Friday, October 17, 2008

En voici un autre


Quelqu'un de la Martinique nous a visité et je veux leur souhaiter la bienvenue.

Martinique brings out total of virtual flags to 143. I included two flags in the graphic, however, since (1) Martinique is an overseas department of France and (2) it also has a cool regional flag.

Martinique is located in the eastern Caribbean, its capital is Fort-de-France, and it has a dangerous active volcano, Mount Pelée. I'm loving trivia like this: "Martinique was the main setting of the 1944 film To Have and Have Not starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall."

Your tourist bureau introduction (shake your hips):



For something completely different and very local: Conch music in Fort de France Martinique (to borrow a phrase from MP, "where does he get them?" - but the second half will surprise you)



A short video on handmade drums:



This is labeled zouk music from Martinique. Christiane valejo- padoné mwen



OK, I hadn't heard of zouk either, so here's the info on Wikipedia:
Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the islands of Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique. It has its roots in compas music from Haiti,. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local creole of French with English influences. In Africa, it is popular in franco/luso countries, while on the African islands of Cape Verde they have developed their own type of zouk. In Europe it is particularly popular in France, and in North America the Canadian province of Quebec.

Enjoy!
--the BB

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