The music of Saint Lucia is home to many vibrant oral and folk traditions and is based on elements derived from the music of Africa, especially rhythmically, and Western Europe, dances like the quadrille, polka and waltz. The banjo and cuatro are iconic Lucian folk instruments, especially a four-stringed banjo called the . Celebratory songs called show lyricism, and rhythmic complexity. The most important of the Afro-Lucian Creole folk dances is the . Music is an integral part of Lucian folk holidays and celebrations, as well as the good-natured rivalry between the La Rose and La Marguerite societies. There is little Western classical music on Saint Lucia, and the country's popular music industry is only nascent. There are few recording opportunities, though live music and radio remain a vital part of Lucian culture. Popular music from abroad, especially Trinidadian styles like calypso and soca, is widespread.
Music education has long been a part of Lucian public education in the primary school age groups. More recently, it has been introduced to older students, many of whom now participate in String Orchestras, wind ensembles, steelpan bands and other musical enrichment opportunities. There is also a well-known government assisted non-profit music school, the Saint Lucia School of Music. The Ministry of Education sponsors a variety of festivals and other special events. The island is also home to the prestigious Saint Lucia Jazz Festival and the Creole celebration .
Folk music
A typical Saint Lucian folk band is based around the fiddle, cuatro, banjo, guitar and (a rattle). The banjo and cuatro are regarded as particularly important in Saint Lucian culture, especially the small, four-stringed , or . Saint Lucian dances include , and (a derivative of the minuet); however, the is increasingly viewed as a national symbol. It is a highly stylized and formalized dance that derives from the European quadrille. is a more informal form of Lucian folk music, and is performed at dances, wakes and other social events; performers improvise comedic and often biting or lyrics. Music also plays a role in the La Rose and La Marguerite tradition of two rival societies that compete in celebration and form a fundamental part of Lucian culture.
Jwé (play) is a form of rural Lucian folk music associated with beach parties, wakes, débòt dances and full moon gatherings. Jwé is performed as an informal, social event that provide the chance for Lucians to show off their verbal skills, and communicate their comedic, social and political commentaries without offending people. Jwé includes both songs for men and women, both of which can be singers, though most Lucian folk instrumentalists are male. A jwé performance is considered good if the audience participates enthusiastically by clapping, responding to the leader and singing and dancing. Some Lucians avoid jwé altogether because of its sexually raunchy lyricism and atmosphere; nevertheless, elements of jwé have entered mainstream Lucian culture, such as the use of lang dévivé, or saying the opposite of what is meant.
Musical elements of jwé include gém (game song), listwa (storytelling), jwé chanté (sung songs) and jwé dansé (song-play-dance). These forms are united by their use of the Creole language, their use of call-and-response singing between a leader and a chorus, with the exception of listwa, and the use of improvisation. Jwé chanté and listwa are purely vocal styles with no accompaniment, nor any traditional dance; the other two are typically accompanied by a ka drum or sometimes the tibwa percussion sticks, which provides a rhythm for dancers. cited in Guilbault
Sung jwé, jwé chanté or chanté kont, is mostly part of the funeral wake tradition. A jwé chanté leader uses pantomime to enact scenes from a story, or sometimes just the ribald double entendres from it. The gém (game song) are based around a leader who uses his own flourishes on a choreographed dance and improvises witty lyrics, while the audience participates in the performance. Jwé dansé includes four traditional dances. The solo is a couple dance, and the débòt, yonbòt and jwé pòté are all circle dances. The blòtjé is a musical movement found in all jwé dansé styles, occurring, for example, every four beats in the débòt dance.
Kwadril
Quadrille is a Lucian Creole folk dance derived from the European quadrille. It is performed primarily at private parties which are organized by a host in a private home or rented hall, with musicians paid by the host. Kwadrils are held throughout the year, except during Lent. The modern kwadril has declined in popularity; it had come to be seen as a symbol of colonialism around the time of independence, and was shunned as old-fashioned and out-of-date. More recently, some aspects of Lucian society have come to promote the quadrille as a symbol of Lucian culture. Quadrilles are unlike other Lucian dances in that they must be memorized and choreographed, with only slight room for personal interpretation and improvisation. Learners act as a sort of apprentice for more established performers. A successful performance brings respect and prestige for all participants who dance the correct steps which are traditionally said to "demonstrate control over behavior, manner, and skills" and "symbolize... a set of special values linked with a higher social class".
Kwadril music is provided by an ensemble consisting of a four-stringed instrument, the cuatro (instrument), a rattle, the chakchak, bones called zo, a violin, banjo (, bwa pòyé), mandolin and guitar. A kwadril consists of five separate dances: the pwémyé fidji, dézyèm fidji, twazyèm fidji, katwiyèm fidji (also avantwa or ) and gwan won (also grande rond). The musicians may also use a lakonmèt (mazurka), schottische or polka; the lakonmèt, also called the mazouk, is especially popular and is the only closed couple dance which originated in Saint Lucia.
La Rose and La Marguerite
La Rose and La Marguerite are rival societies that commemorate the Anglo-French heritage of the island; the factions represent the warring colonial powers, between whose hands Saint Lucia changed fourteen times. La Rose is held on August 30 while La Margurite is held on October 17. The societies date back to the early 19th century, when each village was home to competing organizations of the Roman Catholic Church. Both societies draw on English royalty traditions and have a number of positions, including the King, Queen, Prince, Princess and various lower titles like the Chief of Police and nurse. La Rose and La Marguerite meet once weekly except during Lent. At these meetings, which are on Saturday for La Rose and Sunday for La Marguerite, members sing or play instruments and dance. La Marguerite meetings feature the membership in a seated chorus with a leader, the chantwèl, standing, while La Rose meetings include instruments like the (tambourine), baha (wooden trumpet), (rattles), guitar and (scraper).
The celebrations of both groups differ in that La Rose, the "English" faction, is characterized by noisiness, movement, participation, rhythm and exuberance, while La Marguerite, the "French" faction, is characterized by melody, discipline and restraint. There is a vibrant tradition of women singing factional songs related to this rivalry. Traditions common to both factions include the Omans, a sort of waltz, Marches and the duple rhythm (or ) dance. and are also performed by La Rose.
Other traditional styles
In addition to jwé and other music performed for entertainment, Saint Lucia is also home to styles used only for specific occasions. These include work songs, drinking songs, funereal music and serenades and masquerades. The latter two traditions are nearly extinct in modern Saint Lucia. The masquerade was a celebration held near holidays like Easter and New Year's Day, which included an orchestra consisting of a tanbou tenbal, chakchak and a bamboo flute. This same ensemble also traditionally performs for cockfights, merry-go-rounds and vocal serenades, called séwinal in Lucian Creole.
The most widespread form of Lucian work song is the chanté siay, which accompanies the sawing of wood. The vocals are performed by a lead singer and two responding singers, accompanied by a ka and tibwa duo. Both instruments are played in an atypical manner. The ka drum is played on the ground rather than upright, and the tibwa percussion sticks are struck against a bamboo or wooden stick rather than the rim of a drum.
Lucian drinking songs are the chanté abwè, which are rarely performed in recent years. Their traditional context, however, is the wibòt celebration, held during Christmas time. Chanté abwè are performed in a game in which the singers, seated at a long table, take turns singing a new song each time their turn comes. Those who lasted the entire evening won prizes, often a bottle of rum.
Bèlè The bélè tradition is a form of Creole song and couple dance, performed one couple with a leader and chorus. They are performed in several contexts, most notably in funeral wakes. Bélè include the bélè anlè, bélè matjé, bélè anlawis and the bélè atè. The bélè anlawis is the only form which is not responsorial.
Funeral music
On Saint Lucia, wakes are held on the first and eighth night after a person has died, in contrast to other Caribbean islands, which hold their wakes on the first and ninth days. Wakes often include music, such as the singing of hymns and drumming. Traditional music for wakes is performed both inside and outside of the deceased's house. The mourners inside the house sing from a repertoire of songs that are in English and not French Creole, because they are derived from the English-using songs of Lucian churches. The songs include both hymns and sankeys (gospel songs), and are generally responsorial, led by a male singer with the slow, unsyncopated responses of the chorus in unison. The mourners outside the house traditionally perform drumming and a kind of responsorial song performed in Creole and without accompaniment, called kont. These songs often related to the death of the deceased, and may deal with the cause of death, the last words or events surrounding the death. Mourners also dance to both the débòt and bélè, accompanied zo or tibwa and ka.
The villages of La Grace, Piaye and Laborie in the southwest area of Saint Lucia were known for a unique song-dance called the koutoumba. The koutoumba was only performed for the death of a djiné, a person descended from Africans who came to the island in the middle of the 19th century. The koutoumba is unique among Lucian folk dance in that it is performed by a sole dancer and using only two to four lines of text, which is evocative of the song's atmosphere rather than narrative. The last drummer who knew this tradition died in 1986.
Kélé
Kélé is an Afro-Lucian religious tradition from the Djiné people of the Babonneau region. Only one family, from Resina, in modern Saint Lucia claims to have the religious authority to perform and pass on the kélé rituals. Kélé is based around three deities, Eshu, Shango and Ogun, and is similar to the Nigerian Ogun festival. cited in Guilbault, pp 450 Kélé's rituals involve contacting one's ancestors to ask for protection, especially "good crops, good health, and good fortune". Kélé has been underground for much of its history, and was only accepted by the Lucian Roman Catholic Church in the early 1960s.