Kool Herc's Kites
DJ Kool Herc, a pioneer of the breakbeat, is also a master of handmade kites. You can often find him at Clason Point Park in the Bronx, a string in his hand tethered to a colorful assemblage of plastic and bamboo soaring above. Kool Herc now 64, started flying kites at age 12 when his family moved to the Bronx from Jamaica. Kite-flying was a way to make friends — and to stay out of trouble. “The answer was to put the gangs down and the kites up,” he said while gazing out onto the nearby harbor.
“We flew them in the middle of the bricks and concrete.
Right in between buildings and in any open field we could find.”
Kite-flying is a centuries-old part of Caribbean culture. In countries like Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, it’s a popular tradition during Easter celebrations. In Jamaica, there is the St. Ann Kite Festival, also known as the Jamaica International Kite Festival, which features competitive events for children and adults.
When Kool Herc was growing up, he said that tensions between several Caribbean groups in the neighborhood were frequent. That shared heritage helped provide common ground.
These days, there are fewer kite-fliers in the area than Herc remembers from his childhood: “There’s a lot more drones in the air.”
Still, he hopes that young people will want to carry the tradition into the future. Whenever he sees them while he’s flying, he tells them so. “I want to make more kites for the kids,” he said. “I prefer to see kites over drones.”
In the meantime, there’s plenty of room for him in the skies above the Bronx.“I will always love the Bronx, no matter what,” he said. “And I eventually want to fly a kite in heaven. I want to fly a big kite there one day.”
written by Walter Thompson-Hernández