789. Curaçao’s Tata di Tumba: Anselmus ‘Boy’ Dap

Tata di Tumba, Boy Dap!

Curaçao’s first Rei di Tumba in 1971, 8 time-winner composer and performer Anselmus ‘Boy’ Dap is widely considered our ‘Tata di Tumba’ (Father of Tumba). He turns 80 on October 25, 2013 and has headlined 8 Carnival parades and plenty more as runner-up.

Extremely comfortable and well-versed in the traditional 2×8, Boy Dap experimented and coined new rhythms (tumba guaracha, tumba pachanga, tumba seû, etc), bold lyrics (martin ku klabu, klabé / martin ku klabu, klabé / bragadam bragadam boom boom) responsible for thousands of pelvic ‘trances’, fueling tumba’s evolution over the years.

Boy Dap’s early day tumbas Bashé (1971) and Mandé (1974) are considered calypso-style (our pre-tumba Carnival anthem was the calypso):

Bashé  (1971): 

Mandé (1974):

Boy Dap’s other winners: Sigi Awor (1979), Tur hende compañié (1981), Un biaha mas (1983), Despensa, e ta bini (1985), Waya pasa bai (1989), Bolt’e blachi (1992).

Another crowd favorite,

Klab’é (1998):

Boy was born into a musical family and came in contact with jazz at a very early age through his father, Johannes Dap, a well-known saxophonist who would rehearse at home with his Bright Star Band. In addition to sax, Johannes played the drums, clarinet, piano, and flute, so Boy and his 2 brothers would practice playing these instruments, eventually forming a ‘house trio’; Boy would play the sax, his brothers the drums and piano. All three sang in Pietermaai church’s choir.

Boy found himself musically-inspired by greats such as Juan Rosales and Tata Leonard from Puerto Rico in adolescence and decided to commit to becoming a professional singer / songwriter / musician at 19. He kept perfecting his voice and performing with various local bands (‘Happy boys’, ‘Lluvia Musical’, ‘EstreIlas del Caribe’) throughout the years. He later ventured internationally with contracts in Suriname, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Rotterdam.

Boy is the very first yu’i Kòrsou to compose and record a locally made LP… He has recorded with multiple bands (‘Six dimensions’, ‘Heart breakers’, ‘Aristo Combo’, ‘Herman Wegewijs orkest’, ‘Trio Renaud’, ‘Willy Pérez y su orquesta’, ‘International Combo’, ‘Morón Combo’, ‘zoyoyo y su grupo’, ‘EstreIlas del Caribe’)

Needless to say, Boy Dap is role model to many of our local musicians!

Source: http://books.caribseek.com/Curacao/Muziek_en_Musici_Nederlandse_Antillen/anselmus-boy-dap.shtml