St. Thomas - A Danish folk song?

[White Lightning]

I've been listening to a great live recording by the great late NHOP. A solo recital, btw.

One of the tunes NHOP played was Newk's St. Thomas. After the tune ended NHOP said that it was originally a Danish folk song... And I thought it was a Caribbean Calypso...

If that's the case, how did a Danish folk song turned out is The Caribbeans??

[Christiern]

Simple answer, Barak, the Virgin Islands were owned by Denmark until WWI, when they were sold for a song (as it were) to the U.S.

To this day, the streets of St, Thomas and St. Croix remain named after Copenhagen streets.

[robviti]

Here's an excerpt from an AAJ interview in 2004 with saxophonist Ron Blake conducted by Matt Merewitz:

As can be expected, on the topic of St. Thomas, I had to ask that burning question: What was it like growing up on the island made famous in the jazz world by Sonny Rollins' tune from his landmark 1956 recording, Saxophone Collossus? What I found out might be common knowledge among you jazz nuts out there, but according to Blake, Rollins' St. Thomas, for which he has been given credit for writing, is actually a folk melody with words that goes back several centuries. According to Blake, it is a well-known rhythm and melody on the eponymous isle and is part of the quelbe tradition of folk song. Sonny's parents, immigrants from the Virgin Islands, would sing this melody to Rollins as a youngster. When Sonny decided to record the tune however, he couldn't recall the words or the name, hence the title we all know today (apparently in homage to his parents' homeland).

St. Thomas island, along with its neighbors St. John and St. Croix, was bought by the Danish government in 1733 from the Danish West India Company. It remained under Danish rule until 1917, when it was bought by the U.S. as a precaution against German infiltration in the Caribbean during World War I.

[White Lightning]

Very interesting!

Thanks Chris & jazzshrink

[Christiern]

In fact, for more than a year, I have spent several hours each day going over (slave) head tax records kept for the King of Denmark, translating them and entering the data into a database for the Virgin Islands Society Historical Association. I am dealing with St. Croix (Christiansted and Frederiksted), going house by house through annual registries (in old Danish/Gothic handwriting). I started with 1772 and have now reached 1789, so I have developed an eerie familiarity with the population, both black and white (many storms, many widows), which was remarkably integrated. Other than church organists, I haven't come across too many musicians, but that folk song probably was known by all.

Apropos churches, they had plenty of them: Roman Catholic, Dutch, Danish, Moravian Brothers, Presbyterian, English, and synagogues.

Don't want to take this thread off track, but I hope you consider the relativity valid.

BTW, Barak, you need to post more often.

[White Lightning]

BTW, Barak, you need to post more often.

I'll do my best, Sir.

[Guy Berger]

BTW, Barak, you need to post more often.

[king ubu]

Thanks for sharing this, Chris! Fascinating!

And yes Barak, be here more often if you can!

Oh, and so the late NHOP was old colonialist by heart?

[mikeweil]

I too heard that story and remember this was dicussed before - maybe on the old BNBB? Anyway - I tried to find out when I played that tune with a band, and got the story about the Danish folk song sung to little Sonny boy by his nanny. Can't seem to find any web source right now.