The music of
St Lucia is a mix of African musical traditions, European styles, and native
Caribbean music. Children learn music from an early age and often use music
throughout their lives.
Some of the
instruments you’ll hear in St Lucian music are string instruments like the
fiddle, the guitar, the mandolin, the banjo, and the cuatro (a 4-stringed instrument
similar to a guitar or lute that’s popular in the Caribbean and South America,
although sometimes it’ll have more strings). You’ll also find a variety of
percussion instruments like the chak-chak (a type of rattle) and bones (yes,
actual bones in most cases -- I found a video about North Carolina folk music teaching how to play bones that I included below), tambourines, various types of drums, and a gwaj
(scraper). There are also some wind instruments like bamboo flutes and the baha
(a kind of wooden trumpet). Vocal music is also quite a strong tradition, and
there are some folk styles composed entirely of vocal music.
Folk music
in St Lucia is highly integrated with folk dancing. It’s really pretty hard to
separate the two. One type of informal musical style performed at social events
like dances and wakes is called the Jwé. There are several different parts to
it, but essentially it’s a form of comedic improv where the lyrics are often
cutting, almost like a roast, maybe. The Jwé is a very important part of the St
Lucian culture. The Kwadril is another style, roughly based on the European dance
of a similar name, the quadrille. Compared with the Jwé and other music/dances,
because the quadrille that it’s based on grew to be a dance of high society,
this one is completely choreographed and memorized; improvisation is not
encouraged with the kwadril. Bèlè is another traditional music style that is
mostly performed at funeral wakes. There are also two rivaling societies that
meet regularly to sing and/or play instruments and are based on the rivalry
between the colonial powers: La Rose is English side, and La Marguerite
represents the French side.
So, as far
as modern music goes, I did happen to find a few bands on Spotify. The first
one I listened to was Tru Tones. This was some true disco music. I’m not a huge
fan of disco, so I thought the only thing that would make this better would be
to turn it into some deep house track. (House music got its start from disco
anyway.) However, I kind of question whether what's on Spotify is the same as I found on YouTube. Here's a video showing a little different side of their music.
I also
listened to a band called Disturbing Joan. They sing in English, and their
style in kind of a mix of rock and funk with some reggae layered on top. I
really liked what I listened to, and I’m willing to bet they give a good live
show.
Ricky T is a
soca musician from St. Lucia who has won numerous soca awards for his work. The
thing about soca music is that it’s so upbeat – like I can’t listen to it until
its warm, I have an entire afternoon free, and I have a drink in my hand. And I
believe soca musicians can and will make a song about pretty much anything,
though.
I thought I
added the music of the St. Lucian musician Prolifik to my playlist. However,
upon further research, I found out I added another rapper who goes by the same
name. There are actually a couple of rappers who go by that name. And all I
could find was a grainy video from ten years ago. But there are many other
musicians from St. Lucia, but I have a feeling many of them are local or
underground. However, there are also several steel bands that have earned some
kind of notoriety. And the island hosts a huge jazz fest every year.
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