Tumbele! - Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74 [Album]

Soundway

November 5, 2009, 03:34 PM

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There was a period in my life when the music about me was sung by the great Trinidad calypsonians, Lord Kitchener, Mighty Sparrow and their like. As time went on I discovered the reggae and dub of Prince Buster and Lee Perry from Jamaica, geographically so close but with very different musical traditions. But I had never previously considered the music of the Francophone Islands to the east of the Caribbean chain, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Of the local sounds, the biguine, the bele and the gwo-ka, the biguine is possibly the most influential. From the comprehensive liner notes by compiler Hugo Mendez, the biguine was fused from the ‘hot jazz’ of New Orleans and Paris with high society 'contredanse' and the rhythms that arrived on slave ships from Africa. In the islands of the Lesser Antilles the biguine has much the same role as calypso in Trinidad, composed for competitions and carnivals and providing both social commentary and bawdy innuendo.

In "Tumbele!" we hear music from the period 1963 – 1974, a time when Haitian, Congolese and Puerto Rican music heavily influenced the more gentle biguine style, creating tumbele. Tumbele, the biguine, the bele and the gwo-ka all strongly influenced the burgeoning creole identity and tumbele went on to become zouk, the musical style so popular across Africa and the black Atlantic in the 1980s.

The very first track on this joyous album, 'Jeunesse Vauclin' by Barel Coppet et Mister Lof, is a good example of strong calypso influence, as is the great dance track 'Dima Bolane' by Le Ro-co Jazz. My particular favourite is 'Ti Fi Ou Te Madam' by Anzala, Dolor & Velo, the only true gwo-ka track on the album, with a call and response vocal and raw afro percussion.

Listen to 'Jojo' by Ensemble La Perfecta and the mix of biguine with Latin sounds and traditional French jazz is clear, whereas 'Jet Biguine' by the highly successful Les Loups Noirs D’Haiti, is based on biguine drums but skitters with frenetic, almost psychedelic, rhythmns and an energetic jazz organ. Then there’s the raggaeton style bounce of Monsieur Dolor at Les Guitar Boys with 'Panty.' Or to hear the truly mournful vocals of the African plantations there’s 'Jean Fouille, Pie Fouille' sung by legendary Guadeloupian gwo-ka musician, Robert Loison.

The fashion for tumbele was shortlived. The joyous "Tumbele!" album presents a colourful range of the best of the Caribbean musical hybrids available from the time. It’s a great CD for anyone who wants to enlarge their West Indian musical vocabulary or who simply enjoys basking in musical sunshine.

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