Name: Lèspri Ka: New Directions in Gwo Ka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010
Brand: Various

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

TC12LP

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "TC12LP"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Colour

black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

With 4 Page Insert.

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "With 4 Page Insert."}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-03-25

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

0650245557243

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "0650245557243"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Various

Genre GB

African

Label GB

Time Capsule Records

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island. 

Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences. 

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and make techniques fused with a rich seam of genre-defying experimentation. 

Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large. 

Lèspri Ka: New Directions in Gwo Ka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010

Music GB