Danyel Waro meets Les Maîtres du Bèlè

Concerts at Africolor

Sainte-Marie (Martinique) 

04/12/2006 - 

Danyel Waro has been busy preparing a joint project, Michto Maloya, with Titi Robin for an appearance at the Africolor festival on 3 December. But in between sessions the flamboyant ambassador of Reunionese maloya headed out to Martinique in October to meet the Masters of Bèlè (bel air), traditional Martinican music based on a mixture of songs, dances and pounding drums dating back to the slave days.

Danyel Waro was invited out to Martinique by La Maison du Bèlè, an organisation set up in 2003, in the Reculée neighbourhood in Sainte-Marie (in the north of the island) renowned as the birthplace of bèlè. Waro and his group not only hosted music workshops, but also performed in concert at L’Atrium in the capital, Fort-de-France, inviting local group Les Maîtres du Bèlè up on stage to play with them. Les Maîtres du Bèlè returned the honour the following night, inviting Waro and his group to a special ‘soirée’ at La Maison du Bèlè. “This is the first time I’ve visited the region,” Waro enthused, “Up until now I didn’t know the first thing about bèlè.”

Striking similarities

On Waro’s home island of Réunion, people are familiar with Antillais sounds like zouk and biguine, but are mostly totally ignorant about bèlè. A situation Waro is hoping to rectify in the future. “I think there’s the same depth to bèlè as there is to maloya,” he says. “The lead vocals repeat over and over and the backing vocals answer. In Martinique, as well as in Guadeloupe and Réunion, musicians use drums made out of old barrels or tree trunks that they sit astride and hit with both hands, and sometimes their feet as well. There are striking physical similarities between the musical styles. In maloya songs revolve around themes from daily life, just like bèlè, and the dances are equally free and sensual. I think the islands have preserved this as part of their African heritage, each adapting it in their own way."

Accepting the proposition of a music residency in Martinique appealed to Danyel Waro for many reasons. “I was intrigued by the idea of meeting veteran musicians playing traditional music that’s very close to ours,” he says, “I was also interested in the idea of visiting an island I knew so little about. I really wanted to understand the region a bit better. In Réunion, we tend to have preconceived ideas about people from the Antilles (the French West Indies). We have the impression that they’re bigger rebels than we are, that they’re more ready to stand up and fight for their identity. It’s funny, though, when the late Haitian singer Toto Bissainthe came to Réunion, she said she thought that it was just the opposite – she thought the people on Réunion were much more rebellious than those in the Antilles. I spent a lot of time thinking about that and came to the conclusion that maybe in the Caribbean there’s a stronger feeling of belonging to a community (be it black or Creole). And that creates a sort of homogeneity, a unity, a strength. In Réunion, given that so many different populations have added their contribution to things, we have the impression that there’s more division. There’s an idea that the culture is more heterogeneous and thus less recognisable and less definable."

Respect

Heading out to Martinique for a visit of just a few days was obviously frustrating for Waro who, beyond meeting Les Maîtres du Bèlè, was keen to sit down and discuss issues of cultural identity with local people. “You definitely feel things are a bit complicated here like they are for us back home,” he says, “There are plenty of unresolved issues to do with slavery, colonisation, the master-servant relationship, colour and religious differences. I’ve noticed certain things on the surface, but I haven’t really had time to dig any deeper."

Waro admits his time with Les Maîtres du Bèlè was devoted to exploring more important musical matters. “We listened to them singing and playing with great respect,” he says,” You have to really take your time and not fall into the trap of recording things from a distance, rather than living things to the full. You have to go deep into their music and sit down at table and eat with them, take time to have a real conversation and laugh together."

Waro did just that and in the course of one of these collective meals introduced one of his favourite pastimes: a riddle session. "I think riddles are one of the keys to our tradition of oral culture,” Waro explains, “To begin with, the musicians didn’t really respond, saying that that kind of thing didn’t exist in Martinique. But little by little they got into the game and started asking me riddles, too. It’s like things buried deep inside can be stirred sometimes, but to stir them you have to put a bit of effort into things and fight. You have to fight against the whole process of depersonalisation, the process of forgetting and the erosion of identity. We’ve got a lot to learn from veterans like this who tend to hide their treasures away when we should all be sharing it. You can feel that a lot of cultural wealth is just seeping away. In Martinique, before we lose great veterans like this, cultural heritage is being saved thanks to places like La Maison du Bèlè."

Patrick  Labesse

Translation : Julie  Street