INTRODUCTION TO THE GUIANESE POPULAR MUSICS

Let’s admit that the adjective “popular”, refers to a cultural attribute, which, cannot be separated from the notion of people. But the word “music” refers to a concept, which is much more difficult to grasp. It concerns the sound phenomenon, which can be defined in different ways, whether the musical exegesis belongs to such or such civilisation or culture, or such or such people. These factors in fact, determine the parameters and the rules of the composition as well as the musical practice. Thus, for example, according to the classical European conception of the musical sound, the pitch and the tone are two parameters interpreted as components that would be perceived individually by the listener. On the other hand, in other parts of the world, such as Guiana, or Subsaharian Africa, pitch and tone make up more of an indissociable unity. The result is another idea and another process of evaluation of the musical sound. Likewise, about the relationship between dance and music: in Europe, they were perceived as two distinct entities, whereas in Guiana, music and dance remain indissociable. They then mean the same thing: music is dance and dance is music. And that’s why one word only will be enough globally to refer to dance, rhythm and music, sometimes even associating the instrument and the underlying musical genre. This is an (about the) African heritage of the conception of the musical fact. In Guiana, the kaséko, for example, is the term, used at present to name the performances of the Circles of the Creole Guianese drum Circles that associate together songs, rhythms and stylised dances there implied