Bouyon soca is a fusion-genre of

bouyon music Bouyon (pronunciation: ''boo-your'') is a genre of Dominican music that originated in Dominica in the late 1980s. Prominent bouyon groups include Windward Caribbean Kulture (WCK); Roots, Stems and Branches (RSB); and First Serenade. "Hardco ...

originating from

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

and

soca music Soca music, or the "soul of calypso", is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1970s. It is considered an offshoot of Calypso music, calypso, with influences from Afro–Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Afro-Trinidadian a ...

originating from

Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several smaller islets. The capital city is Port of Spai ...

and the other English speaking Caribbean islands. Bouyon soca typically blends old bouyon music

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

s from the 90s' and

creating a unique style soca sound. The style of music was made more popular to the Caribbean region by the likes of the producer Dada and artists ASA from Dominica with collaborations from Trinidadian and St.Vincent artist such as Skinny Fabulous, Bunji Garlin, Iwer George and Machel Montano. Noticeable hits includes Famalay and Conch Shell. With noticeable Bouyon flavored rhythms and sounds with the essence of Soca tempo and lyrical attributes.

History

The nineties in Dominica have been dominated by a new musical form called bouyon music. The best-known band in the genre is

Windward Caribbean Kulture The WCK Band (Windward Caribbean Kulture) was formed in 1988 in Dominica.Thompson, Keith (2010) ''Caribbean Islands: The Land and The People'', New Africa Press, , p. 187 The band played a blend of the local Cadence-lypso and traditional Jing pi ...

(WCK), who originated the style in 1988 by experimenting with a fusion of

Cadence-lypso Cadence-lypso is a fusion of cadence rampa from Haiti, Jazz, Blues and calypso music, calypso from Trinidad and Tobago that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exil ...

and

Jing ping Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadr ...

. They began using native drum rhythms such as

lapo kabwit This is a list of membranophones used in the Caribbean music area, including the islands of the Caribbean Sea, as well as the musics of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Belize, Honduras, and Bermuda. It only includes membranophones that are indig ...

and elements of the music of jing ping bands, as well as

ragga Raggamuffin music (or simply ragga) is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling. Wayne Smith's " Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a ...

-style vocals. From a language perspective, Bouyon draws on English and

Dominican Creole French Dominican Creole French is a French-based creole, which is a widely spoken language in Dominica. It can be considered a distinct dialect of Antillean Creole. History It is a sub-variety of Antillean Creole, which is spoken in other islands of ...

with influences from the

chanté mas Chanté mas (''masquerade song'') and Lapo kabrit is a form of Carnival music of Dominica. It is performed by masquerading partygoers in a two-day parade, with a lead vocalist (''chantwèl''), who is followed by the responsorial chorus (''lavwa' ...

tradition. Bouyon involves chanting rather than singing and is very much influenced by

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

language style, coming out of Jamaica. Bouyon-muffin and reketeng is an offshoot of this tendency. While bouyon lyrics comment on everyday life in the cultural sense, they can also contain explicit social commentary in the political sense.

Origin

Bouyon soca, sometimes referred to as Jump up soca, is a fusion genre that typically blends old

bouyon Bouyon (; ; ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Situated northwest of Nice, Bouyon offers magnificent panoramic views of the Alps, and features a traditional château and communal bread oven. Local lei ...

rhythms from the '90s and soca music. Bouyon soca is a term coined by Dominican producers and musicians, who embrace both Soca from Trinidad and Bouyon music from Dominica and so find it natural to produce blends of both music genres. Bouyon is a music genre that originated in Dominica that is distinguishable from its older "colleague" Soca. In Dominica while there may have been the occasional fusions, bouyon has always maintained a very clear, recognizable and different style from soca. Outside of Dominica the Bouyon Soca fusion style is popular in islands like Antigua, Saint Lucia,

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

and

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and is a natural evolution from Zouk and Soca fusions that were popular there during the 1980s.

Popularity

Bouyon soca is a fusion of bouyon and soca produced mainly in Caribbean Island if Dominica. Donovan bands have been mixing both sounds since the 90's. However, producers from Saint Lucia have been experimenting with fusing bouyon and soca from the early 2000s, when Saint Lucian artist Ricky T released a song "Pressure boom" in 2007 which blended the two genres this hit song helped the fusion to become more popular throughout the English speaking Caribbean. In modern times the songs Famalay and Conch Shell from Dominican producers Dada and lyrics from Trinidad and St.Vincent Artists such as Skinny Fabulous and Machel Montano has cemented the future of genre. This style of Soca is mostly, but not exclusively, produced in both Dominica and Saint Lucia. However, Dominica being the lead in the creative space of the sound will always shape the inspiration and direction of the genre.

References

Music of Dominica The music of Dominica includes a variety of genres including all the popular genres of the world. Popular music is widespread, with a number of native Dominican performers gaining national fame in imported genres such as calypso, reggae, soca, ...

Music of Saint Lucia The music of Saint Lucia is home to many vibrant oral and folk traditions and is based on elements derived from the music of Africa, especially rhythmically, and Western Europe, dances like the quadrille, polka and waltz. The banjo and cuatro are ...

{{Soca music 20th-century music genres 21st-century music genres Soca music