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Martinique is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. A part of the French West Indies (Antilles), Martinique is an overseas department and region and a single territorial collectivity of the French Republic. It is a part of the European Union as an outermost region within the special territories of members of the European Economic Area, and an associate member of the CARICOM, but is not part of the Schengen Area or the European Union Customs Union. The currency in use is the euro.
The Lesser Antilles are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. They are distinguished from the large islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc which begins east of Puerto Rico and swings south through the Leeward and Windward Islands almost to South America and then turns west along the Venezuelan coast as far as Aruba. Barbados is isolated about 100 miles (160 km) east of the Windwards.
The music of Martinique has a heritage which 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. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa.
The music of Guadeloupe encompasses 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 Guadeloupe and Martinique. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Guadeloupe and Martinique, especially Guadeloupan gwo ka and Martinican chouval bwa, and the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition.
The French West Indies or French Antilles are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
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 musical complex, being a mixture of African, European and indigenous American elements. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves brought by European traders and colonizers. The African musical elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West African tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them.
Patrick Chamoiseau is a French author from Martinique known for his work in the créolité movement. His work spans a variety of forms and genres, including novels, essays, children's books, screenplays, theatre and comics. His novel Texaco was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1992.
Zouk is a musical movement pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo, a percussion-driven rhythm, and a loud horn section. Musicians from Martinique and Guadeloupe eventually added MIDI instrumentation to their compas style, which developed into a genre called zouk-love. Zouk-love is effectively the French Lesser Antilles' compas, and it gradually became indistinguishable from compas.
Luis Lloréns Torres, was a Puerto Rican poet, playwright, and politician. He was an advocate for the independence of Puerto Rico.
Antillean Creole is a French-based creole that is primarily spoken in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and vocabulary include elements of French, Carib, English, and African languages.
Kassav', also alternatively spelled Kassav, is a French Caribbean band that originated from Guadeloupe in 1979. The band's musical style is rooted in the Guadeloupean gwoka rhythm, as well as the Martinican tibwa and Mendé rhythms. Regarded as one of the most influential bands in 20th-century French West Indies music, Kassav is often credited with pioneering the zouk musical genre. Their musical evolution is a synthesis of cadence-lypso and compas traditions.
Biguine is a rhythmic dance and music style that originated from Saint-Pierre, Martinique in the 19th century. It fuses West African traditional music genres, such as Bélé, with 19th-century French ballroom dance steps.
Cadence rampa, or simply kadans, is a dance music and modern méringue popularized in the Caribbean by the virtuoso Haitian sax player Webert Sicot in the early 1960s. Cadence rampa was one of the sources of cadence-lypso. Cadence and compas are two names for the same Haitian modern méringue.
Raphaël Confiant is a Martinican writer known for his literary commitment towards Creole literature.
Articles related to the French overseas department of Martinique include:
The Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde is an annual award given to the best literary work in French or French Creole from the Caribbean and the Americas.
Dany Bébel-Gisler was an Afro-Guadeloupean writer and sociolinguist who specialized in Antillean Creole and ethnology. She was one of the first linguists to defend the preservation and teaching of Creole languages and study how the interplay of the lingua franca of the Caribbean reflected the social hierarchy, as well as the assimilation or lack thereof of both the colonizers and colonized. She was instrumental in the development of UNESCO's The Slave Route Project, tracing the intersection of African, Caribbean and European cultures and published several novels and children's books on Guadeloupean culture.
Gabriel-Jean Nicolas Gabaret de Saint-Sornin was a French colonial official who was governor of Grenada in the French West Indies, and then for over twenty years was governor of Martinique. He was deputy to the governor general of the French Antilles, and was twice acting governor general of the French Antilles. In his last year he was governor of Saint-Domingue
Georges Robert was an officer of the French Navy, as well as a civil administrator. He ended his military career with the rank of admiral. He is mainly known for his role as High Commissioner of the Vichy regime for the French overseas territories of the Western Atlantic.
André Pétricien, better known by his pen name Tony Delsham, was a French writer, novelist, and journalist from Martinique. From 1990 until his death in 2024, Pétricien was editor-in-chief for Antilla. Many of his novels discuss issues such as drug abuse and AIDS.
References
- ↑ Berrian, Brenda F. (2000-06-15). Awakening Spaces: French Caribbean Popular Songs, Music, and Culture. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-04455-2.
- ↑ "Antilla". Muck Rack . Retrieved 2024-07-17.
- ↑ "Antilla : 30 ans déjà". MaxiMini. Archived from the original on 2023-09-07.
- ↑ "Tony Delsham". Île en île (in French). 2004-09-17. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
- ↑ "Tony Delsham : Martinique A nu". martinique a nu. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
- ↑ Posner, Rebecca; Green, John N. (2011-06-01). Bilingualism and Linguistic Conflict in Romance. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-084864-9.
- ↑ Guilbault, Jocelyne (1993-11-15). Zouk: World Music in the West Indies. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-31041-1.
- ↑ Schnepel, Ellen M. (2004). In Search of a National Identity: Creole and Politics in Guadeloupe. Helmut Buske. ISBN 978-3-87548-324-6.
- ↑ Sankara, Edgard (2011-08-03). Postcolonial Francophone Autobiographies: From Africa to the Antilles. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-3176-0.