Gwo ka : Guadeloupe musical instrument

The gwo ka is both a family of hand drums and the music created with the hand drums that is a major part of Guadeloupian folk music. There are seven rhythms in the musical instruments that are embellished by the drummers of the instruments. Various sizes of the drums establish the foundation and its flourishes having the boula as the largest of the drums and playing the central rhythm and the smaller; markeur drum decorates upon it and interplays with the dancers of the melody as well as the singer and the audience. The gwo ka singing is often guttural, rough and nasal, but it can also be smooth and bright, and it is always accompanied by uplifting and hard harmonies and music. There are also dances that tell folk stories that are accompanied by the drums of this family.

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Rural Guadeloupians still use set of drums in communal experience known as lewozes; this is the most traditional manifestation of the musical instruments in the modern Guadeloupe. These set of drums are also played in the carnivals and other celebrations. A popularized and modernized form of the instrument is known on the island as ‘gwo ka moderne’.

The origin of this musical instrument goes back to the period of enslavement in the 18^th century. Musical researches opine that the musical instrument can finds its root in the drum and songs of the West African countries. From the diverse melodies and dance of their homelands, the slaves elaborated a communication material, a new form of art like the creole language; the Gwo ka. This musical category is characterized by an African typology.

The influences of the master fusioned with the base to manufacture the seven rhythms or dances: the Lewoz, the Mindé, the Kaladja, the Grage, the Roulé, the Granjanbel and the Toumblak.

The Lewoz is the war music that was used to give rhythm the attacks against the plantations, though it was also an incantatory dance.

The Kaladja symbolizes the struggle in love.

The Pagenbel shows the cane cutting dance.

The Toumblak, like the Kaladja, is about the love theme, belly dance, fertility dance.

The Grage accompanies the agricultural work of the people.

The Roulé is the creole waltz, to charm and mimic the white men.

The Mindé would have been the last rhythm to come into the islands with the Congo people under contract after the abolition. It symbolizes the carnival, collective celebration.

A modernized version of the instrument is the gwo ka modern that adds new musical instrumentd ranging from the conga, djembe drums and the chimes to electric bass guitar. At roots, meanwhile, these patterns all use the same main seven rhythms as folk gwo ka.