SEED-POD RHYTHMS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1931, Page 8

SEED-POD RHYTHMS

A HUMORISTS VIEWS

"The new Cuban dance rhythm which is interpreted by an orchestra of dried seed-pods has stirred some of my. most poignant memories" (writes "Phipps" in the "Daily Mail").

"Probably no man living has had more experience of queer dances in every corner of tho world than I. I have danced everything from the CanCan in Borneo to tho Cant-Cant in crowded West End restaurants. Ono of the most intoxicating rhythms of yesterday was, of course, tho Cake Walk. The accompaniment of muted marzipan, soprano sultanas, and overstrung eclairs brought one a- strange feeling of exhilaration. : "•" ( "■" PEANUT MELODY. •■"Then there was the Swanee Shuffle. .There was a danco for you I The rhythhi was slow but insistent, and the music was supplied by tho Old Folks at Home. What a gay throng we were, too, in '98, when shouting 'There's a Wall-Wtill Girl in Aqua Caliente,' wo swayed through .the intricato motions of the Wisconsin Wobble.

"What a riot of irresistible melody poured from the 16 peanuts tuned in tenths, which wove'chords round the steady chow-chew of tho big bass gum. Passing over the Ozark Blues and tho Alligator Crawl, I feel. I must make some mention of the Stellenbosch Shimmy, which, as all the world knows, was really a development of., the Limpopo Lurch. This dance comprised all that was Darkest in Africa. It was held only at full moon on a large stoep, and the only refreshment consisted of tomato soep.

"The Paul Jones being then unknown, it was permitted to dance with a maximum of eight partners at once. A strange, snapping Hit was provided by a band of naras; aardvarks, and tenor tsetse flics, sometimes augmented by a couple of baritone beetroots. A wild, an eerie dance, the Stellenbosch Shinimv."