Cadence-lypso is a fusion of
cadence rampa from
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
and
calypso from
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the
Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
n band
Exile One
Exile One is a cadence musical group founded by Gordon Henderson in the 1970s with musicians invited over from Dominica, to be based in Guadeloupe. The band was influential in the development of Caribbean music. It became famous throughout the ...
on the island of
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
, it spread and became popular in the dance clubs around the Creole world and Africa as well as the
French Antilles
The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
* The two overseas departments of:
** Guadeloup ...
.
[ Genres: Caribbean and Latin America.]
Gordon Henderson is the leader and founder of Exile One, and the one who coined the term ''cadence-lypso''.
[ Performing the Caribbean Experience.]
History
Dominican contemporary music, that is the music played by the dance bands from the 1950s, has played a very important role in Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
national life. Dominica musical landscape has seen many changes in the intervening period from 1950. In the forties and fifties, there were bands such as the Casimir Brothers of Roseau
Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
. The Swinging Stars emerged at the end of the fifties. Their music was a dance-oriented version of many kinds of Caribbean and Latin popular music.
By the beginning of the 1960s, calypso and Trinidadian steelpan
The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
Descriptio ...
became the most popular styles of music on Dominica, replacing traditional Carnival music like chanté mas
Chanté mas (''masquerade song'') and Lapo kabrit is a form of Carnival music of Dominica. It is performed by masquerading partygoers in a two-day parade, with a lead vocalist (''chantwèl''), who is followed by the responsorial chorus (''lavwa'' ...
and lapo kabwit, particularly in the capital Roseau. Many of the traditional carnival songs were performed in the new calypso beat. Calypsonian
A calypsonian,Definition of CALYPSO
calypso monarch
The Calypso Monarch (originally Calypso King) contest is one of the two major annual calypso competitions held in Trinidad as part of the annual carnival celebrations.
History
While Trinidad's carnival has its origins in the 18th century, a singi ...
competitions emerged and became extremely popular. It was in the 1960s that the trend towards drawing on original music, traditional music and songs of Dominica began. This was probably best exemplified by the music of the Gaylords and to a lesser extent, De Boys and Dem. Gaylords unleashed a string of hits such as "DouvanJou", "Ti Mako", songs in Dominican Creole French
Dominican Creole French is a French-based creole, which is a widely spoken language in Dominica. It can be considered a distinct dialect of Antillean Creole.
History
It is a sub-variety of Antillean Creole, which is spoken in other islands of t ...
as well as powerful nationalist songs in English, as "Lovely Dominica" and "Pray for the Blackman". These songs were performed to calypso rhythms and later the new reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
beat coming out of Jamaica.
Early recording stars from this era included Swinging Busters, The Gaylords, De Boys an Dem and Los Caballeros
Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of Santiago Pro ...
, while chorale
Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale:
* Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...
groups also gained fans, especially Lajenne Etwal, Siflé and the Dominica folk singers
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...
. These early popular musicians were aided by the spread of radio broadcasting
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
, beginning with WIDBS and later Radio Dominica. The emergence of radio, first WIDBS and later Radio Dominica helped to spread the music.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the influence of rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
, soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
and funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
music from the United States was reflected in Dominican contemporary dance music. New groups originating from mainly the high school student population emerged. Groups such as Every Mother's Child, Woodenstool and Voltage Four specialized in rock and funk. The Latin-rock music of Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...
and Afro-rock music of Osibisa
Osibisa are a Ghanaian-British Afro-Rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians.
Osibisa were the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...
became powerful influences on our younger bands, and were very popular in the dance halls.
The Cadence era
In the early 1960s, Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
an musicians introduced to the Caribbean, specifically, Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
and the French Antilles
The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
* The two overseas departments of:
** Guadeloup ...
(Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
and Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
) the cadence rampa or méringue
Méringue (; ht, mereng), also called ''méringue lente'' or ''méringue de salon'' (''slow'' or ''salon'' méringue), is a dance music and national symbol in Haiti. It is a string-based style played on the lute, guitar, horn section, piano, ...
, a sophisticated form of music that quickly swept the islands and helped unite all the former French colonies of the Caribbean by combining their cultural influences.
In the early 1970s, the Dominican Kadans band Exile One
Exile One is a cadence musical group founded by Gordon Henderson in the 1970s with musicians invited over from Dominica, to be based in Guadeloupe. The band was influential in the development of Caribbean music. It became famous throughout the ...
was born, based on the island of Guadeloupe. Its members were top rate Dominican musicians originating from bands such as Woodenstool, Voltage and De Boys and Dem. Trinidadian Calypso and Haitian kadans or méringue were the two dominants music styles of Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
so Exile One, that featured calypso, reggae and mostly kadans or méringue, called its music Cadence-lypso however, most of the bands repertoire was kadans.
Due to the popularity of Exile One, There was a virtual explosion of kadans bands from Dominica - Grammacks
Gramacks (or "Les Gramacks") was a Cadence-lypso group from Dominica.
Biography
The band is from Saint-Joseph, a village from Dominica. The lead singer Jefferson "Jeff" Joseph and keyboard player McDonald "Markie" Prosper along with the other ...
, Liquid Ice, Midnight Groovers, Black Affairs, Black Machine, Mantra, Belles Combo, Milestone, Wafrikai, Black roots, Black Blood, Naked Feet and Mammouth among others. Leading vocalists of the period include Gordon Henderson, Jeff Joseph, Marcel "Chubby" Marc, Anthony Gussie, Mike Moreau, Tony Valmond, Linford John, Bill Thomas, SinkyRabess and Janet Azouz among others. Dominica kadans bands became popular in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
and other islands in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.
The music of Santana and Osibisa also influenced this new form as evidenced in the use of guitars, keyboards, horns and percussion. At that time too, the society was in nationalist ferment. The Black Power and Rastafarian
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...
Movements, with their black pride, pro-African and anti-colonial ideological positions, influenced the young musicians tremendously. This was reflected in the music in terms of band names such as Wafrikai, Black Machine, Black Roots, Black Affairs and Black Blood, a definitive identification with blackness, with Africa. This was reflected in the melody, in the use of certain instruments such as keyboards, guitars and horns. This was also reflected in lyrical content, the positive, nationalist and social commentary of cadence-lypso.[ Cadence-lypso reflected and exuded the nationalist ferment of the seventies.
There were a number of other important aspects of cadence-lypso music which impacted on our culture and society as well as the future direction of Dominica's contemporary music. Cadence-lypso used the Creole language as its prime means of expression, again feeding into our language traditions and our folk song traditions. Oral traditions such as proverbs were every much utilized in the music. Cadence-music was popular among the young and the old and united the generations. For the younger people, this music which was making Dominica famous overseas was also serving as a platform of protest against the ills of society and for conscious-raising. This music was popular among the older folk because of its similarity or relationship to rhythms of ]jing ping
Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadr ...
music and the use of the Creole language.
During the 1980s, cadence-lypso popularity declined greatly. Some Dominican performers remained famous, such as Ophelia
Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...
, and became Dominica's first kadans female singer to achieve international star status. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", the "First Lady of Creole", and "la grande dame de la musique Antillaise". She has toured widely in France and had concerts broadcast over much of the Francophone world. Her first recording was "Ay Dominique," a "lament for Dominica as the country underwent political problems in the 1970s". When the record was released, it immediately became a hit in Guadeloupe and Martinique although this was towards the end of the dominance of Dominican music in the French West Indies.
Recently, efforts have begun to revitalize cadence-lypso and Creole music generally through the holding of the World Creole Music Festival
The World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) is an annual three-day music festival hosted on the island of Dominica during the final weekend in October, as a conclusion to Creole heritage month.
WCMF is a noted festival of Dominica, and it provides ent ...
here in Dominica. This festival attracts top bands of the French Creole-speaking world and in Africa. Exile One, Jeff Joseph//new Generation Grammacks, Anthony Gussie and Tony Valmond/Liquid Ice have released a number of albums as well as remastered vintage cadence hits of the 1970s.
Origin
The most influential figure in the development of Cadence-lypso was the Dominican group Exile One
Exile One is a cadence musical group founded by Gordon Henderson in the 1970s with musicians invited over from Dominica, to be based in Guadeloupe. The band was influential in the development of Caribbean music. It became famous throughout the ...
(based on the island of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
) that combined calypso music
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to We ...
from the English speaking Caribbean and the cadence rampa of Haiti with influences of Dominican traditional music.[
Cadence-lypso came from calypso from Trinidad and cadence rampa from Haiti, with influences from ]jing ping
Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadr ...
, the Dominican traditional music.
Cadence-lypso has evolved under the influence of Dominican and Caribbean/ Latin rhythms, as well as rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
guitars, soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
-style vocals and funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
bass and horn styles - music from the United States. By the end of the 1970s, Gordon Henderson defined Cadence-lypso as "a synthesis
Synthesis or synthesize may refer to:
Science Chemistry and biochemistry
*Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors
** Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organ ...
of Caribbean and African musical patterns fusing the traditional with the contemporary".[ It was pushed in the 1970s by groups from Dominica, and was the first style of Dominican music to find international acclaim.
Aside from Exile One, other bands included the ]Grammacks
Gramacks (or "Les Gramacks") was a Cadence-lypso group from Dominica.
Biography
The band is from Saint-Joseph, a village from Dominica. The lead singer Jefferson "Jeff" Joseph and keyboard player McDonald "Markie" Prosper along with the other ...
, Black Roots, Black Machine, Naked Feet, Belles Combo
Belles is a small village in the Caribbean island nation of Dominica. It is located at and is a part of the country's St. Joseph administrative division. Its population is 500.Commonwealth of Dominica, ''Population and Housing Census — 200 ...
, Mantra, Black Affairs, Liquid Ice, Wafrikai, Midnight Groovers, Bill-O-Men and Milestone, while the most famous singers included Bill Thomas, Chubby Marc
Chubby is a word used to describe something that is plump and rounded.
Chubby may also refer to:
People
*Roy 'Chubby' Brown (born 1945), a UK stand-up comedian
*Junior Byles (born 1948), a Jamaican reggae singer also known as "Chubby" or "King C ...
, Gordon Henderson, Linford John, Janet Azouz, Sinky Rabess, Tony Valmond, Jeff Joseph
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
, Mike Moreau and Anthony Gussie
Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton ...
. Ophelia Marie
Ophelia Marie, also known as Ophelia Olivaccé-Marie (born 28 March 1951), is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", the "First Lady of Creole", and "la grande da ...
is a popular singer of cadence-lypso in the 1980s.
Cadence-lypso was influenced by nationalist movement that espoused Rastafari
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
and Black Power. Many groups performed songs with intensely ideological positions, and much of the repertoire was in the vernacular Creole language.
Women in Cadence
Cadence, from its conception and through time, has classically been a male-dominated genre. Ophelia Marie
Ophelia Marie, also known as Ophelia Olivaccé-Marie (born 28 March 1951), is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", the "First Lady of Creole", and "la grande da ...
is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", the "First Lady of Creole", and "la grande dame de la musique Antillaise".
Ophelia emerged and became Dominica's first kadans female singer to achieve international star status. She is considered to be the "Godmother of Cadence", and has toured widely in France and had concerts broadcast over much of the Francophone world. Her first recording was "Ay Dominique," a "lament for Dominica as the country underwent political problems in the 1970s". The song became a popular anthem among Dominicans, and she began recording with Gordon Henderson, placing herself at the forefront of cadence-lypso. Ophelia's contribution to the development of regional music, particularly cadence, is well known, ever since she burst onto the music scene in 1979 with her popular hit "Aie Dominique" and later "Chante d'amour".[
She often sung about women's issues, a rarity at the time, and was among the first women to sing at the Théâtre Noir, Cirque d'Hiver and the ]Théâtre de la Renaissance
The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on t ...
. She was the first non-French winner of the Maracas d'Or Award from Société Pernod, and has been awarded International Women's Year
International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established.
Hist ...
in 1985, the Sisserou Award of Honour
The Sisserou Award of Honour is a national award of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Created in 1967, it is the second highest honour presented by the President of the Commonwealth of Dominica on behalf of the state. The Dominican Awards are spar ...
(the second highest award in Dominica), a Lifetime Award in 2005 and a Golden Drum Award in 1984. In 2005, Ophelia hosted the fifth Dynamith d'Or Caribbean Music Awards. She has inspired CHS's own Charmed Simplicity "BIG UP"
NCCU cadence-lypso competition
The NCCU launched its Cadence-lypso Show/Competition June 20, 2012 at 10:00am at its head offices in Roseau
Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...
. Mr. Leroy Charles, NCCU Cadence-lypso Show promoter, presented the background of Cadence-lypso and applauded NCCU for taking the step to preserve Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
's indigenous music.
NCCU President, Mr. Dexter Ducreay stated that NCCU took this initiative to give back to Dominica and keep the Cadence art form alive. Fifteen individuals and groups will be selected to compete at the show at the Newtown Savannah. The winner will walk away with an attractive prize of $15,000. Inspiring addresses were also delivered by Honourable Justina Charles, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. Honourable Ian Douglas, Minister for Tourism and Legal Affairs and Chief Cultural Officer, Mr. Raymond Lawrence. They all confirmed support for the show. The various media houses were also present as partners in this Cadence Show venture. The show was held at the Newtown Savannah and was well-attended by Cadence lovers who danced and grooved to the infectious music, which comprised old school and new fusions of the Cadence-lypso beat. The show was organised by the NCCU as part of efforts to revitalise Cadence and to help develop and expose young talent in keeping with the International Year of Cooperatives 2012.
See also
* Caribbean music
Caribbean music genres are very diverse. They are each synthesis of African, European, Arab, Asian, and Indigenous influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves (see Afro-Caribbean music), along with contributions from other commun ...
* Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to We ...
* Cadence rampa (kadans)
* Music of Dominica
The music of Dominica includes a variety of genres including all the popular genres of the world. Popular music is widespread, with a number of native Dominican performers gaining national fame in imported genres such as calypso, reggae, soc ...
* Music of Guadeloupe
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 impo ...
* World Creole Music Festival
The World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) is an annual three-day music festival hosted on the island of Dominica during the final weekend in October, as a conclusion to Creole heritage month.
WCMF is a noted festival of Dominica, and it provides ent ...
References
External links
{{Calypso music
20th-century music genres
Dominica music
Guadeloupean music
Calypso music
Caribbean music genres