The Junkanoo Museum

If you want to explore the musical influences present in the Turks and Caicos Islands, you may want to stop by the Junkanoo Museum. This privately-owned, two-room museum on Providenciales contains costumes, percussion instruments, props, and other items and memorabilia of local junkanoo band We Funk. The establishment teaches visitors some of the oral histories surrounding this Caribbean festival.

Given that the museum is located outside of central Grace Bay, most visitors need to take a taxi or car to get there.

Junkanoo Music

Junkanoo is a percussive genre of music and a cultural tradition that, while practiced on several islands, is thought to have originated in the Bahamas during slavery. The music doesn't have a multi-tonal melody. Instead, it is punctuated by whistles and horns that accompany a constant rhythm of animal skin and synthetic drums and shakers. Junkanoo is incredibly loud and rhythmic, which makes it fun to dance to and observe. Performers wear elaborate costumes.

The Museum

Tours are typically led by owner Kitchener Penn, a Bahamian-Turks and Caicos Islander musician who helped bring Junkanoo to the Turks and Caicos. He organized the country's first Junkanoo festival in the 1980s.

During the tour, you can explore replicas of the different costumes, decorative features, and instruments that have been used in the region's Junkanoo celebrations.

Visitors are welcome to try on the different Junkanoo costumes, from the simpler, earlier replicas made from shredded paper to the modern cardboard versions with glitter and feathers. Most of the costumes were created for the museum.

You can also test out the instruments, such as the synthetic and animal-skin drums that We Funk uses for performances. Kitchener or another guide typically gives a quick demonstration for each instrument. If you're sensitive to sound, be aware that this can get pretty loud.

How to Visit

To visit the Junkanoo Museum, you’ll need to book a tour online or by phone in advance, as the museum only opens when it has a tour scheduled. If you happen to be in the area and want to make a last-minute visit, stop at the Snack Spot restaurant next door—you might run into the owner there. Special rates for large groups can be organized.

Parking is limited, but as the museum isn't particularly busy, this usually isn't a problem.

History of Junkanoo

Junkanoo originally began as a Christmas time celebration for enslaved people across the Bahamas, who were given holiday from December 24 to December 26. Pre-emancipation, slaves would dress in simple costumes made from whatever materials they were able to find, such as banana leaves, newspapers, and burlap sacks, before parading through the streets in them. The costuming, masquerading, and drumming practices of Junkanoo are likely influenced by the West African planting and harvest festivals that enslaved people would have celebrated before they were forcibly brought to the Caribbean.

Throughout history, the festival and its traditions have evolved.

Junkanoo arrived in the Turks and Caicos when islanders who had migrated to the Bahamas, or dual-citizens like Kitchener, brought the Junkanoo tradition back home. Today, the Turks and Caicos Islands celebrates a Junkanoo-like event called Maskanoo each year on December 26. This street parade on Providenciales, a modern event in the country’s history, incorporates many elements of Junkanoo, as well as those of a similar event called the Masses that’s said to have been practiced for over 100 years in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

We Funk Junkanoo Band

We Funk is one of the oldest Junkanoo bands in the Turks and Caicos, and was established in 1982. While many of the original We Funk members have retired, a new generation of young people are keeping the band’s sound and spirit alive in the islands.

We Funk performs regular gigs across Providenciales at locations like Da Conch Shack and the Fish Fry, but their largest event of the year is the annual Maskanoo festival held in Grace Bay.

Located in Downtown

Downtown is located in central Providenciales and close to the airport. Many government offices, the post office, a number of small restaurants and shops, a sports center, and a supermarket are located in this region. The largely residential Kew Town is adjacent to the northwest.