- LP TIME012£26.00Expected 09 DecPreorder
- 1. Dao - Chen'n La
- 2. Gaoulé Mizik - Sonné Lékla Sonné
- 3. Emboule Jean-Claude, Louison Gerome et Le Groupe Kako - Enjafann Kann
- 4. Thibault "Freydy" Doressamy - O Fon A Kê An Nou
- 5. Gui Konket - Kimbé Rèd!
- 6. Michel Laurent - Matla La Mouyé
- 7. Horizon - Ti Malo
- 8. Kalindi Ka - Yo
- 9. Selekta Ka - Nou Woukou Mansé A Zero
- 10. Groupe Béloka - Menm Chimen-la
The innovative, radical soul of Guadeloupe explored across thirty years of contemporary gwoka music, released by Time Capsule and Séance Centre.
As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.”
Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island.
Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.
Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with a rich seam of genre-defying experimentation.
Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large.