Goombay

Music of The Anglophone Caribbean
Genres
Calypso Chutney Dancehall Dub Junkanoo Ragga Rapso Reggae Ripsaw Rocksteady Scratch Ska Soca Spouge Steelpan
Regional music
Local forms	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Bermuda British Caribbean Caymans Grenada Montserrat St. Vincent and the Grenadines St. Kitts and Nevis Turks and Caicos UK Virgin Islands US Virgin Islands Other Anglophone islands
Related areas	Aruba and the Dutch Antilles Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Guadeloupe Guyana Haiti Jamaica Martinique Puerto Rico St Lucia Suriname Trinidad and Tobago

Goombay is a form of Bahamian music and a drum used to create it. The goombay drum is a membranophone with one goat skin head held between the legs and played with the hands or sticks.

The goombay name has also evolved to become synonymous with local African-American music related to calypso. In Bahamas, its most famous practitioner in modern times was Alphonso 'Blind Blake' Higgs, who performed at the Nassau International Airport for many years.^[1]

A similar tradition exists in Bermuda, called Gombey.

Goombay is also an alternate spelling for the gumbe, a Jamaican drum (see Music of Jamaica and List of Caribbean drums).

Discography

Bahamas Goombay 1951 - 1959 (Frémeaux et Associés FA5302, 2011) ^[2]

See also

• Coconut Grove (Goombay Festival)
• Bahamian cuisine (for dishes and beverages named Goombay)

References and notes

1. Kaliss, Jeff. "Junkanoo and Sloop John B.". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 317-324. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0