Doing research for the book, I stumbled upon a newspaper account from 1977. I never knew that Suriname was invited to the famous FESTAC 77 festival in Lagos, but there it was, a report celebrating the accomplishments of the country's cultural delegation.
FESTAC 77 is known as a landmark in African music. Not just Africa's top orchestras such as TPOK Jazz, Afrisa International, Bembeya Jazz and TP Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were there, but also afro-american artists like Mighty Sparrow, Stevie Wonder and Gilberto Gil, to name but a few. Who would have thought that in the company of such international stars a humble kaseko band from Suriname could meet with such success? But it did. The paper says:
"The audience was driven into a frenzy, and as we found out later, our Kaseko music turned out to be very popular in Lagos. In every market stand and curiosity booth we heard it booming out of taperecorders."
The kaseko band that thrilled the National Stadium in Lagos on Januari 22, 1977, was led by Alwin Cederboom. The report doesn't mention the name of the band, so I suppose it was put together especially for the occasion. Alwin Cederboom had been the co founder, together with Henk Spalburg, of the Kaseko Stars. I think it's fair to assume that musicians from that band made up the core of the band in question. Here they are with a tune from 1974, a "badjie" (or Bagi) - a form of kaseko originating in Guyana. Henk Spalburg ("Spally") is the man playing the trombone, Alwin Cederboom plays the double bass.
Also partaking in the delegation was a cultural troupe of Surinamese maroons. They performed several so called winti dances. Winti is the Surinamese traditional religion not unlike Haitian vodu or Brazilian candomblé.
The second performance spectacularly ended with the Kumanti fire dance, which left the audience breathless. Some Nigerian tribes know the Kumanti, which is originally from Ghana. This winti can do astonishing things of which dancing on fire is but one. Our delegation, having tasted success, on returning home out of pure joy had a winty play that literally shook the festival village. The beating on the drums was heard for miles around and many spectators witnessed how the wintis came to take possession of the dancers and party with them.
This is a recent video of Surinamese maroons performing a Kumanti dance. These dances are very spectacular, even violent... The dancers beat themselves with cutters, walk on broken glass, put hot charcoal in their mouths, yet nobody ever gets hurt. They believe it is the winti who protects them.