In-Sight 2: Caroni/Apinti


Sean creates a short mythical narrative, for which he commissions an ‘apinti’ drumming composition in response to its story. The ‘apinti’ drum is the talking drum of Suriname's maroons, used for exchanging messages across the Surinamese interior.

The myth titled ‘Caroni/Apinti' reads as follows:

Caroni, marooned on an island off the wet mainland of river mouths, listened to the rain that crossed between island and mainland.

It beckoned him to follow the path of scarlet overhead to where that red line of migration becomes two. The path above did join the one below; a reflection of active red on the still black of the Marowijne . It continued far into the confining silence of the water's monumental green walls.

Silence slowly turned to a watery chatter and then to roaring foam, until in concert with the chorus of rock and water, a beating voice was heard; at once both familiar and strange.
It was the voice of Apinti saying “you have arrived”.



'Interchange 2 - Caroni/Apinti' plays with the motif of 'call and response', which is common to many musical traditions and genres. Here however, rather than being applied within a single composition it is applied between two different modes of narrating; the written word and the beat of a drum.


This project is part of a Fellowship supported by Tilting Axis and Het Nieuwe Instituut, in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum, De Appel, The Black Archives and Melly.

*korjaal (pronounced kȯr-ē-al) is a dug-out or canoe.



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