Biguine

Biguine is a rhythm-centric style of music that originated in Martinique in the 19th century. It fuses 19th-century French ballroom dance steps with African rhythms.^[1]

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 these refer to contexts of a specific origin. The drum biguine, or bidgin bélé in Creole, comes from a series of bélé dances performed since early colonial times by the slaves who inhabited the great sugar plantations. Musically, the bidgin bélé can be distinguished from the orchestrated biguine in the following ways: its instrumentation (cylindrical single-membraned drum (bélé) and the rhythm sticks (tibwa); the call-and-response singing style; the soloist's improvisation, and the nasal voice quality. According to a recent study by Rosemain (1988), the biguine figured in fertility rituals practiced in West Africa, but its ritual significance has since disappeared in Martinique. The biguine could be thought of, then, as a continuation of a value system that is in essence African but now with the sugar plantations as its social platform. The late singers Ti-Émile, Ti-Raoul and Eugène Mona remain to this day symbols of the bidgin bélé.

The orchestrated biguine has taken a completely different route, however. Its more hybrid ancestry can be traced to Saint-Pierre, an urban center which since the 19th century has harbored a considerable number of residents of French descent. While it keeps the syncopated character of the bidgin bélé, this urban biguine takes on an almost Dixieland flavor by virtue of its complex instrumentation. The melody, while sung in Creole, uses a verse-refrain form, bespeaking an unmistakably French influence. The well-known Mwen désend Sin Piè, as well as many other melodies popularized by Léona Gabriel, the Pierre Rassin Orchestra and Loulou Boislaville, among others, would fit into this category.

The characteristics of the drum and orchestrated biguines are distinguished by highlighting the stylistic elements of each, as well as indicating the place of origin. The same binary rhythmic pattern maintained by the tibwa is present in both cases, suggesting that this rhythm that characterizes the biguine, and could therefore be called its main identifying trait.

The classic music of carnival in the Antilles is an uptempo version of the biguine rhythm, called "biguine vide."

Origin

Bidgin bélé or drum biguine – originates in slave bélé dances and characterized by the use of bélé drums and tibwa rhythm sticks, along with call and response, nasal vocals and improvised instrumental solos; has its roots in West African ritual dances.

Orchestrated biguine

By combining the traditional bélé music with the polka, the black musicians of Martinique created the biguine, which comprises three distinct styles:

• the biguine de salon
• the biguine de bal
• the biguine de rue.

Lacking recognition at home, several biguine artists from Martinique moved to mainland France, where they achieved greater popularity in Paris, especially in the wake of the colonial exhibition in 1931. Between the 1930s and 1950s, the dance biguine was popular among the islands' dance orchestras. The biguine uses a cinquillo variant related to that found in other Caribbean genres. The popularity of the biguine declined in the 1970s, when it began to be replaced by more commercial music.

The biguine is similar to New Orleans jazz, and has influenced its development. The signature sound of the biguine is the interplay between the clarinet and trombone, both solo and as a duet, which can still be heard today throughout Antilles music, from the most traditional to cadence or the pop sounds of today's zouk. While the phrasing often recalls New Orleans jazz, the overall sound is unmistakably Caribbean. Any contemporary music that uses biguine as its base, even what ventures as far off as contemporary jazz, is considered "biguine moderne."

Biguine musicians

• Roger Fanfant (1900–1966)
• Henri Debs
• Alexandre Stellio (1885–1939)
• Émilien Antile
• Léona Gabriel (1891–1971)
• Al Lirvat (1916–2007)
• Robert Mavounzy
• Fernand Donatien (1922–2003)
• Sam Castendet (1906–1993)
• Barel Coppet (1920–2009
• Ernest Léardée (1896–1988)
• Gérard Laviny
• Fernande de Virel
• Honoré Coppet (1910–1990)
• Hurard Coppet
• Félix Valvert
• Eugène Delouche (1909–1975)
• Marius Cultier
• Paulo Rosine (1948–1993)
• Francisco
• Maurice Jalier
• Loulou Boislaville (1919–2001)
• Moune de Rivel
• Gertrude Seinin
• Gisèle Baka
• Malavoi
• Max Ransay
• Abel Zenon

See also

• Beguine (dance)
• Culture of Martinique
• Music of Martinique
• Zouk

References

1. ↑ New York Public Library Performing Arts Desk Reference. New York: Macmillan USA. 1996. p. 232. ISBN 0-02861447-X. 

External link:

• http://www.zouk-uk.com/