You can feel the electricity in the air when the Valley Boys Junkanoo group makes its way down Bay Street shouting, “Who are we?” and the crowd joins in the resounding response – “Da Valley!”
Below is an excerpt from “Conversation with Maureen “Bahama Mama” DuValier and Ronald Simms: Junkanoo Past, Present, and Future” by Rosita Sands:
Junkanoo music is highly rhythmical and, today, almost exclusively instrumental, using primarily cowbells, goat-skin drums, and whistles. Typically the cowbell ringers blow whistles at the same time as they ring the bells. Although a melodic instrument, the whistle is used by Junkanoo musicians as an additional rhythm instrument, on which they blow short repetitive rhythmic patterns or motives, often in a call-and-response exchange with the drums.
Today, even orchestral brass instruments are being included in the music sections of some Junkanoo groups. At the 1987 Boxing Day Junkanoo in Nassau, for example, the Valley Boys, one of the leading contemporary Junkanoo groups, had a music section consisting of large numbers of trumpets and trombones in addition to the traditional cowbells, drums, and whistles.
Inevitably, such changes in instrumentation affect changes in the type of music being produced. The Valley Boys’ music, rather than conforming to the tradition with an emphasis on percussive sounds with pounding ostinato rhythmic patterns, instead focused some attention on its melodic elements, and included hymns and other tunes march style.
This change in instrumentation and repertory evoked considerable discussion among the spectators, some of whom voiced the opinion that because the Valley Boys were using instruments not traditionally associated with Junkanoo, they should not be eligible for the First Place or Best Music award. That the Valley Boys nevertheless were awarded the prize for Best Music attests to the fact that the direction in which Junkanoo presently is moving accepts changes in some of the traditions.