This blog will explore the ideas and relevant media surrounding creolization in French-speaking Caribbean countries.

Ready Those Vibes Martinique!: Let's Talk Music

Within the text, the authors of Tour de Force gave their readers an overview of the three major styles of music in Martinique. These styles are that of Bèlè, Zouk, and Beguine/Biguine. Though each of the three is derived from a creolized nature (especially due to French colonization), each style has its own flavors, substyles, and additional modern or historical influences.

Bèlè!

This style is described by the authors as a form of music influenced by African culture. Personally, j'adore la musique de Bèlè parce qu'elle me donne envie de bouger! Oops, translation. I love bèlè music because it makes me want to move! The style is very rhythmic, easy to follow, and based on the music traditions of the slaves that were settled in the country many years ago.

Movement: Bèlè dance
(Photo taken from https://alyssawrites.com/la-maison-du-bele/)

The heart of this music style is wrapped in the stretched goat/sheep skinned covering on barrels to create tambour drums. The drummers adjust and position their drums throughout their performance to create different pitches and rhythms using the heel of their right foot. Interestingly, this isn't what stands out most to me about these talented drummers. Want to take a guess at what does? Is it the way they hit the drum? The feel of the music which reminds me of Bahamian Goombay? The sway of the musician as they deliver the most alluring up-tempo in various songs? All awesome guesses...but not exactly. It's the way they position their drums outward. If the rhythm could take on another physical form, it'd match horse racing. The drummer is leading his/her drum to the victory of musical connection to the adoring audience betting on the winning sound. This victorious partnership between the tempo and the dancers who can't help but follow the beat's lead. That's what interests me most. What about you?

Like any music style based on traditions, Bèlè has its lyrical style as well as its traditional dance or rather contredanse. Remaining true to the creolized cultures present in Martinique, the music takes on the creole language with a spiced twist. The lead singer, lavwa, sings in creole and is either echoed or answered by his/her supporting choir, We call this a "call and response" since the lyrics are more conversational. Alongside this, dancers follow the rhythm of the drummer and the energy of the singers as they dance in coupled formations along the floor (occasionally exchanging dance partners throughout the song).

I chose this video as an example as it's personally one of my favorites from when my introductory French class explored a bit of Martinique to compare the French spoken there to native French. You can hear the similarity to Pan-African music styles you may have encountered before and the way the lead singer is answered by his responding choir throughout. Do you hear those drums? Listen to the pitch change at points of higher energy versus in the beginning or end. Don't you find it amazing how alluring the song is despite it being completely in another language?

A Trip to the Shadowman in Haiti: A Look at Haitian Vodou

Vodou Practices in Haiti
(Photo taken from https://retrospectjournal.com/2021/01/31/rehabilitating-haitian-vodou/)

Birthed from the mixture of enforced Christian Catholic beliefs and the spiritual traditions of African slaves, the creolized (or Afro-Haitian) religion of "Vodou" [which means spirit in Fon (an African language)] made its home in Haiti. As mentioned by the authors of Tour de Force, Vodou has been often misrepresented and misunderstood by those who lack care or interest in the topic of the religion itself. The authors further explain how the misrepresentation has been seen in media which created this stigma of Vodou being the basis of evil and/or malicious intent and/or magic. Think about it. How many movies have you seen that solely show dark magic aspects and slather "Vodou" labels across it immediately? How many video games have you sampled or played that automatically depict the character relating to this aspect of some countries' cultures as the definite villain? Pretty wild huh?

Baron Samedi
(Photo taken from http://www.joycemaureira.com/?p=1061)

Though viewed with suspicion, horror, and shame, Vodou is one of the traditionally practiced religions in Haiti and does have interesting ties to some media we may find a bit intriguing. Let's compare two common examples, shall we? Let's consider Dr. Facilier (from The Princess and the Frog) versus an Ioa [a spirit in the African diaspora normally idolized] of Haitian Vodou, my favorite under this topic I must say, Baron Samedi. When we think of Dr. Facilier, we see a witch doctor as well as the antagonist of the movie. He only seems to do shady work with confidence; only finding fear when his deeds have caught up to his lack of time. Here's the thing though. His appearance resembles that of Baron Samedi's style. The top hat, darkly colored tailcoat, the traditional corpse-style look All very similar, yet lacking the actual symbolism left by the idea of the "god of life and death" from Vodou mythology himself.
Baron Samedi wore these items or painted himself to resemble a corpse, not for the sake of "looking the part" but because it was traditional or customary based on both his mythological lore (which varies from native tales to media depiction) as well as the traditional Haitian burial customs. In this light, he is not some shady witch doctor or doer of dark arts, but one who is requested to heal those nearing death so that their afterlife greets them well with acceptance as well as feed the festival by creating special rum. Doesn't seem like a bad guy to me, what about you?

Bon Appétit Haiti...and save some for me, please!

Creolization reaches even the yummiest parts of a culture. Like other parts of Haitian culture, a lot of the cuisine and preparation techniques are heavily influenced by both Africa and Europe. These influences have contributed to both the boldness and spiciness of most Haitian cuisines. So, what makes Haitian food unique despite its creolized roots? I would definitely say the uniqueness holds hands with the way each food item compliments the other. The vegetables, the different types of peppers, the choice of meats, the special bean and rice with the container of love...I mean gravy. I really love Haitian food. Hear me out, a plate of curry chicken with rice, pate, and extra pikliz on a weekday? My mouth is already watering!

A snapshot of Pate
(Used with permission of Celine Ferguson)

Let's talk about pate and pikliz. Both are very common delicacies of Haitian cuisine and are often made in different parts of the world by Haitians or those of Haitian descent. Despite the connection to French cuisine, Pate in Haiti does not resemble the Pate you may know from French cuisine. If we were to take French Pate, cook it, chop it up, and add it to dough; then we would get Haitian Pate. Haitian Pate is better known since it looks like a fried dumpling (seeming as the lighter-skinned sibling of the Jamaican Festival/Fried Dumpling), but normally has beef or pork alongside chopped habanero peppers, onions, garlic, and shallots as a filling. You would never witness me getting Haitian food without at least 3 pates (that's how good it is, gosh!). Whereas, Pikliz is often thought of as a spiced trap to those who don't understand what it is. It's carrot shreds! It's cabbage shreds! It's coleslaw, right? Nope! IT'S PIKLIZ!!! Often confused for coleslaw, this mixture of spiced shreds (normally, peppers, onions, shallots, cabbage, and carrots) pleases the spicier tastes and clears the sinus in one bite! When we look at the mixing and fermenting of pikliz, some often think of the Korean dish, kimchi, which is made in a similar way. Hmm, I wonder which was created first.

Apologies for some of the language in this video.

I chose this additional example not only because it shows a mixture of favorites (and how they're made) but because the speaker of the video is sharing the story written by the colors of these lovely dishes. We see that despite mixed cultures or residency in other countries, some traditions stay alive, colorful, and delicious. No matter what happens, Haitians can't help but feel proud of what these foods have done for their own memories and Haiti's creolized history. I certainly feel that pride with them each time I take a bite of their history-written recipes.