Students from Salford City College got an insight into the rich culture of Jamaica earlier this month, with a special visit from musician and Jamaican tenor, Steve Higgins.
This special visitor gave interactive workshops on Jamaican folk music to an excited audience that included Creative Music students from FutureSkills and Performing Arts pathway students from Eccles Sixth Form Centre’s Skills for Life and Employment department.
The visit was organised by the college chaplaincy service, ‘Konnekt to Faith’, as part of Black History Month, which students and staff across Salford City College have been celebrating throughout October. As part of his introduction to Jamaican folk music, Steve explained how story-telling, song and dance played a vital role in preserving their rich culture and history by the ancestors of African descent, who were brought from Africa to the Caribbean as slaves over three hundred years ago.
Steve explained: “When the slaves landed in the Caribbean, remember, they had no books with them, so the culture and history were passed down from generation to generation through music and story-telling. As much of the history was oral, Jamaicans place much importance on sharing the history with their children.”
He then performed a number of folk songs, explaining their origins and how they relate to life in the Caribbean. The students were then asked to get involved themselves in the performance of the folk songs and dance, with Steve stating his delight at the level of interest and engagement shown by all that took part.
Student George Thompson, 18, took the opportunity to get involved, and join Steve in performing some of the folk songs on stage. The former Oasis Academy pupil commented: “I really liked getting up and harmonising with the songs.”
“It made me understand a lot more about where these songs came from and to understand the pain of those who suffered being slaves,” added 18-year-old classmate Chloe Hollyhead, who is also a former Oasis Academy pupil.
Alison Bethune, who teaches Skills for Life and Employment at Eccles Sixth Form Centre, said: “Steve’s session on Jamaican folk music was truly inspiring, we were taken on a musical ride back in time where songs where used as a form of escape, for communication and general social commentary, during the slave trade era and also the post slave-trade period. The students were able to understand how music was used to bring people together and to make ‘things more bearable as they sang to make work lighter and even sang through their troubles’. Steve left a lasting impression on our students and we would love to see him visit Salford again!”
