In 1971 Nettleford and the NDTC premiered Kumina, a piece based on the Afro-cult found largely in St Thomas. The rites are held for a variety of occassions — mourning, tombing, healing, thanksgiving and even when help is needed to win a court case or for winning a lover. Nettleford stood tall in this piece for decades lighting a stage with his presence. Poet Malachi Smith pays tribute to the Kumina King.
Kumina King
On a blue moon stage
Garvey, Nanny, Miss Lou in front row
Marley, Trevor and the ancestors
Enjoy your majesty's grand entrance
Silence, silence
Tear drop dead silence
A kete drum speaks an African dialect
You answer in Jamaican steps
Movement to the right
Movement to the left
But always center stage
Your brilliant blackness, white hair
Illuminating Caribbean space
For all to see
The Kumina King dancing
And a one and a two and a three
And a four and turn
And a one and a two and a three
And a four and spin, spin
Turn, turn
Feet firm in tradition leaping
Through and above theatre sky
To sky god's heaven
For he too is watching
As a whole nation joins in
Discovering the beauty of culture
Beaten and woven from African traditions
Out of many one
Dancing, dancing, dancing
Movement from dance to intellect
Speaking in tongues
Lecturing the world
Dancing across space
Into I-story
Telling my story
Telling our stories
Morant Bay, Sam Sharpe rebellion
Of free peoples and indentured servants
Of betrayal and forgiveness
Of hell fire and finding the cross
Of dying and surviving
Of damnation and salvation
Of peoples breaking apart and uniting
Singing songs of redemption
Kumina King
Making us proud
From dance to tongue
Lifting us higher
With every movement
Defying time and space
Dancing in our face
Dancing in our space
Silence, silence
Tear drop dead silence
The kete drum speaks
Your name
Kumina king.
— Malachi Smith
Kumina King
On a blue moon stage
Garvey, Nanny, Miss Lou in front row
Marley, Trevor and the ancestors
Enjoy your majesty's grand entrance
Silence, silence
Tear drop dead silence
A kete drum speaks an African dialect
You answer in Jamaican steps
Movement to the right
Movement to the left
But always center stage
Your brilliant blackness, white hair
Illuminating Caribbean space
For all to see
The Kumina King dancing
And a one and a two and a three
And a four and turn
And a one and a two and a three
And a four and spin, spin
Turn, turn
Feet firm in tradition leaping
Through and above theatre sky
To sky god's heaven
For he too is watching
As a whole nation joins in
Discovering the beauty of culture
Beaten and woven from African traditions
Out of many one
Dancing, dancing, dancing
Movement from dance to intellect
Speaking in tongues
Lecturing the world
Dancing across space
Into I-story
Telling my story
Telling our stories
Morant Bay, Sam Sharpe rebellion
Of free peoples and indentured servants
Of betrayal and forgiveness
Of hell fire and finding the cross
Of dying and surviving
Of damnation and salvation
Of peoples breaking apart and uniting
Singing songs of redemption
Kumina King
Making us proud
From dance to tongue
Lifting us higher
With every movement
Defying time and space
Dancing in our face
Dancing in our space
Silence, silence
Tear drop dead silence
The kete drum speaks
Your name
Kumina king.
— Malachi Smith
