DJ Vanchester - Kumba Ya My Lord

Topic: Dance Music - Electronica
Modern club music relies on electronic instrumentations that distort the senses with high speed and mechanical effects. A version of "Kumbaya" attributed to DJ Vanchester took the melody from the last part of each line, the part that part began "Lord, kumbaya," and played each note rapidly four times on a synthesizer. Each tone was struck with digital reverberations, so each sound was still broadening as the next note was played.

The truncated lines were repeated four times in thirty seconds with a simple 4/4 drum beat. After a brief pause, filled with video game sounds, it repeated the section with a bass and cymbals added to the drum machine.

Next the tape alternated two notes each played quickly four times. This motif was repeated over a drum for 15 seconds, and over a drum and shaker for 25 seconds. Instead of an expanding echo, these lower notes had the sucking sound of someone walking through thick mud.

The tape then introduced a woman who sang the kumbaya verse once with some echoing, before it repeated the opening minute of synthesizer and drum machine. She was accompanied by strings and no drums.

The video was posted in mid-December and labeled a Christmas song, but also was tagged "trance" and "Eurodance." A couple years later, another video was posted on Christmas eve that began with the woman singing, then played the entire 2010 tape. This was labeled "trance & dance."

Performers
Vocal Soloist: unidentified woman
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: synthesizer
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum machine

Credits
None given

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English

Pronunciation: koom by yah with a long short longer duration pattern

Verses: kumbaya

Vocabulary
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none

Basic Form: one-verse
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Last part of 1-3-5 melodic lines
Tempo: Fast

Basic Structure: A₁A₂-B₁B₂-C-A₁A₂

Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final Lord

Notes on Performers
Dance music was spread in Europe by pirate radio stations, [1] and it remains an underground form. Cities have been reluctant to license clubs where they suspected drugs like ecstacy were used openly. Thus, the general public only hears about dance clubs when there’s a fire like the one in Rhode Island in 2003 [2] or violence like the shooting in Orlando in 2016. [3]

The published provenance of this version of "Kumbaya" probably was bogus. While the name DJ Vanchester appeared on a couple albums published in their entirety on YouTube, it appeared no where else on the internet.

The art work displayed with the tape included a reference to ZonaGospel21 and LuckyMann21. The website for ZonaGospel, without the 21, indicated it was a Christian internet station directed toward youth based in Veracruz. With support from Radio Dunamis it began "transmitting 24 hours a day with a pay server located in Vancouver Canada, hearing aids, a small 4 Channel console and Behringer condenser microphone" from a single laptop in 2012. [4]

Dunamis was Greek for power, and appeared in a number of places in the New Testament. The King James Bible translated Luke 1:17 as "he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias." [5] It apparently became a common term for radio. Most of the references I found on the internet tracked back to Africa, especially to Nigeria.

I don’t know if ZonaGospel21 was an adult channel used by the Veracruz station, or an appropriated identity. I do know pirate radio no longer requires mooring a ship in international waters and transmitting perhaps censored content over government-controlled air waves. Today, unlicensed broadcasts are made over the internet. [6]

The longer version of "Kumbaya" identified it with speedlinefmTV. Its Facebook page was in Portuguese [7] and gave a URL that ended with the country code for Portugal. That website not only did not exist in 2018, but my computer’s security system came up with warning that it could not "be displayed in a frame."

Some of the comments for its YouTube version were in English and some were in German.

Availability
DJ Vanchester
YouTube: "Kumba Ya My Lord (Radio Version)." Merry X-Mas Mix 2010. Uploaded by ChristmasMusicYUTV21 on 14 December 2010. 2.47 minutes.

speedlinefmTV
YouTube: "Kumba Ya My Lord (Radio Version)." Clubbing Christmas. Uploaded by speedlinefmTV on 24 December 2012. 3.26 minutes.

End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Electronic Dance Music."

2. The fire was in the Station nightclub, West Warwick, Rhode Island, on 20 February 2013. (Wikipedia. "The Station Nightclub Fire.")

3. The shooting was in a gay nightclub, the Pulse, on 12 June 2016. (Wikipedia. "Orlando Nightclub Shooting.")

4. "¿Quiénes Somos?" Zona Gospel website.
5. Bible Hub website entries for "dunamis" and "Luke 1:17."
6. Wikipedia. "Pirate Radio."
7. "SpeedlineFM." Facebook page.