1st Edition
Music and the Performance of Identity on Marie-Galante, French Antilles
By Ron Emoff
Copyright 2009
212 Pages
by
Routledge
210 Pages
by
Routledge
210 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
Marie-Galante is a small island situated in the Caribbean to the south of Guadeloupe. The majority of Marie-Galantais are descendants of the slave era, though a few French settlers also occupy the island. Along with its neighbours Guadeloupe and Martinique, Marie-Galante forms an official département of France. Marie-Galante historically has never been an independent polity. Marie-Galantais... Read more
Contents: Preface: stepping out-of-the-way; Introduction: an out-of-the-way island; Tradition and official versions of history; Aimé Césaire, language, and the subsurreal; Gwo Ka drumming and claiming a sound place; Being/not being French: Kadril; Mayoleur, the festival stage, Rastafarianism; Conclusion: histories within histories; Works cited; Index.
Biography
Ron Emoff, Associate Professor, School of Music and Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University-Newark, USA.
'... of interest to scholars, particularly those interested in Caribbean music and diasporic identity... In his book Representing African Music (2003), African musicologist Kofi Agawu exhorts scholars to approach scholarship on African and diasporic music from a postcolonial perspective that gives due attention, thought, and legitimacy to communities and traditions that have previously been ignored or marginalized. Emoff answers Agawu's call by giving voice to the history, musicality, and culture of Marie-Galante. Rather than allowing Marie-Galantais culture to be absorbed into that of Guadeloupe (as is so often the case,) Music and Performance illuminates the legitimate space that Marie-Galantais have carved out for themselves on a small island in the French Antilles.' Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology
