   #copyright

Music of Martinique

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical genres, styles,
eras and events

                 Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe: Topics
   Biguine     Mini-jazz
   Chouval bwa Gwo ka
   Kadans      Zouk
                            Timeline and Samples
                           Francophone Caribbean
   Guadeloupe - Martinique - Haiti - Louisiana
                               Other islands
   Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - Bahamas
   - Barbados - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Cuba - Grenada - Jamaica -
   Dominica - Dominican Republic - Montserrat - Puerto Rico - St Kitts and
   Nevis - Saint Lucia - St Vincent and the Grenadines - Trinidad and
   Tobago - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands

   The former French colony of Martinique is a small island in the
   Caribbean. Its musical heritage is intertwined with that of its sister
   island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created
   a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown
   after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's
   popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became
   an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe . Zouk's
   origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially
   Martinican chouval bwa and Guadeloupan gwo ka, and the pan-Caribbean
   calypso tradition.

Carnival

   French Antillean Carnival in Paris
   Enlarge
   French Antillean Carnival in Paris

   Carnival is a very important festival, known as Vaval on Martinique.
   Music plays a vital role, with Martinican big bands marching across the
   island. Vaval declined following World War II, bouncing back with new
   band formats and new traditions only in the 1980s. Like Guadeloupe,
   Martinique features participatory, call-and-response style songs during
   its Vaval celebrations.

   In the early 20th century on Martinique, Creole bands travelled on
   trucks or small carts during Vaval, playing a music known as biguine
   vidé (or just videé). After the decline of Vaval in World War 2, the
   tradition began anew in the 1980s, when large marching bands of fifty
   or more people became common, including a number of horn players,
   percussionists and dancers. These large bands, known as groups à pied,
   are each identified with a neighbourhood. Biguine vidé is participatory
   music, with the bandleader singing a verse and the audience responding.
   Modern instrumentation includes a variety of improvised drums made from
   containers of all kinds, plastic plumbing, bells, tanbou débonda,
   chacha, tibwa and gwoka drums. Aside from the biguine vidé bands, Vaval
   includes song and costume contests, masquerading and zouk parties .

Chouval bwa

   Chouval bwa is a kind of Martinican traditional music, featuring
   percussion, bamboo flute, accordion, and wax-paper/comb-type kazoo. The
   music originated among rural Martinicans, as a form of celebratory
   holiday music played to accompany a dance called the manege (which
   translates as merry-go-round; chouval bwa is a Creole version of cheval
   bois, which refers to the wooden horses seen on merry-go-rounds).
   Chouval bwa percussion is played by a drummer on the tanbour drum and
   the ti bwa, a percussion instrument made out of a piece of bamboo laid
   horizontally and beaten with sticks; the most traditional ensembles
   also use accordions, chacha (a rattle) and the bel-air, a bass version
   of the tanbour .

Popular music

   Though Martinique and Guadeloupe are most frequently known only for the
   internationally-renowned zouk style, the islands have also produced
   popular musicians in various updated styles of traditional biguine,
   chouval bwa and gwo ka. The world-famous zouk band Kassav' remains
   easily the most famous performers from the island. Chouval bwa has
   diversifed into pop genres like zouk chouv, which includes electric
   instrumentation and has been popularized by Claude Germany, Tumpak,
   Dede Saint-Prix, and Pakatak. Germany is the most traditionally-styled
   of the popular zouk chouv performers, while Marce Pago of Tumpak is
   particularly influential, and is also known for coining the term zouk
   chouv in 1987 .

Biguine

   Biguine is a Martinican form of clarinet and trombone music which can
   be divided into two distinct types:
     * bidgin bélè or drum biguine - originates in slave bélè dances and
       characterized by the use of bélè drums and tibwa rhythm sticks,
       along with call and response, nasal vocals and improvised
       instrumental solos; has its roots in West African ritual dances,
       though ceremonial components do not survive in Haitian biguine.
     * orchestrated biguine - originates in Saint-Pierre in the 18th
       century, highly influenced by French music though vocals are
       usually in creole.

   Evolving out of string band music, biguine spread to mainland France in
   the 1920s. Early stars like Alexandre Stellio and Sam Castandet became
   popular. Its popularity abroad died relatively quickly, but it lasted
   as a major force in popular music on Martinique until Haitian compas
   took over in the 1950s and mini-jazz artists like Les Gentlemen and Les
   Vikings de Guadeloupe became popular in the late 1960s. In the later
   part of the 20th century, biguine musicians like clarinet virtuoso
   Michel Godzom helped revolutionize the genre. Biguine moderne, a pop
   form, has maintained some pop success in Martinique, especially artists
   like Kali, who fuse the genre with reggae.

Kadans

   In the 1970s, a wave of Haitian immigrants to Martinique brought with
   them the kadans, a sophisticated form of music that quickly swept the
   island and helped unite all the former French colonies of the Caribbean
   by combining their cultural influences. These Haitians drew upon
   previous success from mini-jazz artists like Les Gentlemen, Les
   Leopards and Les Vikings de Guadeloupe.

Zouk

   Zouk arose in the mid-1980s, a combination of European, African and
   Indian musics. Elements of gwo ka, tambour, ti bwa and biguine vidé are
   prominent in zouk. Though there are many diverse styles of zouk, some
   commonalities exist. The French Creole tongue of Martinique and
   Guadeloupe is an important element, and are a distinctive part of the
   music. Generally, zouk is based around star singers, with little
   attention given to instrumentalists, and is based almost entirely
   around studio recordings .

   The band Kassav' remain the best known zouk group. Kassav' drew in
   influences from balakadri and bal granmoun dances, biguines and
   mazurkas, along with more contemporary Caribbean influences like reggae
   and salsa music. Zouk live shows soon began to draw on American and
   European rock and heavy metal traditions, and the genre spread across
   the world, primarily in developing countries.
     * Kassav' "Zouk La Sé Sèl Médikaman Nou Ni" —
          + A major zouk hit by Kassav'
          +

                           Lesser Antillean music

    Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles -
                        Barbados - Dominica - Grenada
    Guadeloupe - Martinique - Montserrat - Saint Kitts and Nevis - Saint
   Lucia - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Trinidad and Tobago - Virgin
                                   Islands

Music Festivals

   Two large, international music festivals have further bolstered
   Martinique's music scene. Jazz à la Martinique and Carrefour Mondial de
   Guitare alternate years. The country's best jazz musicians are featured
   during Jazz à la Martinique, but major worldwide players like Branford
   Marsalis also perfom. Honoring the guitar, Carrefour Mondial de Guitare
   celebrates a wide range of guitar genres, including flamenco, blues,
   jazz, rock, and pop. Both festivals last approximately a week, with
   concerts in various locations throughout Martinique.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Martinique"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
