UK artist Linett Kamala was astonished to see a maypole in a Jamaican hamlet – a colonial relic, but one bringing joy. So she reinvented the tradition by ditching English folk tunes and adding bass bins, LED lights and pounding beats
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n a community centre in London, a ping pong table, a treadmill and a row of computers hug the edges of the room. It all feels familiar, apart from the towering green structure with dangling multicoloured ribbons: a maypole, and we’re here to dance around it. Our group of six circle it and get ready, but instead of traditional English folk music (“And on that tree there was a limb, And on that limb there was a branch …”), it’s dancehall, cranked up loud.
This is a session courtesy of British-Jamaican DJ, artist and educator, Linett Kamala. She made her name as one of the first female DJs at Notting Hill carnival in 1985 at just 15 years old, and is now on the event’s board; as Lin Kam Art, Kamala has dedicated much of her life to music, education, community work and art.
Maypole dancing is a springtime pagan ceremony thought to originate from medieval Europe, originally based around a big tree or bush. Traditionally on May Day people would skip around it and sing to the blossoming snowdrops and hellebores, celebrating fertility and the awakening of nature after winter. It was adopted by British schools in the 19th century, and, largely separated from its pagan roots over time, it became more of a playground game, as opposed to a strictly May Day activity. During her childhood in the 70s and 80s, “maypole was one of the different activities you had, like the girl guides,” Kamala says. “I remember the ribbons and really enjoying dancing around it.”
