Cadence-lypso (or simply Cadence) is a cultural music of Dominica.
| Cadence-lypso | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Cadence-lypso combined elements of Anglo-Caribbean calypso with Haitian cadence and compas, as well as Native, Caribbean, American, and African music styles. |
| Cultural origins | Early 1970s, Dominica and Guadeloupe |
| Typical instruments | Drum set, Horn section, two synthesizers, rhythmic guitar, bass guitar |
| Fusion genres | |
| Zouk - Bouyon - Soca | |
| Other topics | |
| Calypso - Music of Dominica - Exile One | |
Origin
The most influential band in the development of cadence-lypso was Exile One (based on the island of Guadeloupe) in 1973 that combined cadence rampa and calypso.[1]
It was developed in the 1970s by groups from Dominica, and was the first style of Dominican music to find international acclaim. Cadence-lypso was created by the group "Exile One" and gets its name from the fusion of Cadence and Calypso. Cadence music has evolved under the influence of Dominican and Caribbean/Latin rhythms, as well as rock and roll, soul, and funk music from the United States. By the end of the 1970s, Gordon Henderson defined Cadence-lypso as "a synthesis of Caribbean and African musical patterns fusing the traditional with the contemporary".
Aside from Exile One, other bands included the Grammacks, Black Roots, Black Machine, Naked Feet, Belles Combo, Mantra, Black Affairs, Liquid Ice, Wafrikai, Midnighte Groovers and Milestone, while the most famous singers included Bill Thomas, Chubby Marc, Gordon Henderson, Linford John, Janet Azouz, Sinky Rabess, Tony Valmond, Jeff Joseph, Mike Moreau and Anthony Gussie. Ophelia Marie is a popular singer of cadence-lypso in the 1980s.
Cadence-lypso was influenced by nationalist movement that espoused Rastafari and Black Power. Many groups performed songs with intensely ideological positions, and much of the repertoire was in the vernacular kwéyòl language.
Exile One
Exile One is a legendary musical group of the 1970s from Dominica based in Guadeloupe. Gordon Henderson is the leader and founder of the famous musical group "Exile One" and the one who coined the name "Cadence-lypso" for a genre of music that revolutionized modern creole music worldwide.
In 1969, Gordon Henderson decided that the French Overseas Department of Guadeloupe had everything he needed to begin a career in Creole music. He met the singer Hippomene Leauva from the then famous “Les Vikings” who introduced him to the band which included Pierre Edouard Decimus who later founded the group Kassav.
Gordon recorded a few songs with Les Vikings which became instant hits in countries beyond the usual market such as Surinam and Holland. At some point he felt that he should start his own group and asked a former school friend Fitzroy Williams to recruit a few Dominicans to complete those he had already selected. The group was named Exile One.
Exile One was copied by bands from all over and most of all from the island of Dominica. In forty years, Gordon Henderson has worked with scores of different musicians who have adopted the “Cadence-Lypso” a style that he named himself. Exile One was the most innovative and exportable creole band of the Caribbean. The first to sign a production contract with a major label call Barclay Records. The first to export the music to the four corners of the globe: Japan, the Indian Ocean, Africa, North America, Europe, The Cape Verde Islands.
Zouk
Zouk origins can be traced back to the West Indies, having come out of the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the early to mid-1980’s, where the bands Exile One, the Grammacks, and the Midnight Groovers created the CADENCE-LYPSO sound that later evolved into Zouk. Though Guadeloupe is where the music was produced, members of all three bands were originally from Dominica. Exile One was a popular kadans (creole for cadence) band in the late 60’s and 70’s. Kadans music is originally Haitian, but was popular across the French Caribbean, and developed mainly in Guadeloupe and Martinique. When Exile One moved to Guadeloupe, they inculcated American rock, soul, and West African rhythms into their sound. Their lead singer Gordon Henderson went on to create a kadans fusion band called the Vikings of Guadeloupe, from which his band members later formed Kassav, the band most commonly credited with the creation of zouk music. Born out of an experimental ensemble of Guadeloupe musicians in France, Kassav was the first Zouk band to become a worldwide sensation. World music promoter Neva Wartell describes that Kassav fuses the native Caribbean rhythms with Western and West African elements, and is Zouk’s “most popular, pioneering and enduring band.”
Zouk - Tracing the History of the Music to its Dominican Roots Neva Wartell (Reprinted from National Geographic)
With seeds planted in the French Antilles and cultivated in the studios of Paris, zouk exploded onto the music scene in the late 1980s, taking over dance floors throughout Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
Guadeloupans Jacob Desvarieux and the brothers Decimus are widely credited for having created the zouk phenomenon in the high-tech recording studios of Paris in the 1980s.
Yet they themselves acknowledge that zouk was merely a natural progression from the "kadans-lypso" of such bands as Exile One (led by singer Gordon Henderson), Grammacks, and the Midnight Groovers –all from the tiny island of Dominica – whose late 1960s Caribbean fusion set the stage for some of the region's most significant musical developments – such as zouk, "new generation" compas, and soca – in the decades that followed.[2]
Cadence-lypso has also become a part of bouyon music.
Cadence-lypso Orchestras
See also
References
- ^ Jocelyne Guilbault. Zouk: world music in the West Indies. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
- ^ Neva Wartell. "Zouk - Tracing the History of the Music to its Dominican Roots". The Dominican. Reprinted from National Geographic. Retrieved August 10, 2010.