Aug 7, 2023
JOY BOY
Antillean character who embodies the human need to dance, sing and celebrate. He is related to the Lord of Dancers, who inspires festivals in the coldest countries, and it seems likely that he arrived in the Caribbean in one of the first slave shipments from West Africa. Joyboy always smiles at humanity's foibles and worries, and cures all ills by beating an irresistible beat on his drum. Everyone who hears Joyboy's music feels reluctant to sing and dance until they have rid themselves of their sorrows. Some jazz musicians pride themselves on having captured Joyboy's rhythms, but their efforts are a pale imitation of that rhythmic frenzy that can keep humans dancing until they drop.
