The Quimbys have toured throughout the world, including performances at the Olympic Games in Mexico and Lillehammer, sharing their songs and stories set against the history and mystique of the Georgia Sea Islands. Their audiences include universities, schools, museums, conventions, conferences, as well as numerous radio and television appearances. The Quimbys performance exalts in remembering and keeping alive two centuries of African-American folk heritage.
The Georgia Sea Island Singers continue a tradition begun almost a century ago on St. Simons Island, Georgia, for the purpose of preserving the rich reservoirs of African-American culture, customs and the songs of the Gullah language spoken on the isolated islands of the Georgia Coast. These islands have been a vital storehouse of African-American history, because people living here were cut off from the melting pot on the mainland and retained a more pure version of the games and songs brought over from Africa. Songs and traditions documented by Lydia Parrish in her 1942 book"Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands" are performed today by the Quimbys for audiences all over the world. The Quimbys travel throughout the world most of the year, performing Slave songs and dances, describing the world of their own Slave ancestors, leading children in games, demonstrating slave dances, singing Slave Songs a capella, and explaining what those songs meant in the context of the last century.  "I'm a firm believer that you can't know where you're going until you realize where you've come from" Frankie explains, "We have dedicated our lives to trying to preserve that rich heritage and culture that our ancestors handed down to us." Slaves were not allowed to have musical instruments, so the Quimbys sing a cappella or with only the accompaniment of rythym instruments, like the tambourine. Songs and dances took their impetus from the many things Slaves dared not say to the master, and from the things they dared not do.
"Hambone, Hambone, Where You Been"
was one of Doug's most frequently requested songs. It was a memorable performance - his lightening quick
hands elicit resounding sounds from his thighs, chest and mouth as his own body became a musical
instrument. Hear the musical, lyrical language of Gullah, a mixture of English and African dialect that bears the characteristic rapid enunciation of some African tribes. Learn the art of hand-clapping and the choruses from the many call-and-response songs. The Quimbys offer an overview of Black History as they explain the meaning of the coded messages behind the songs and games, such as "The Old Tar River" (.aiff 38k) (.wav 38k) and the role they have played in the history of their people. Dressed in brilliant dashikis, the Sea Island Singers share their stories along with a captivating history of the coastal islands of Georgia, bringing warmth and joy to this dynamic cultural experience.
 Are Available to Book Performance - Beating The Rice - Plantation Demonstration - - The Rice Dance and Other Songs - - Slave Games such as Hambone - using the body as percussion "made up here on the rice and cotton plantations" - - Work Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands - - Sea Chanties - Call & Response - - The Shout - "A Slave Dance you only see in Georgia and South Carolina" - | ||||||||||
Doug Quimby started singing at the age of four.
He was born in Baconton, Georgia in 1936, where his family were sharecroppers earning as little as $9.25
for an
entire year of work.
Thomas (Tony) Merrell has been a member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers
for ten years. Born in Fort Valley, Georgia, Tony has made his home in Brunswick for the past 43 years, where he built and
owns his own mechanic shop. | THE GEORGIA SEA ISLAND SINGERS appearances and special events have included: Performed for President & Mrs. Bush, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice & others at the Sea Island Georgia G8 Conference, June 2004 • Represented the U.S.A. at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer; represented the Southern Coastal U. S. A. in West Africa at the invitation of the President of Sierra Leone • Represented State of Georgia at Statue of Liberty Centennial, New York • represented U. S. A. at Philadelphia Folk Festival • represented U. S. A. at International Children's Festival, Vancouver, Canada • Inauguration of President Jimmy Carter • White House Concert at invitation of President Ronald Reagan; Carnegie Hall, New York City • Olympic Games, Mexico • Mariposa Folk Festival, Toronto, Canada • Smithsonian Institute, Festival of American Folklore • Wolf Trap International Farm, Alexandria, Virginia • National Storytelling Festival, Jonesborough, Tennessee • Music Center of Los Angeles - Performing Arts Center • Southern Order of Storytelling, Atlanta Historical Society • Learning Circle Montessori School, Bozeman, Montana • Whaling Church, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts • Prairie Home Companion, Minneapolis, Minnesota • North carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina • Old Town School of Music, Chicago, Illinois; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon • Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts • Hudson River Revival Festival, New York City • East West Culture Center, Honolulu, Hawaii • National Association for Music Therapy, Conference - Atlanta, Georgia • Ohio Music Education Association, Conference - Dayton, Ohio • American Orff Schulwerk Association, National Conference. |
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