Art Music by Caribbean Composers: Martinique
Along with its political affiliation, the island maintains cultural ties to France. French is the official language and Creole is also widely spoken (Cyrille, 2008). The “dance repertoire of nineteenth-century French ballrooms” influenced the local styles of music in Martinique (Cyrille, 2005, para. 3). “French contradances, waltzes, polkas and mazurkas were frequently played by bands composed of black musicians who gave them a new twist. They evolved into the Creole waltz, the polka and the mazouk” (Cyrille, 2005, para. 3). The biguine is another musical genre native to Martinique but inspired by French ballroom music. “Characterized by a lively 2/4 meter and an eight-bar structure, the biguine merges rhythmic elements of African origin with European-style harmony” (Cyrille, 2005, para. 3). Other musical styles, such as mazonn and bélé, were inspired by the African heritage of Martinique. Casinos and ballrooms with entry fees, long provided popular performance venues for local musicians (Cyrille, 2005).
Grove Music Online: Martinique and Guadeloupe
"In Martinique (as elsewhere in the Caribbean) slaves were allowed their own dances outdoors on Saturday afternoons and nights, after Mass on Sundays and on holidays. Music also accompanied koud’min (Fr. coups de main) work parties, typically for farming and house-building. Early slave dances of the French Antilles and other islands were frequently (and perhaps indiscriminately) labelled kalenda, bamboula, djouba or chica in colonial literature."
"Documentation of slave music is better for Guadeloupe than for Martinique. In the 1600s and 1700s rural slaves’ free-time musical dances were known as bamboula or gwotambou (Fr. gros tanbou); there were also koud’min. In towns, sociétés (mutual aid societies) developed in order to raise funds to purchase slaves’ freedom, to pay for funerals and for entertainment"
