| Music of Guadeloupe | ||
| General topics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Related articles | ||
| Genres | ||
|
|
||
| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||
|
||
| Regional music | ||
|
||
Balakadri (called balkadri or kadri) is a traditional quadrille music that was performed for balls on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.
Guadeloupean balakadri persisted into the 20th century and, despite disruption after World War II, made a comeback in the 1980s. The Guadeloupean-administered island of Marie-Galante has also had a vital and well-documented balakadri tradition. As in Martinique (and the Creole-speaking islands of St Lucia and Dominica), kwadril dances are in sets consisting of proper quadrilles, plus creolized versions of 19th-century couple dances: biguines, mazouks and valses Créoles.
To save the Balakadri, an association was created: F.R.E.G.A.Q.(Regional Federation of Guadeloupe Activities Quadrille). Its purpose is to promote, transmit, store Balakadri which is part of the cultural patrimoine Guadeloupe.[1]
The first musicians to record on vinyl balakadri are:
Instrumentation consists of variable combinations of accordion, guitar, violin, tanbou dibas, chacha (either a single metal cylinder as in Martinique, or a spherical calabash without a handle, held in both hands), malakach (maracas), triangle, bwa (tibwa) and syak, a bamboo rasp one metre long, grooved on both top and bottom, held with one end on the belly and the other on a door or wall and scraped with both hands. A konmandé completes the ensemble.