from overseas. The film begins in St. Croix with Jamesie building a sardine-pan banjo-ukulele from scratch. Viewers are drawn in by the sound of him working—a hand held power sander and a machete chopping up a comb for parts are in remarkable balance with insects chirping in the background. This acoustic space envelops the viewer until finally, Jamesie-as-narrator proclaims, "No man could afford to buy instruments. Everything to if you was a musician and you want to go and play music, you had to find a way to get this instrument." The scene ends with Jamesie putting the finishing touches on and, finally, tuning the instrument. We next see him on a beach, gently singing and accompanying himself on his new banjo-ukulele. This opening scene sets a tone of nostalgia in the first act by placing an emphasis on authenticity and originality. Early on, interviews with Jamesie help get at aspects of his personal past and musical development. Leland supplements this with interviews of friends, family and band mates to help explore in more detail his music, personal background and legend. These interviews are interspersed with clips of Jamesie performing scratch or quelbe music (almost exclusively accompanying himself on guitar). Sometimes the songs in these clips help to illustrate a narrative point; other times, they are used to transition from one scene to the next. Covered here are issues surrounding the music's transmission, its role in documenting current events, where its name came from, what kinds of [End Page 247] instruments are used and the music's relationship to local dance styles like quadrille. Much of the material in this first act is taken from interviews with two of Jamesie's cousins, Sylvester "Blinky" McIntosh, a jazz saxophonist, and Camille "King Derby" Macedon, a quelbe musician. These interviews balance each other nicely. In the first, McIntosh, a 1987 recipient of the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, plays the role of cultural authority by mediating the analysis of Jamesie's music and its role in Crucian culture for the interviewer. Because Derby's musical perspective is similar to that of Jamesie's, his interview adds depth to the stories Jamesie tells about quelbe and its cultural role. The second act follows Jamesie performing and leading workshops away from the Caribbean. The first segment shows him in Denmark guiding the Danish Polcalypso Orchestra through a rehearsal and then a performance. The next follows Jamesie and a group of Crucian musicians through two events at the 2004 Chicago World Music Festival, an outdoor concert sponsored by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and, later, a performance workshop. The third segment documents his group's appearance at the Lotus Fest in Bloomington, Indiana. Each of these segments includes brief (and somewhat homogeneous) interviews with the artists and audience members. In the third and final act, Jamesie returns to St. Croix and the documentary ends with a scene showing Jamesie performing for a school assembly and talking about the importance of maintaining Crucian traditions. I am of two minds about this film. On one hand, Jamesie's performances are excellent and following him around St. Croix while listening to him and others talk about music is totally enjoyable. I was fascinated at how people in Denmark and the United States articulated with Jamesie's music in different ways and how he responded to them. On the other hand, however, I am disappointed...