On Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, we took the stage in the middle of Van Duzer Street and played a fun set to an appreciative crowd. Our good friend Milton Henry graced us with his presence and we launched into his classic tune “Good Old Days.” The folks at SiCoLab were kind enough to put together this clip:
We’ve seen a lot of creative spellings and many interesting pronunciations of our name over the years. Bandulous, Bandolous, Banduloos, ad infinitum. We sort of expected it, having picked such an unusual handle. But this post will (hopefully) set the record straight.
Our name is a pluralization of “bandulo,” a Jamaican slang word which as a noun means “bandit,” “thief,” or “rude boy,” and as an adjective, “counterfeit,” “fake,” or “stolen.”
We first heard the word as the title of the first track on the classic 1979 Studio One record by Jamaican singer Freddie McGregor, Bobby Bobylon. Give a listen to “Bandulo”:
That’s what you been doin’ all the time:
Playing bandulo on everyone’s mind.
Keep the people in utter darkness,
Don’t want them to see no fullness,
Let them go, make them try,
I’m sure there’s a way they’ve got to survive.Go down, bandulo man, go down,
Go down, you’ve got to reach the ground.
Bandulo also appears as “bandulu,” which is the name of a North London techno trio. The Bandulus are a reggae outfit from Austin, Texas that came together in the early summer of 2008.
Coincidentally, there’s a small town in Hungary called Bándůlő. Billy and Mike Levay have Hungarian roots, and the surname Levay is a fairly popular one in Hungary.
While checking up on the status of our brand (i.e., Googling “bandulos”), I stumbled upon this set of videos from the 1980s. I love the Internet.
Apparently they’re taken from this DVD collection. Now, I’ve bought quite a few reggae DVDs over the years, but this one was, until now, below my radar. Enjoy!
The Bandulos will be backing our favorite reggae singer, Milton Henry, at the historic St. George Theatre on Jan. 1 as part of Janet “The Kwanzaa Lady” Robinson’s annual Kwanzaa celebration. We go on around 9pm.
Here’s info from silive.com:
Annual Kwanzaa Celebration, St. George Theater, 35 Hyatt St., St. George. Noon-to midnight Kwanzaa event, will feature storytelling, singing, poetry, spoken word artist, praise dancers, musical performances and presentation by Janet Robinson. Admission is free. For information or reservations, phone the theater at 718-981-1717 or Ms. Robinson at 718-816-4909.
This tune by Cocoa Tea comes close to expressing the joy and jubilation so many of us feel today. And according to WNYC this morning, this is the song that many Kenyans were dancing in the streets to.
