Music of Dominica - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The music of Dominica plays an important role in the social and culture life of the Antillean island of Dominica

Dominica

Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

. The Nature island boasts of Cadence-lypso

Cadence-lypso

Cadence-lypso, popularized as simply Cadence is a cultural music of Dominica based in Guadeloupe in the early 1970s. Cadence-lypso is a fusion of Dominican and Caribbean/Latin rhythms and has totally revolutionized the music scence in its genre, and it has now become the main dance Music of...

, a genre developed in Dominica and made popular in the French deparments of Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

and Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

. It spread through France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and was very popular there during the 1970s. Cadence has influenced many other genres including zouk

Zouk

Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe & Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the...

, bouyon (another Dominican creation) and even soca

Soca music

Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....

. Today Dominica's music scene boasts of a variety of genres including all the popular genres of the world. Popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

is widespread, with a number of native Dominican performers gaining national fame in imported genres like calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

, reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

, soca

Soca music

Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....

, kompa, zouk

Zouk

and rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

. In addition, Dominica's own popular music industry has created a form called bouyon
Bouyon music
Bouyon is a form of popular music of Dominica which became popular in the late 1980s. The term Bouyon means something akin to "gumbo soup" in the local creole of Dominica...

, which combines elements from several styles and has achieved a wide fanbase in Dominica, especially the group WCK (Windward Caribbean Kulture

Windward Caribbean Kulture

The WCK Band was formed in 1988 in Dominica. The band played a blend of 'cadence-lypso' and Dominican 'Jing ping', which would later be labelled bouyon, a genre which they are credited with creating.-Discography:...

) and Triple k International. Native musicians in various forms, like reggae (Nasio Fontaine

Nasio Fontaine

Nasio Fontaine, also known simply as Nasio, is a reggae artist from the Commonwealth of Dominica.-Biography:Nasio was the youngest of seven children born to a Carib Indian mother and father of African descent, in the village of Carte-Bois. When he was eight years old, Nasio began singing in the...

, Lazo

Lazo (musician)

Lazo is a Reggae musician from Dominica. He is from Castle Bruce, Dominica. He also holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto....

), Brother Matthew Luke

Brother Matthew Luke

Brother Matthew Luke is a new age reggae artist from Dominica.His albums include Here Comes The Dub Poet, My Tribe and Live in Concert. He has been called on frequently as a speaker, performer and artisan to represent Dominica in Cultural Festivals and reggae concerts around the world...

), soca (Derick St. Rose-De Hunter, Young Bull), zouk (Ophelia Marie

Ophelia Marie

Ophelia Marie is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", and the "First Lady of Creole"...

, Michele Henderson), Cadence-Lypso (Exile One

Exile One

Exile One is a legendary musical group of the 1970s from Dominica based in Guadeloupe. Gordon Henderson is the leader and founder of the famous musical group "Exile One" and the one who coined the name "Cadence-lypso" for a genre of music that revolutionized modern creole music worldwide....

),(Grammacks

Grammacks

Grammacks was a 1970s musical group from Dominica.-Biography:The band was started in a village on the west coast called St. Joseph. The band was formed by Anthony "Curvin" Serrant, guitar Anthony "Tepam" George, bass Elon "Bollo" Rodniy drums and keyboard player McDonald "Mckie" Prosper. Jeff...

) and calypso (The Wizzard

The Wizzard

The Wizzard is a popular calypso musician from Dominica. He began performed in church as a young man, then competed in the carnival calypso tent in 1988, placing second. In 1989, he won the competition with "Feed My Brother" and "Young an' Restless"; that year, he also placed second at the...

), Levi "Super L" Loblack, have also become stars at home and abroad.

Like the other Francophone musics of the Lesser Antilles

Music of the Lesser Antilles

The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music; much of the folk and popular music is also a part of the Afro-American...

, Dominican folk music is a hybrid of African and European elements. The quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

is an important symbol of French Antillean culture, and is, on Dominica, typically accompanied by a kind of ensemble called a jing ping
Jing ping
Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. In Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadrille....

band. In addition, Dominica's folk tradition includes folk songs called bélé, traditional storytelling

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

called kont
Kont
Kont is a kind of Saint Lucian folk song, performed as part of the funereal ceremony by mourners outside the deceased's house. These mourners sing kont, a responsorial Creole song, accompanied by drumming. The lyrics may refer to the last words or other aspects of the deceased's death...

, masquerade

Masquerade ceremony

A masquerade ceremony is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks.Examples include the West African and African Diaspora masquerades, such as Egungun Masquerades, Northern Edo Masquerades, Caribbean Carnival and Jonkonnu.-External links:* - slideshow by Life magazine*...

, children's

Children's music

Children's music is used here to refer to music composed and performed for children by adults. In European influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment...

and work song

Work song

A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a specific form of work, either sung while conducting a task or a song linked to a task or trade which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song....

s, and Carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

music.

Until the late 1950s, the Afro-Dominican culture of most of the island was repressed by the colonial government and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, both of which taught that African-derived music was evil, demonic and uncultured. This perception changed in the mid- to late 20th century, when Afro-Dominican culture came to be celebrated through the work of promoters like Cissie Caudeiron

Cissie Caudeiron

Mabel Alice "Cissie" Caudeiron was a folklorist from Roseau, Dominica. Caudeiron became famous as a Creole nationalist, and is credited with leading or inspiring a roots revival in Dominican music. She founded the Kairi Artistic Troop, and helped to organize the first National Day celebrations...

Characteristics

Dominica's terrain is rugged, which has fostered distinct regional traditions. The northern, eastern, southern, western and central parts of the island are music areas. The villages of Wesley

Wesley, Dominica

Wesley is a village in northeastern Dominica. It has a population of 1,756 people....

and Marigot

Marigot, Dominica

Marigot is the largest settlement of Saint Andrew Parish in northeastern Dominica. The village has a population of 2,676 people, and is home to a Fisheries Complex as well as the island's main airport. It is the birthplace of local politician Edison James, and cricket umpire Billy...

are also unique in their preservation of English language and music rather than the more French-based styles of the rest of the island.

Dominican folk music is an oral tradition

Oral tradition

Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...

, learned informally through watching others perform. As of 1987, most performers of traditional music were either over fifty years old or under thirty-five, which indicates an ongoing revival of previously declining traditions. Music is evaluated based on both characteristics of the music, such as complex syncopated

Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

rhythms, as well as social factors, such as the ability of the performers to improvise and respond to their surroundings and to keep the audience excited and participating in the music.

Characteristics of Dominican music include the West African use of call and response

Call and response

Call and response is a form of "spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements are punctuated by expressions from the listener."...

singing, clapping

Clapping

A clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often in a constant drone to express appreciation or approval , but also in rhythm to match sounds in music and dance...

as a major part of rhythm and lyrical, dance and rhythmic improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

. Lyrics are almost all in French Creole, and are traditionally sung by women (chantwèl), while the instrumental traditions are predominantly practiced by men. Drums, generically known as lapo kabwit, are the most prominent part of Dominica's instrumental tradition.

Folk music

Dominican folk music includes, most influentially, the French Antillean quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

tradition, the jing ping style of dance music, as well as bélé and heel-and-toe polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

. Traditional Carnival music includes chanté mas

Chanté mas

Chanté mas and Lapo kabrit is a form of Carnival music of Dominica. It is performed by masequerading partygoers in a two-day parade, in a call-and-response format "lavwé", with a lead female "chantwèl" singer dancing backwards in front of the drummer on a tambou lélé...

and lapo kabwit. Folk music on Dominica has historically been a part of everyday life, including work song

Work song

s, religious music

Religious music

Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...

and secular, recreational music.

The quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

is one of the most important dance of the Dominican folk tradition, which also includes the lancer

Les Lanciers

Les Lanciers is a Square, or a Quadrille, which is the pan-European term for a set dance performed by four couples. It is a composite dance made up of five figures or tours, each performed four times so that all couples will dance the lead part. We find Les Lanciers or The Lancers in many variants...

and distinctive forms of several dances, many of them derived from European styles. The bidjin (biguine

Biguine

Biguine is a style of music that originated in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the 19th century.-History:Two main types of French antillean biguine can be identified based on the instrumentation in contemporary musical practice, which is call the drum biguine and the orchestrated biguine . Each of...

), mereng (merengue

Merengue music

Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...

), sotis (schottische

Schottische

The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...

), polka pil (pure polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

), vals o vyenn (Viennese waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...

) and mazouk (mazurka

Mazurka

The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...

) are particularly widespread.

Bélé

belé are folk songs of West African origin, traditionally performed recreationally in the evening during the full moon

Full moon

Full moon lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun.Lunar eclipses can only occur at...

, and more rarely, lavèyé (wakes). The bélé tradition has declined in the 20th and 21st century, but is still performed for holidays like Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

, Independence Day

Independence Day

An Independence Day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood, usually after ceasing to be a colony or part of another nation or state, and more rarely after the end of a military occupation...

, Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, Jounen Kwéyòl

Jounen Kwéyòl

Jounen Kwéyòl is a Saint Lucian festival that celebrates Creole culture. It is held on the last Sunday of October across the entire island, and has been held annually since 1984...

and patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

festivals held annually in the Parishes of Dominica

Parishes of Dominica

-See also:*ISO 3166-2:DM...

, especially in the Fèt St.-Pierre and the Fèt St.-Isidore for fishermen and workers respectively.

All bélé are accompanied by an eponymous drum, the tanbou bélé, along with the tingting (triangle) and chakchak (maracas). Bélés start with a lead vocalist (chantwèl), who is followed by the responsorial chorus (lavwa), then a drummer and dancers.
Traditional dances revolve around stylized courtship

Courtship

Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...

between a male and female dancer, known as the kavalyé and danm respectively. The bélé song-dances include the bélé soté, bélé priòrité, bélé djouba, bélé contredanse, bélé rickety and bélé pitjé.

Quadrille

The quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

is a dance form that is an important symbol of French Antillean culture, not just in Dominica, but also Martinique

Martinique

, Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

and other Francophone islands. Dominican quadrilles are traditionally performed by four sets of couples in subscription picnics or dances, and in private parties. However, the quadrille tradition now only survives at holidays and festivals.

The Dominican quadrille generally has four figures, the pastouwèl, lapoul, lété and latrinitez. Some regions of Dominica, such as Petite Savanne

Petite Savanne

Petite Savanne is a village on the southeast side of Dominica. It has a population of 781, and has some of Dominica's steepest terrain....

, are home to local variants such as the caristo. Many quadrilles are found across Dominica under a wide variety of names. In addition to the standard quadrille, the lancer

Les Lanciers

is also an important Dominican dance.

Accompaniment for the quadrille is provided by a four instrument ensemble called a jing ping
Jing ping
Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. In Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadrille....

band.

Jing ping

Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica

Dominica

, also known colloquially as an accordion band. In Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance

Circle dance

"Circle dance" is the most common name for a style of traditional dance usually done in a circle without partners to musical accompaniment.-Description:...

called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

.

Jing ping bands are made up of a boumboum (boom pipe), syak or gwaj (scraper-rattle

Rattle (percussion)

A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...

), tambal or tanbou (tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

) and accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

. The double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

and banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

are also sometimes used. Bamboo flutes led the jing ping ensembles before the 1940s, when accordions were introduced. The Dominican flute tradition declined as a result, despite their additional use in serenade

Serenade

In music, a serenade is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.The word Serenade is derived from the Italian word sereno, which means calm....

s, until being revived after the National Independence Competitions.

Chanté mas

The chanté mas

Chanté mas

(masquerade

Masquerade ceremony

song) tradition is based around pre-calypso Carnival music performed in a responsorial style by partygoers. The Dominican Carnival masquerade lasted for two days of parading through the streets, with a singer dancing backwards in front of the drummer on a tanbou lélé. Chanté mas lyrics are traditionally based on gossip and scandal, and addressed the personal shortcomings of others.

Other folk music

Don't be surprised that the Dominicans listen to the same music we do like-pop,rock,and other types of music. Look below for more information on the Dominican music.
Dominica's folk musical heritage includes work song

Work song

s, storytelling

Storytelling

, children's music and masquerade songs. Dominican work songs are accompanied by the tambou twavay drum, and are performed by workers while gathering fruit, building roads, fishing, moving a house or sawing wood. Many are responsorial, and are generally short and simple, with the lyrical text and rhythm tying into the work to be accompanied. On modern Dominica, work songs are rarely performed.

The kont

Kont

Kont is a kind of Saint Lucian folk song, performed as part of the funereal ceremony by mourners outside the deceased's house. These mourners sing kont, a responsorial Creole song, accompanied by drumming. The lyrics may refer to the last words or other aspects of the deceased's death...

, or storytelling, folk tradition of Dominica was focused around entertainment for night-time festivals, funeral wakes and feasts and festivals. Modern kont is mostly performed during major festival competitions. Most kont storytellers work with local traditions, such as legends and history, and provide an ethical or moral message. A one line theme song, often based around a duet between two characters, recurs throughout most kont performances.

Unlike most Dominican folk songs, children's songs and musical games are mostly in English. They were originally in the same Creole as the rest of the island, but have come to be primarily of English, Scottish, and Irish derivation. Children's musical traditions include ring games and circle dances, and music accompanied by thigh-slapping and circle dancing.

Popular music

The first internationally known bands from Dominica were 1970s groups like Exile One

Exile One

and Grammacks

Grammacks

. These bands were the stars of the cadence-lypso

Cadence-lypso

scene, which was the first style of Dominican music to become popular across the Caribbean. By the 1980s, however, Martinican zouk

Zouk

and other styles were more popular. In 1988, WCK formed, playing an experimental fusion of cadence-lypso with the island’s jing ping sound. The result became known as bouyon

Bouyon music

Bouyon is a form of popular music of Dominica which became popular in the late 1980s. The term Bouyon means something akin to "gumbo soup" in the local creole of Dominica...

, and has re-established Dominica in the field of popular music.

Early popular music

Dominican popular music

Popular music

history can be traced back to the 1940s and 50s, when dance bands like the Casimir Brothers and later, The Swinging Stars

The Swinging Stars

The Swinging Stars were an early popular band from Dominica, formed in 1959 in the Virgin Lane/Turkey Lane area. They were originally known as the Swinging Teens and changed their name in 1961. Their first major show was at the 1960 calypso competition at Carnival, and they continued to gain fans...

, became famous across the island. Their music was a dance-oriented version of many kinds of Caribbean and Latin popular music, such as Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n bolero

Bolero

Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian samba, the merengue

Merengue music

from the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

ian calypso

Calypso music

, and American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

.

By the beginning of the 1960s, calypso and Trinidadian steelpan

Steelpan

Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...

became the most popular styles of music on Dominica, replacing traditional Carnival music like chanté mas

Chanté mas

and lapo kabwit. Early recording stars from this era included Swinging Busters, The Gaylords

The Gaylords (Dominican band)

The Gay Lords of Dominica were a popular Carnival band from Dominica from 1966 to 1974.-Members:Members included founder members Greg Breaker who is now the lead vocalist with Hot Chocolate, now using the sobriquet of Billy Brown), Clayton 'Baby Julie' Guiste , Crispin Seaman, Dennis Joseph and...

, De Boys an Dem and Los Caballeros, while chorale

Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....

groups also gained fans, especially Lajenne Etwal, Siflé Montan'y and the Dominica Folk singers. These early popular musicians were aided by the spread of radio broadcasting, beginning with WIDBS and later Radio Dominica.

Of these early popular musicians, a few pioneering the use of native influences. The Gaylords’ hits, like “Ti Mako”, “Pray for the Blackman”, “Lovely Dominica” and “Douvan Jo”, were either English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

or the native Creole, kwéyòl. By the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, American rock and roll

Rock and roll

, soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

and funk

Funk

had reached Dominica and left lasting influences. Funky rock-based bands like Voltage Four, Woodenstool and Every Mother's Child became popular.

Calypso

Calypso music

has been popular in Dominica since the 1950s; the first Calypso King was crowned in 1959. Popular calypso in Dominica has always been closely associated with steelpan

Steelpan

Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...

music. The first wave of Dominican steelpan includes bands like Esso, Shell and Regent, Vauxhall and Old Oak.

Cadence-lypso

was developed in the 1970s, and was the first style of Dominican music to find international acclaim, eventually becoming a part of styles like zouk

Zouk

. The most influential band in the development of cadence-lypso was Exile One

Exile One

( based on the island of Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

) in 1973 that combined Cadence rampa

Cadence rampa

Cadence rampa is a variety of music from the Caribbean country of Haïti. Cadence rampa is originally a modern Haitian Méringue popularized by the talented sax player Webert Sicot in the early 60s...

and Calypso

Calypso music

.

In spite of the influence of CADENCE rampa and caLYPSO, hence the name "CADENCE-LYPSO", this musical phenomenon created by the group "Exile One" has evolved over the years with Dominican bands (Grammacks

Grammacks

, Midnight Groovers, etc.) combining their musical patterns to the genre. Cadence-lypso evolved under the influence of Dominican and Caribbean/Latin influences, as well as rock and roll

Rock and roll

, soul

Soul music

, and funk music from the United States. By the end of the 1970s, Gordon Henderson

Gordon Henderson

Gordon F. Henderson, CC, QC was a Canadian intellectual property lawyer who joined the law firm Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in 1937, and later became its chairman....

defined Cadence-lypso a synthesis

Synthesis

In general, the noun synthesis refers to a combination of two or more entities that together form something new; alternately, it refers to the creating of something by artificial means...

of Caribbean and African musical patterns fusing the traditional with the contemporary".

Cadence-lypso was influenced by nationalist movement that espoused Rastafari

Rastafari movement

The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...

and Black Power

Black Power

Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...

. Many groups performed songs with intensely ideological positions, and much of the repertoire was in the vernacular kwéyòl language.

Recent popular music

During the 1980s, cadence-lypso’s popularity declined greatly. Some Dominican performers remained famous, such as Ophelia

Ophelia Marie

Ophelia Marie is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", and the "First Lady of Creole"...

, a very renowned singer of the period. Popular music during this time was mostly zouk

Zouk

, a style pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav, who used styles of folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe. Soca

Soca music

Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....

, a kind of Trinidadian music

Music of Trinidad and Tobago

Calypso music and steelpan is what Trinidad and Tobago is best known for, including internationally in the 1950s through artists like Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow; the art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte...

, was also popular at the time, producing bands like RSB, Windward Caribbean Kulture

Windward Caribbean Kulture

(WCK) and First Serenade. The 80s also saw a rise in popular for jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

and the formation of several jazz bands, while groups like Exile One began exploring tradition rhythms from jing ping and lapo kabwit.

Zouk

main article: Zouk

Zouk

Music authors Charles De Ledesma and Gene Scaramuzzo trace zouk's development to the Guadeloupean gwo ka

Gwo ka

Gwo ka is both a family of hand drums and the music created with them, which is a major part of Guadeloupean folk music. There are seven rhythms in gwo ka, which are embellished by the drummers...

and Martinican bèlè (tambour and ti bwa) folk traditions. Ethnomusicologist Jocelyn Guilbault, however, describes zouk as a synthesis of Caribbean popular styles, especially Dominica cadence-lypso, Guadeloupean biguine
Biguine
Biguine is a style of music that originated in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the 19th century.-History:Two main types of French antillean biguine can be identified based on the instrumentation in contemporary musical practice, which is call the drum biguine and the orchestrated biguine . Each of...

, and Haitian cadence

Kadans

Kadans is a French Creole music genre, which started off in Haïti, and made popular in Dominica and the French Antilles of Martinique and Guadeloupe. Kadans is the French creole term for cadence.-History:...

. Zouk arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using elements of previous styles of Antillean music, as well as imported genres. Originating from Guadeloupe and Martinique, Zouk is also claimed as "our music" in Dominica. In Africa, it is popular in franco

Francophone

The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....

- and lusophone

Lusophone

A Lusophone is someone who speaks the Portuguese language, either as a native, as an additional language, or as a learner. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking"...

countries. In Europe, it is particularly popular in France, and in North America the Canadian province of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

A special style within the zouk is zouk-love

Zouk-love

Zouk-love is a genre of popular French West Indian music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe & Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish...

, where the music is more dramatic and slow. zouk-love has its origins in a slow tempo form of cadence

Cadence-lypso

sang by Ophelia Marie

Ophelia Marie

Ophelia Marie is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", and the "First Lady of Creole"...

of Dominica.
The music kizomba

Kizomba

Kizomba is one of the most popular genres of dance and music created in Angola. Derived directly from Zouk, sung generally in Portuguese, it is a genre of music with a romantic flow mixed with African rhythm. The kizomba dancing style is also known to be very sensual.- Origin :Kizomba was developed...

from Angola and cola-zouk from Cape Verde are also a derivative of zouk, which sounds basically the same but has more computerized sound, although there are notable differences once you become more familiar with these genres.

Bouyon

Bouyon is a fusion of Jing ping

Jing ping

Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. In Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadrille....

, Cadence-lypso

Cadence-lypso

and traditional dances namely bèlè, Quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

, chanté mas

Chanté mas

and lapo kabwit, Mazurka

Mazurka

, Zouk

Zouk

and other styles of Caribbean music

Caribbean music

The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...

, developed by a band called Windward Caribbean Kulture (later WCK).
WCK was among the most prominent of 80s Dominican soca bands. They began using native drum rhythms such as lapo kabwit and elements of the music of jing ping bands, as well as ragga

Ragga

-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...

-style vocals. Bouyon is popular across the Caribbean, and is known as jump up music in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The best-known band in the genre was Windward Caribbean Kulture

Windward Caribbean Kulture

"WCK" in 1988 by experimenting a fusion of Jing Ping and Cadence-lypso. While the Cadence-lypso sound is based on the creative usage of acoustic drums, an aggressive up-tempo guitar beat, and strong social commentary in the local Creole

Creole

- Languages :A Creole language is a stable, full-fledged language that originated from a pidgin or combination of other languages.Creole languages subgroups may include:* Arabic-based creole languages* Dutch-based creole languages...

language, this new music created by the "WCK" band focused more on the use of modern technology with strong emphasis on keyboard rhythmic patterns.

Bouyon has diversified into multiple subgenres. These include bouyon soca, bouyon-muffin, alternative bouyon, and bouyon jazz.
A modern offshoot of bouyon is bouyon-muffin, uses more prominient elements of the Jamaican raggamuffin music. The most influential figure in the development of bouyon-muffin was "Skinny Banton" who collaborated with the wck band, using ragga influenced vocals to chant on top of bouyon rhythms. Elements of Hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

and Dancehall

Dancehall

Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...

are incoperated into the genre - a style dubbed reketeng music.

Modern bouyon bands include Rough and Ready, Wassin Warriors, Seramix, and Triple K International.

Jing ping moderne

Jing ping moderne is a modernized version of Jing ping, which utilizes modern instruments such as
Drum set, modern Synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

, and Electric bass

Electric Bass

Electric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...

.
Religious music, influenced by American gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

, has become an important part of Dominican popular music in the 1990s. Performers include Cegid, Exeters, Agnes Aaron, Leon Esprit, Jerry Lloyd and End Time Singers. Calypso has also retained much popularity in Dominica, as has jazz. The band Impact has fused jazz with Caribbean music. Other styles include steelpan, which has declined popularity despite the efforts of groups like Phase Five, and dancehall

Dancehall

, which includes performers like Puppa Tino, Miekey Moreau, Cecil Moses and Skinny Banton.

Music institutions and festivals

The Caribbean Carnival

Caribbean Carnival

Caribbean Carnival is the term used for a number of events that take place in many of the Caribbean islands annually.The Caribbean's Carnivals all have several common themes all originating from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, based on folklore, culture, religion,and tradition, not on amusement...

is an important part of the Dominican culture. Originally featuring masquerade songs (chanté mas) and other local traditions, traditional Carnival, Mas Domnik, came to be dominated by imported calypso music

Calypso music

and steel bands in the early 1960s; calypso appealed to Carnival-goers because the lyrical focus on local news and gossip was similar to that of chanté mas, despite a rhythmic pattern and instrumentation which contrast sharply with traditional Dominican Mas Domnik music. After a fire in 1963, the traditional Carnival was banned, though calypso and steelpan continued to grow in popularity. Modern Carnival on Dominica takes place on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...

, and is a festive occasion during which laws against libel and slander are suspended. The modern Dominican Carnival is heavily based on the Trinidadian celebration, but is not as commercialized due to a lack of corporate sponsorship.

The World Creole Music Festival

World Creole Music Festival

The establishment of the Dominica World Creole Music Festival by the Dominica Festivals Commission ushered in the newest music festival in the Caribbean...

takes place on the island of Dominica, in Festival City, Roseau

Roseau

-Architecture:The central district of Roseau is tightly packed with small and large houses and even larger modern concrete structures. There is little green or open space situated within the city, and this is even more so today, as many of the courtyards which was once commonplace within the city...

, which is run by the governmental Dominica Festivals Commission. The National Independence Competitions are an important part of Dominican musical culture. They were founded by Chief Minister of Dominica Edward Olivier Leblanc in 1965, and promote the traditional music and dance of Dominica. The government of Dominica also promotes Dominican music through the Dominican Broadcasting Station, which broadcasts between 20% and 25% local music as a matter of policy.

External links

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