Hugo Moolenaar "The Mocko Jumbie EP"
The Mocko Jumbie EP released on Frederiksberg Records contains tracks from each of the late Hugo Moolenaar's two releases. This EP is a beautiful history of the Mocko Jumbie tradition that is a combination of disco, soca and reggae.
The second youngest of eight children, Hugo Leanzo Moolenaar was born on September 23rd, 1948, in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. His mother was from Puerto Rico; his Dutch-German father worked as a contractor, but also played the guitar and had a 6-piece band that performed at house parties. The young Hugo was a born entertainer. Watching his elders, particularly an uncle who played the ukulele, he began to teach himself to play guitar, practicing on his own. Eventually he began to perform his own songs as he gradually gained confidence and ability.
As well as being a proficient musician, Hugo would also become a highly skilled Mocko Jumbie — a performer of the carnival stilt- dancing tradition which has had a presence in the Virgin Islands for several hundred years, and which historians consider to have been brought to the Caribbean by enslaved West Africans. Carnival in the Virgin Islands was revived in 1952, and from then on it became an annual event. The two most famous Mocko Jumbies at this time were John Magnus Farrell and William Richardson (to whom Hugo would dedicate his second album).
Hugo quickly became known as one of the fastest dancers on the 6’ stilts, and was renowned for adding kung-fu-style moves to his performances.
Hugo’s first album, entitled High, High, High, a reference to the Mocko Jumbie tradition. The cover depicts Hugo dressed in a golden outfit on stilts, on a palm beach, holding a guitar while Juanita looks on from the ground, holding their two children. Hugo’s second release, Mocko Jumbie Jamboree, came out not long after and also featured original compositions. It was recorded at the local Virgin Island studio Turtle Point. Both albums were self-distributed and feature a heady cocktail of island and popular sounds – from jump-up calypsos and kaisos to drum- machine modern soul and upful disco.
To his very last day, Hugo lived by his motto: “Peace, Love and Happiness Always”.
