Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A staged group performance of the Jamaican couple dance named after the Tambu drum, built on the Shay-Shay, Saleone and Mabumba sequence; recorded on the template as a four-minute team entry scored out of 100.

Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu is the seventy-fourth entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the seventh of the seventeen items in its Traditional Folk Forms discipline. The festival handbook lists it as Tambu, with Tamboo as an alternative spelling. A school or community group stages a living Jamaican dance on the competition stage, and the panel rewards how faithfully the piece keeps the character of the form rather than how inventive the choreography is.

The handbook explains that the dance takes its name from the drum called the Tambu and that it is performed mainly for entertainment, with couples facing and moving towards each other. The movement is organised around a sequence of three named elements: the Shay-Shay, the Saleone and the Mabumba. The handbook adds that the dance movements have been observed to resemble the Bele of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Three main styles are identified within the dance and the music. The Shay-Shay features a rotating action of the hips, which the handbook compares to mento, and a shuffle along with one foot on the ball, which it compares to the Kumina-Kongo style. The Saleone is described more loosely as any intense movement or roll, including trembling and a leg lift that comes immediately before the break. The break itself is called the Mabumba. Drums with singing form the musical accompaniment.

That makes the live music the first decision for a teacher or organiser. Live musical accompaniment is required for all the folk forms, so a recorded track is not an option. Drummers and singers do not count towards the dancers, but together they may not exceed six people. A group aged 19 and under fields a minimum of twelve and a maximum of sixteen dancers; adult community groups may field between eight and sixteen. Each entry has a four-minute limit. The folk forms rules also ask for a strong element of the form staged without losing authenticity, with no sacrifice of animals and no rum used as a libation.

On the day the group is marked on the shared table used for the folk forms other than quadrille, maypole and ring games, which has eight headings and totals 100 at auditions and parish level and 50 at the national finals. Unlike several of its sister forms, the handbook table lists Tambu for Classes 1 to 7, which matches the template. Organisers run it because it gives young performers a couple-based, drum-led tradition to learn alongside the death-observance and ritual forms.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu comes from

The handbook says the dance takes its name from the Tambu drum, is performed mainly for entertainment, and has been observed to be similar in its movements to the Bele of Martinique and Guadeloupe. It gives no dates or founding history, so none is claimed here.

Where Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is the seventh Traditional Folk Forms category and is assigned to every class from Class 1 to Class 6 (adults aged 20 and over) plus the combined Class 7. The festival runs in parishes, and only the top gold-medal group per class and category in a parish moves on to the national finals. This page covers the staged competition version defined by that handbook, which is a presentation of the form rather than the social dance itself.

• Jamaica (the national performing arts festival the template is built from)

Key facts

• Team entry, both genders together, in English; assigned on the template to Classes 1 to 6 and the combined Class 7
• The template records a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, scored out of 100. The handbook category table gives three minutes for Classes 1 to 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7, while its explanatory note says four minutes for each entry, so confirm the limit with entrants
• 12 to 16 dancers for groups aged 19 and under, not counting drummers and singers, who may total no more than six; adult community groups 8 to 16; live music only
• Defining features: couples facing and moving towards each other, and the Shay-Shay, Saleone and Mabumba sequence, accompanied by drums with singing
• The handbook names three styles within the dance and music; the Saleone builds to a break called the Mabumba, preceded by trembling and a leg lift
• Ideas, not rules, for a staged piece: open with the drummers setting the pulse while couples line up facing each other; build the Shay-Shay hip rotation and foot shuffle across the first half; let the Saleone roll and tremble lead into a clear drum break for the Mabumba; close with the couples drawing together on the final phrase. Check the choice against the rules and the organiser before rehearsing it

On eTalenter, Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 4 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu

What a Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• The handbook marks Tambu on its shared table for the folk forms, with eight headings worth 100 at auditions and parish level and 50 at the national finals. The points below follow that table and are a summary, not a quotation of the rule
• Authenticity and traditional content, each 20 at auditions and parish level and 8 of 50 at the national finals. The panel asks whether the drums, songs and movement belong to the Tambu tradition. A piece that reads as a generic couples dance loses marks on both headings
• Sequence is where this item is won or lost: the handbook builds the dance on Shay-Shay, Saleone and Mabumba, so a routine in which the hip rotation, the roll and the break cannot be told apart misses what defines it
• Relevance of form, theme and mood, 15, 15 and 7 of 50. The dance is performed mainly for entertainment, so a lively, social mood suits it; a solemn or a disorganised treatment both lose marks
• Role playing, 10, 10 and 5 of 50. Dancers should hold the relationship of couples facing and moving towards each other rather than performing as a staged chorus line
• Movements and steps (10, 10, 6 of 50) and musicianship, rhythm and tempo (10, 10, 6 of 50): dancers who stay with the drums, and drummers and singers who stay together and lead the changes into the break
• Costuming (5, 5, 5 of 50) and stage presence (10, 10, 5 of 50): ordinary-looking community dress, a confident entrance and exit, and a finish inside the time limit. The handbook applies strict attention to time limits from the parish finals

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu

How entrants and their teachers usually get Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu right on the day:

• Start with the rules: confirm the class, the dancer count of 12 to 16, the six-person limit for drummers and singers, the time limit and the live-music requirement, then plan inside them
• Teach the three named elements separately before joining them: first the hip rotation and the foot shuffle, then the roll with trembling and the leg lift, then the break, so every dancer knows where one ends and the next begins
• Recruit capable drummers early and rehearse with them from the first week. Dancers who only ever practise to a recording will lose the pulse when real drums enter, and the break depends on a clear drum signal
• Pair the dancers deliberately and rehearse the facing-and-approaching movement slowly, keeping the couples in time with one another before adding speed
• Choose songs with short, clear lines so the lead singer can cue the move from one element to the next without a conductor
• Keep costumes close to ordinary community dress and suitable for the age of the performers, and for younger classes choose a short, repeatable sequence the group can perform accurately
• Time the piece at full speed with entrance and exit included, then trim it. A clear ending inside the limit scores better than a longer piece that is cut off
• After the result, ask for the adjudicator comments and find which heading lost marks. If authenticity was low, go back to a community teacher; if rhythm was low, spend the next fortnight rehearsing only with the drums

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Folk Forms – Tambu judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

What is the Tambu in a folk forms competition?

The festival handbook describes a dance named after the Tambu drum, performed mainly for entertainment with couples facing and moving towards each other through the Shay-Shay, Saleone and Mabumba sequence. In competition a group stages it as a short presentation with live music.

What are the Shay-Shay, Saleone and Mabumba?

They are the three named elements the handbook uses. The Shay-Shay has a rotating hip action and a shuffle on the ball of one foot, the Saleone is an intense roll that can include trembling and a leg lift, and the Mabumba is the break that follows.

Can I use a recorded track for Tambu?

No. The handbook requires live musical accompaniment for all of these folk forms. Drummers and singers do not count towards the dancers, but may not exceed six in number.

How long is a Tambu entry?

The template gives four minutes with a warning at three minutes. The handbook table gives three minutes for Classes 1 to 3 and four minutes for Classes 4 to 7, while its note says four minutes for each entry, so confirm the limit before entry.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full folk dance judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.