Dancing tumba at the Sheraton Curaçao Resort.

Come to Curaçao anytime of the year and you will share in a rich island culture where African and Dutch influences dominate. Many people marvel over the many ethnic rhythms to be heard in Curaçao, especially the tumba and the tambu. These are played at most official cultural functions and in popular restaurants and hotels. Both the tumba and the tambu are rhythms for the same Afro-Curaçao dances. Both types of rhythm have their roots in Africa and are considered as a special part of the island heritage.

Their descendants added a Curaçao touch to them. The same may be said with regard to other Afro-Caribbean rhythms. For instance, the ‘son,’ ‘guaguanco,’ and the ‘guaracha’ are Afro-Cuban rhythms; the ‘plena’ and the ‘bomba’ are of Afro-Puerto Rican origin, whereas the calypso is Afro-Trinidadian.

The tumba is a rhythm that the slave and their descendants created after the colonial authorities had prohibited the tambu. Playing tambu had become punishable by law. Several Curaçao musicians and musicologists have concluded that the tumba is a rhythm derived from the tambu.

It is striking that in Cuba there is a rhythm – somewhat related to the Curaçao tumba – which originates from Haiti and is called French tumba. Nowadays tambu is mainly played in the first and last months of the year and on special occasions.

Since 1970, the tumba has been the leading rhythm for the Curaçao carnival. Both the participants and the public dance and enjoy the carnival related activities swinging on the tumba rhythm. The culmination of these activities are the Tumba Festival and the Great Carnival Pageant. For over a quarter of a century, the Curaçao carnival has been incomplete and unimaginable without the tumba.

Tumba festival selects a king or queen
The island’s finest composers, musicians and singers compete in this unique Curaçaoan event at the Festival Center. The winning Tumba will be the Carnival Road March Song, and the singer crowned king or queen.

The Tumba Festival is held two or three weeks before carnival in the second half of January or the first week of February. Beginning on a Monday there are three days of performances for pre-selection. This is followed by a day of rest. On Friday, the finals of the Tumba Festival continue, ending in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The winning tumba will then be the official carnival tumba.

During the carnival season, hardly any other type of music but the tumba is heard in Curaçao on radio stations, at parties, or at jump-ups – as the walks of the carnival groups are known. Though the tumba is also played in the other months of the year, the musical groups and radio stations play it more often towards the end of the year, while it is the predominant and almost exclusive rhythm during the carnival season.

Carnival in Curaçao has six weeks of festivities
The carnival in Curaçao has an amazing origin. It was actually started by Trinidadian Calvin Assang, who having missed the Carnival season in Trinidad by working in the refinery of Curaçao, decided to start his own Carnival right in Curaçao. Over the years this has developed into an island-wide celebration involving local businesses, while at the same time retaining a strong ethnic flair.

Six weeks of Carnival festivities begin with a full program of activities in Willemstad, highlighted by revelers in the previous year’s costumes dancing in the streets. Weekend street dances and parties called ‘jump-ups,’ sponsored by local organizations, are held over the island.

The tour-de-force of the season, the Grand March, is an all-day affair with the revelry continuing on into the night. The season closes on Carnival Tuesday with the Farewell March, especially captivating are the floats adorned with sparkling lights. At midnight, King Momo is burned in effigy to please the gods, as legend requires.