M/V MASCOT: MUSIC IN THE BAHAMAS

What do professional Nashville songwriters, The Barefoot Man, and Rake & Scrape all have in common? They can be seen and heard right here in our little piece of the Bahamas. Everyone will likely understand songwriters form Nashville and could imagine that The Barefoot Man is an entertainer and you would be correct. But what is Rake & Scrape you ask?

In an earlier blog post we talked about the Combustion Music Songwriter’s festival held in Hope Town. Well, we had another one too! In February, Nashville heavyweight Patrick Davis brought a few of his friends for a similar festival in and around Hope Town with some of the venues being different from the group in December. The performances were spread over several days and the performers are songwriters who are responsible for many major hits recorded by big name stars. They performed in ‘the round’ where one performer would tell a little story about themselves or how the song was created and then sing the song and accompany themselves on guitar. There would often be a little banter among themselves and the other performers might strum a little background rhythm. Then, the spotlight would move on to the next in line and would continue that way. We were able to take in 5 of the 7 performances, sometimes commuting by dinghy to the venue. Very fun!

The Barefoot Man is a Caribbean music icon sometimes compared to Jimmy Buffett only different. He performs such classic hits as “She Loves my Deck”, “Dirty Belly Button”, “Fake Boobies”, etc. etc. You get the picture. The swimsuit clad crowd goes wild, dancing while singing all the lyrics. The concert is held on Friday afternoon and then again on Saturday night at Nippers beach bar on Guana Cay. It is quite a spectacle.

Now for Rake & Scrape. This is a classic Bahamian music style performed on a standard handsaw using a screwdriver to rake and scrape across the teeth of the saw. It sounds quite boring but in the hands of an experienced player like Abaco favorite Brown Tip, the sound is quite complicated. Holding the saw handle just under the arm pit and flexing the blade while rasping and banging with the screwdriver, add a little background from an electronic drum track, perhaps a limbo pole, and you have a party!