Saramaccan media
From SPARK
Brief Summary
This is how the media program developed.
The development of a media department in Suriname began with a Sony EVO 9700 Hi-8 editing machine and a Canon A-1 camcorder. It soon expanded to include production of cassette recordings of choruses for the isolated Saramaccan believers for teaching and encouragement. This was followed by preparing radio programs of music interspersed with Scripture and teaching.
Introduction
The Saramaccan people are the descendants of run-away slaves who escaped from the coastal plantations in the 18th and late 19th century. Translation work was begun in 1968. By 1980, many Scripture portions and several level-one and level-two reading books were available, and several Christian songs had been written or translated.
There were several churches established in the interior of Suriname. Missionaries of the Moravian church had been working in the Saramaccan area for well over one hundred years, and Catholics had been working in two or three of the villages. There were some Pentecostal churches that had been established for several years and one or two more that had been in existence for ten years or less. However, Saramaccan was not used in many of these churches. Most of the preaching and singing was in the Linga Franca, Sranan Tongo. The functional literacy rate among the Saramaccans at this time was less than 10 percent. There were about 25,000 Saramaccans, most in the interior of Suriname, some in and around Paramaribo, the capital, and a few hundred in French Guiana.
There was civil war in Suriname in the mid 1980s that curtailed most travel to the interior of the country. In 1989, due to the evident need seen in the Saramaccan and other language projects, Mantells went to Guatemala where Bob could work and receive training in their non-print media department.
In mid 1990 they returned to Suriname to start setting up a media department. Initially the department was set up using a reel-to-reel Tascam tape recorder and some other audio equipment. The video equipment consisted of a Sony EVO 9700 Hi-8 editing machine and a Canon A-1 camcorder. Hi-8 was used because we wanted to be able to record and edit video locally as well as do voice replacement videos such as The Jesus Film. After a short time a large bedroom in a rented house was given over to be the new Audio/Video Department’s studio.
What was done
When the Jesus Film became available from Campus Crusade (CCC) for dialog replacement, and a group of Saramaccan believers were asked if they would like to help produce the Jesus Film in Saramaccan, there was an enthusiastic response. CCC had produced a single-voice narration version in Sranan Tongo several years earlier. After the final block of narration was recorded, the crew spontaneously broke out into song. Bob grabbed the video camera to record the singing. Shortly after this they decided to produce a cassette of choruses so the isolated Saramaccan believers could learn and be encouraged by the songs. Soon there were requests for copies of the tape and thus began the music production. Several of the people who helped with the recording of the Jesus Film formed the beginning of the Saramaccan singing group that was soon named “Gadu a Fesi, which roughly translated means “God First”.
First Saramaccan song tape
After this, they started rehearsing and recording music for the first Saramaccan song tape. The Tascam stereo two-track reel-to-reel deck, a BBE processor, and a Radio Shack reverb unit were used for some effects. The songs are simple and the recording was done simply. For several years, at least 1,000 tapes were distributed per year.
Transition to radio
“Gadu a Fesi” recorded six different cassettes and sang publicly in concerts, church services, and various other venues. Most tapes included recorded Saramaccan Scripture between most of the songs. This was done to increase the people’s exposure to the translation. Soon after we started producing the cassettes, we had the opportunity to air a thirty-minute radio program. Soon this developed into airing a program on one station once a week and producing three programs a week for another station. The scripted programs consisted of lots of music, some Scripture reading, and a short message about the Scripture. Often cassettes of the program were duplicated for distribution in areas where the radio stations were not heard, both in Suriname and in French Guiana, and the Netherlands. We had limited success selling the tapes (200) or CDs in Holland.
The Saramaccan music was popular with people who didn’t speak the language. Soon there were other Saramaccan music groups asking for help in recording and production. Is other language groups were able to see what was happening with the Saramaccans, they wanted to record music and videos. The Mantells helped sponsor and do the sound re-enforcement for many concerts. This gave them an opportunity to promote the translated Scriptures and the use of the mother tongue in various settings. They also provided videos for some local television stations.
The media program was not planned ahead in detail. They wanted to promote the use of the translations, the use of the languages, and provide the Scriptures for as many people as possible in as many forms as possible. They tried to take advantage of any available opportunity. Bob trained one Saramaccan to do most everything he could do, and he trained many others in the basics of radio program production and recording.
Results
By the time the Mantells left Suriname in May 2001, they had helped produce the Jesus Film in Saramaccan, Aukans, Suriname Hindustani, and Suriname Javanese. They had produced the Luke video series in St. Lucian Kreol and the Acts video in St. Lucian and Aukan. They produced Scripture on tape in one format or another in each of the languages that translators did translations for in Suriname and St. Lucia. They also provided consultant help and manual labor for the Southern Baptist video production “Di Gaan Toobi,” the Big Trouble.
