Listen to a shanty with a Sankofa twist!  Captured aboard the Amistad while sailing in the Gulf of Maine on June 29, 2007.  The song, "We are the Motley Amistad Crew," was created by students Erica Whyte and Nadia Waithe.  The lead singer is Erica and the background vocals are Nadia and Imogen Ashfield. 
Check the annotated lyrics of  the song - the most concise version of the Amistad Incident of 1839.

Listen to the song:  ( 1:18 min - MP3, 1.12MB )

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LYRICS:

 

On the Amistad all the deckhands
Recreate the voyage of the Africans
Who were brought to Cuba to be sold as slaves
Revolted and sailed the sea for sixty-three days

I say quick!  Ready the throat*
That's what I'm sayin'
Quick! Ready the peak*
I'm on it, man

Oh, we're here together, don't think us odd
We're the motley crew of the Amistad!

So the Africans arrived in the US
They were brought to trial and were under arrest
The US Supreme Court said that they were free
They sailed back to their homeland across the sea

We say it's time for soles and bowls**
That's what I'm sayin'
Time to wash the deck
I'm on it man

Oh we're here together, don't think us odd
We're the motley crew of the Amistad!

Time to set the sail
That's what I'm sayin'
Time to cast the anchor
I'm on it man

Oh we're here together, don't think us odd
We're the motley crew of the Amistad!

 

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* "Ready the throat , the peak"  - sail commands : the gaff sails on a schooner are raised by a synchronized pulling of two lines: a throat halyard, and a peak halyard raising a gaff - a wooden spar ro which a sail is attached.. Throat is the end of a gaff sliding along a mast, a peak is a free end of a gaff.  

 

*""time for soles and bowls" - A "favorite" time of any crew - time for cleanup, washing soles (floors) and (toilet) bowls.

 

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