French Caribbean Music

French Caribbean music is the Creole music of Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, an Afro-French synthesis built from African drum traditions, French dance forms and, later, Haitian and Dominican imports. Its historical core is biguine, the clarinet-led dance music of Saint-Pierre, flanked by the bèlè and gwoka drum complexes, chouval bwa, mazurka créole and quadrille. In the twentieth century the islands absorbed compas and kadans, then produced zouk, the polished, brass-driven dance music *Kassav'* launched in 1979, alongside the jazz-facing kréyol djaz of flautist *Max Cilla* and others. Creole-language singing binds the whole field.