Press Release :
What the hell is goombay?
Good question.
Goombay is a drum. Goombay is an annual Bahamian street festival. Goombay is a flavor, literally, and not entirely distant from pina colada. And goombay is the genre of Bahamian music given its name by the drum that beats its rhythm. But goombay is also a sort of shorthand for what native Bahamian musicians of the 1970s crafted: an island music instantly familiar and specifically Caribbean, yet unequivocally Bahamian.
From the second we stumbled off the seven-hour ferry onto the duty-free shores of Freeport we knew it wasn't going to be easy to uncover the remnants of the island's musical history. Ravaged by three hurricanes in the last decade alone, much of what we were looking for had been washed or thrown away years before we entertained the idea of documenting Funky Nassau's redheaded sister city. Still we pushed on, peeking through the glass of Wurlitzer jukeboxes for singles by the likes of Willpower, Dry Bread, or Sylvia Hall. We tore apart the archives of the island's only studio, GBI, and interrogated its owner Frank Penn for hours. We tooled around in a crappy little Toyota with the wheel on the opposite side, asking directions to houses that are identified by landmarks and not street numbers. Names were mentioned and calls were placed, meetings arranged and blown off. Our portable record player blasted sounds not heard in three decades, triggering glassy eyes, guffaws, and more often than not, head scratching. We were late, certainly, but there was still time to capture what was left. Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay is the story of what remains in Freeport. Ten years ago we would have returned with everything, ten years from now we would have returned with nothing. Sonic archeology is nothing if not a crapshoot.
What we managed to smuggle home in our suitcases goes beyond the trappings of common island sounds. It's your neighbor's interpretation of the sounds he heard wafting in over the fence from the barbeque you didn't invite him to. Poolside soul, second deck cruise ship karaoke, sand in your bathing suit funk, jump rope rhymes, hurricane ravaged R&B, and a genre that can only be classified as ìgoombay,î are all here. Crank up the blender, the stereo, and slather on the SPF 35. Have your mail held. Freeport, Bahamas is a mouse click, a play button, or a needle drop away.
Avaialble as a deluxe 2LP or CD on May 8th, this is your summer soundtrack. You just don't know it yet.