Biguine
What exactly do we know about his origins?
The biguine is a musical style and dance originating in the French West Indies, probably dating from before the end of slavery. Schools of music in the United States trace its origins back to the emancipation of the slaves in 1848. It is a music of mixed race, the result of a blend of African and European influences. Biguine emerged in the West Indies, while jazz made its appearance in New Orleans. Its name comes from the English word "begin", meaning to begin, a term uttered by English orchestra conductors at the start of a performance.
Many historians claim that Saint-Pierre, the capital of Martinique, was the real cradle of the biguine. Festivals and public balls were the ideal places for exchanges and music, where different tunes, rhythms and repertoires rubbed shoulders.
The formation of groups playing this style bears many similarities to the jazz orchestras of New Orleans. Originally, biguine was played by black musicians playing a flute, violin, clarinet, guitar, banjo, saxophone, trumpet and drums. In fact, improvisations such as those found in New Orleans jazz can be heard in various biguine pieces.
The works performed and heard were drawn from lyrical music, chamber music, sonatas, opera arias and kalendas, as well as rhythmic tunes sung by the entire populace, in particular by free men of colour and domestic slaves.
The music of the slaves was grouped together under the name of kalenda and, despite the efforts of the ruling class, a certain number of slaves ignored the bans and continued to celebrate their ancestral rites, songs and dances.
Steeped in this French cultural atmosphere, they played a variety of instruments and were also influenced by tunes from the West, as well as those brought by privateers and American buccaneers, who brought new tunes and expressions.
The occupation of the island of Martinique by the English transformed the musical works in the "Congo minuet" repertoire into the English "béguin". They pronounced it biguine. It was against this backdrop that the biguine was born.
The term biguine appeared in a September 1893 issue of the Revue des deux mondes, which recounted a journalist-chronicler's trip to Martinique. The term used was béguine, not biguine.
Its development
From the outset, information gathered on the net associates biguine with jazz, stating in particular: "Biguine has many links with New Orleans jazz and may have influenced its development". This explains why, when they arrived in Paris, many West Indian musicians such as Ernest Léardée, Robert Mavounzy, Al Lirvat and Emilien Antile had no difficulty whatsoever in incorporating jazz into their repertoire, which was played in the same way as the biguine at the "bals Nègres" of the time. On the other hand, the Martinican clarinettist Alexandre Stellio (1885-1939), who popularised the biguine in Paris from 1929 to 1939, was a fierce defender of the pure traditional biguine as it was played in Saint-Pierre, and remained an unconditional fan of this repertoire.
It seems that, due to a lack of recognition in the West Indies, this music was quickly exported when many musicians left for France. There, it met with some success, notably at the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, where Alexandre STELLIO's ensemble performed in a large ensemble in the presence of the then President of the Republic, Albert LEBRUN. The Colonial Exhibition closed its doors on 15 November 1931, but its impact was to remain felt for a long time by the people of the West Indies. The whole of Paris was interested in the echoes of the Bal Nègre. The biguine was very popular in France between the 1930s and 40s.
However, in the West Indies, where it continued to thrive, its popularity was undermined by other Caribbean rhythms such as salsa, calypso, Haitian compas, mambo and rumba...
During this period, there were also many black American musicians who had come to France during the 1914-1918 war, and who were much appreciated by Parisians, who were reluctant to return quickly to the USA.
Playing musical instruments in the company of the West Indians further enhanced Paris's musical offerings and nightlife. This proliferation and fusion of experiences and rhythms greatly enriched musical expression and encouraged encounters between jazz and biguine. So it's fair to say that Parisian successes had a major influence on the development of biguine.
In the wake of the Bal Blomet, numerous cabarets and other musical venues sprang up: La Jungle, La Boule blanche, Les Antilles, La Madinina biguine, Le Pélican, Le Train bleu and L'Élan noir.
Evolution of style:
After the First World War, the West Indies played the biguine in the best clubs in Paris. It then diversified, especially with the Guadeloupean composer Al Lirvat, and this is how the wabap biguine, the kalengué and the kombass biguine came into being.
Towards the end of the 1940s, with the arrival of the American trumpeter DIZZI DILLESPIE, Al LIRVAT was influenced by his "be-bop" style and went on to develop the "Biguine Wabap", a fundamental change in the way the biguine was played.
This is based on consonant harmony and monorhythm.
The Biguine Wabap uses dissonant harmony and polyrhythm.
One might have feared the decline of the biguine with the advent of the Second World War, but this was not to be, and even if it was somewhat sidelined in favour of jazz, it came back with a vengeance as soon as Paris was liberated, with the arrival on French soil of new musicians from the West Indies.
The effects of the 1939 /1945 war are visible in musical activity, as the war years were years when musical activity fell sharply.
Dance :
The Biguine is both a traditional music and a dance. It is danced by two: the woman, in her doudou dress, dances tonically and lasciviously with her dapper partner. The two-beat Biguine is a syncopated derivative of the polka, the Creole waltz (emphatic and languorous). Not surprisingly, there are a number of similarities between the Biguine and other musical genres of African origin, more specifically imported by slaves deported from Africa. Biguine grew out of a mixture of gwoka, bèlè and Kalenda dances, all of which form the basis of the biguine dance. Biguine was already being played at balls and parties in the early 19th century. It was the rhythm of the carnivals in Saint-Pierre. It was in 1906 that the biguine really began to gain notoriety, thanks to Léon Apanon alias Ti Laza, a clarinettist from Martinique based in Fort-de-France.
To preserve the biguine and local dances, Ballets folkloriques Martiniquais and Guadeloupe were created to transmit and disseminate this dance.
Some of Biguine's cult actors:
Martinique:
Alexandre STELLIO returned from Guyana and gave the biguine played on the clarinet the splendour and fame it enjoyed before the disaster.
Léona GABRIELLE, Léon APANON, Ernest LÉARDÉ, Sam CASTANDET, Honoré COPPET, FRANCISCO, Anderson BAGOÉE, Loulou BOISLAVILLE, Barrel COPPET, Fernand DONATIEN, Claude CONFIANT, Vincent OZIER-LAFONTAINE, Faisalles VAINDUC, Marius Cultier, Gertrude Senin, Gisele Baka.
Groups:
The great Martinican orchestras Blue Star, Blue Moon, Swinkings harmonie, King Caribana, Fernand DONATIEN's Stardust orchestra and Malavoi.
Guadeloupe :
AL Lirvat, Camille Sopran'n, Justin Angel, Moune de Rivel, Fernande de Rivel, Roger Fanfant, Henri Debs, Emilien Antile, Gerard Laviny, Manuela Pioche, Robert Mavounzy, Youth orchestra
The first West Indian record was made in 1929 by Ernest LÉARDÉ, but 1931 was a pivotal year for the first recordings of music from our countries. Between 1929 and 1956, 1,400 tracks were recorded on 78 rpm in France by West Indian musicians.
Some titles from the period:
As early as 1900, we can hear titles that have been appropriated by some contemporary authors, such as : Papa Lago, Pani passé Lan main oswèa.
Avion en rivé, mwen bizioin en dictionè anglé: this last title is taken from the context of Dissidence at the turn of the century.
Serpent Meg by Stellio, Tchè mwen ba mwen Ninon, and La Fête Gondeau by Léona GABRIELLE, Sin Piè té ni an régina, Vini wè kouli a, A si paré Léona, La montagne est verte (Schœlcher), Grâce à Schœlcher ;
Gran the divinity composed after the southern insurrection;
The ka vini fol defence in the context of the elections (duel between Marius HURARD and Doctor LOTTA);
Éti Tintin, satirical song illustrating the defeat of the candidate Célestin, who was the laughing stock of the town after an electoral defeat, and who fled by hiding in the cane fields;
The comet, illustrating the appearance of a comet in Saint-Pierre in 1901;
La rue des bons enfants (a street in Saint-Pierre frequented by an unimaginable number of pleasure-seeking people);
Bo fè a, always composed in a context of political struggle;
Régina coco, L'estomac en bavaroise, Marie-Clémence, Bossu a bossu co ou, Mwen descenn Saint-Piè, L'échelle poule, Grand tomobil, La po fromage, Yaya mwen ni lagen, Charlotte bossa coco, Agoulou pa kalé djolou.
References :
Christian BOUTANT
Jean-Pierre Meunier
Internet documents
Media
