A guide to traditional Afro-Guadeloupian Dance
Yamide Dagnet manager and artistic director of Zil’OKa is passionate about Guadeloupian culture. Here she guides us through the forms which make up the traditional Afro-Guadeloupian dance complexLike many other Guadeloupians who left their homeland to work abroad, I brought with me my music, my dances, my culture, as a reminder of who I am and where I come from. I cannot help it, like my ancestors did, I am passing these rhythms, I should say these gifts, to the next generation. This became even more important when my son was born here, in the UK. My passion led me to engage in the creation of the French Traditional Group, Zil’OKa, as its choreographer. And my desire to perpetuate this powerful culture gave me the strength to take over as the Manager and Artistic Director of this group, a role I have held for the last 3 years, in addition to my full time job.
I hope the following lines will give you a flavour, a yummy taste of our culture. But I hope it will bring you to us to exchange and share further our commonalities, differences, heritages, and passion for music and dance.
Geographical, historical and social contextGuadeloupe, like its sister island Martinique, is a French speaking island of the Lesser Antilles. Also called the butterfly island, Guadeloupe is made of two main islands separated by a river creating the mountainous Basse-Terre, and the flatter Grande-Terre. The archipelago is extended by three smaller islands: Marie-Galante, Desirade, Iles des Saintes. Saint Barthelemy and the French part of Saint Martin, previously part of the isles of Guadeloupe, became independent in 2007.
Christopher Columbus discovered Guadeloupe in 1493 and the island became part of the French crown in 1635. After the genocide of the Caribs, the French raided the West African coast (mainly from Senegambia, the Bight of Benin, Congo basin) to bring new “workers” to the Caribbean sugarcane plantations, even after 1833, when the slave trade to the French Antilles was officially ended. These arrivals had a strong influence on the dance culture of the nation.
The mountainous ranges of Guadeloupe provided shelter for runaway slaves, also called maroons, where they recreated small African based communities and created new genres that would better fit their new lifestyle. This contributed greatly to the maintenance of the African roots in the Creole culture. However, like the Creole language, up to three decades ago, any form of African heritage manifestations was perceived in a negative light by the racialised economic elite who banned public displays of African heritage cultural expressions. Indeed, for the light-skinned urban population, who made up this economic elite African cultural expressions were unwanted symbols of a shameful past. They considered gwo ka (in Guadeloupe) and bele (in Martinique) a by-product of poor dark-skinned peasants and as a result relied chiefly on European and European-derived (creolised) music for their entertainment. Peasants on the other hand danced both European-derived quadrilles, and the African-derived genres. The diversity of the musical and dance repertoire as well as the African cultural heritage present in society are the fruit of a strong intellectual fight by political leaders for the independence of Guadeloupe.
Gwo ka: The African Heritage Gwo ka is a music born in Guadeloupe during the dark period of slavery, created from African rhythms. But speaking about gwo ka is speaking about the soul of Guadeloupe, its personality, its originality, its identity. It is both a musical expression, which was born in the suffering of slavery, which was prohibited, repressed, marooned, but which also resisted to accompany its people in its destiny, like its language, Creole. Gwo ka is also a reason of being, walking, talking, dancing and also conveys a sense of spirituality.
The songs accompanying drum music carry the collective social and historical memory of the community and with the music and the dance, for a long time they provided the only avenue of expression for those people whose opinion were despised. Gwo ka features melodically repetitive vocal lines over rolling drum sections that alter between fixed and improvised. They rely on several recurrent elements, which include the rhythmic of the drums, clapping of hands, the melody of the carol (répondè) and the improvisation playing with the norm.
Gwo ka has geniously developed seven fundamental family of rhythms, each with a distinct meaning, specific way of dancing and singing:
Tumblak: is the dance of love, fertility and joy, and suggestive postures. It become “Tumblak chiré” when the rhythm is accelerated.
Graj: dance initially associated with work, evoking the different phases of the making of the manioc flour. It is similar to the Tumblack, but slower and more accentuated. It is used by women dancers as a seductive dance. Unlike the Tumblack, the rhythm is marked three times.
Mendé: this is the rhythm and dance associated to the carnival. It symbolize the collective evasion, incite to the walking pace of demonstration/defile.
Woulé: the only rhythm on 3 times. It is a airy, wild, jerky dance, also called balloon (balon). Women in the past used to dance it with a foulard. But this was mainly associated to the preparation of war and other associated to work.
Granjanbel or Padjanbel: originally associated to the work in the plantation, it has become the dance for the warriors and pride.
Kaladja: Slow rhythm; expresses pain, reflection, sorrow. It can also been danced as a couples dance.
Léwòz: the more complex and difficult rhythm to play. It is a warrior and incantation dance, and originated the rebellion in of the XVIIIth century. There are two type of Léwoz, one of them is the “Léwòz indestwas”, the other one is Lewoz Jabrun”. The rhythm Léwòz should not be confused with the Swaré- Léwòz, where people join in a space (generally a circle) of expression mixing fascination, improvisation. The Swaré- Léwòz is a coded space defining the relationship and energy between:
• the vocal space dedicated to the choral (chantè and repondè), and story tellers;
• the space dedicated to the sound with the musicians called tambouyé (one lead/soloist makè”, and two side drums - “boula”);
• the space for the body, for the dancer (dansè);
• the convivial space where spicy meals, rum give you the strength to pursue the party (la ronde) until the sunrise.
The drum soloist (makè) is the one who is the most agile and precise at communicating with the dancer. If the dancer performs a succession of four, six, or eight steps, as a makè when the dancer executes the final step one must be able to anticipate what he/she will do next. Anticipation is key.
There are other rhythms in gwoka than the traditional seven basic mentioned above. They include: Sobo, the 6/8, and the Takout.
Various forms of marital dances are also performed to the rhythms mentioned above. Examples of these include Mayolè whose movements resemble fencing, and Bènaden featuring movements akin to wrestling.
The best opportunity to experience gwo ka and meet some of its masters is in July at the annual Gwo Ka Festival in Saint-Anne, Guadeloupe.
Biguine, Quadrille (Kadri) and Mazurka: A transatlantic cultural conversation revealing the Creolisation processMost North American musical forms have their origins in the marriage between African rhythms and European melodies - country music, blues, jazz, rock, etc. French Caribbean music is similar and the dance traditions reflect this, although its origin is embedded in the dark history of slavery. Indeed, from the earliest stages of slavery, some Africans were chosen to become domestics in the home of planters and integrated European. music and dance (mainly contredanse or square dances called quadrille) into their repertoire, which constituted the first steps toward creolization. The biguine, kadri, and mazurka are often described as the camouflage of African customs using European styles and forms. In all of them, the African tribute showcases through the syncope style of the melodies and rhythms. Until recently these genres were performed in parties or bal called balakabri in Guadeloupe and bal boutche in Martinique.
Biguine is the crossing of Caribbean musical cultures, with the apparition of orchestras similar to those symbolic of New Orleans jazz and features clarinet trombone, saxophone, and tuba with nasal vocals. More than just a musical style, this term is also the name of a couples dance that requires much hip-swaying. This style combines the tastes of the aristocratic classes (e.g. curtsies, bows etc) with a distinctly Caribbean flair. Just imagine shaking bootiliciously (swinging) while doing a ballroom waltz. Not too easy, but it’s at the essence of this French Caribbean music. Ladies wear long skirts, and men wear coats with tails. This style of music and dance where very popular in 1930-1940, thanks to jazz musicians like Robert Mavouzy ou Sylvio Siobud. Biguine orchestras were all the rage in Bohemian Paris in the 1930s. Al Lirvat, influenced by the style be-bop created what is called Biguine Wabap which bring an important modification bringing dissonant harmony and polyrhythm. The Bal Creole were legendary in Paris counterculture until world war two and definitely merit further research.
The mazurka a popular 19th century ballroom dance that actually comes from an ecstatic triple meter (3/4) dance form in Poland, was taken up and altered by Afro-Caribbeans by giving it a penultimate Caribbean groove (6/8). Mazurka includes two basic steps: the piqué and the night.
The cultural fusion at the essence of kadri mixes some steps from Breton and Auvergne dances with the historical funkiness of West Indian music. Like square dancing further north, French Caribbean traditional dances require a caller to guide the dancers. In Guadeloupe, kadri in the 19th century was accompanied by fiddle and percussion. Since then, accordion has taken over from the fiddle.
There are regional differences of this dance form but each include the following figures: entrance, waltz, trousers, summer, hen, pastourelle and beguine.
ZOUK: The revolutionary sound and danceZouk means party or festival in the Guadeloupian Creole language. Musically it is a mixture of popular carnival music, biguine, kompa from Haiti and more importantly traditional musical forms such as gwo ka from Guadeloupe and bėlė from Martinique.
The story of zouk began in Guadeloupe, when Guadeloupean, Pierre-Edouard Décimus, a member of a dance orchestra since the sixties, decided to revamp and modernize traditional musical forms and old popular tunes. Pierre-Edouard and his brother Georges consciously set out to ensure that the foundation of this music was based on gwo ka in order to make this new sound instantly accessible the majority of Guadeloupian society regardless of class. Thus at the heart of the new sound was the gwo ka drum and drum patterns which were then married with modern instrumentation in particular bass, keyboards and brass wind instruments all of which combined to create a modern music characterised by a lively festive air. Together with the musician Freddy Marshall, the brothers Décimus formed the musical group Kassav in 1979. They released the album Love and Ka Dance in the same year, which brought the new musical genre to the masses.
Zouk dance steps are mainly derived from the biguine and mazurka (mentioned above). The basic step consists in changing smoothly the weight from one leg to the other in the music ("1-2, 1-2, etc"), with the hip doing forward/backwards/lateral and circle movements. People dance on the tempo. Steps includes “travelling/voyager”, the chair, the “broken leg”. A romantic slow sub-genre of Zouk has since emerged called zouk love, were couples dance in close embrace.
Derivative forms of zouk include Kizomba (encounter of Zouk and semba after Kassav’s music reached the African continent), Cabo-Love (encounter with Cape Verde) Lambada zouk or lambazouk (encounter of Brazilian lambada and zouk), and Zouk R&B.
The best opportunity to immerse oneself in zouk whilst in Guadelope is during the annual Festival International du Zouk which takes place annually around July/August time.
To see the beguine and gwo ka, in action, click on links below:
Biguine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No2N2jSe7HIGwoka:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGQHQ6n0EIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGQHQ6n0EI
