30 terms
Glossary
All terms to understand the history and music of Bouyon.
These words have a chapter: How WCK built bouyon
Music genres (15)
- Bouyon Dominican music genre born in 1988 in Roseau, fusing cadence-lypso, jing ping, soca, dancehall, lapo kabwit, mas and several other Caribbean components.
- Bouyon soca Fusion of Dominica's bouyon and soca, formalized in the 2000s and also known as jump up soca. A bridge between two neighboring genres, not an internal mutation of bouyon.
- Bouyon-muffin Bouyon variant with a dancehall-ragga vocal color, opened by Skinny Banton (Shadowflow) in 1995 in the WCK matrix.
- Cadence-lypso 1970s Dominican genre, calypso + kompa + jazz fusion, Gordon Henderson's signature.
- Calypso 1950s-60s Trinidadian genre, narrative lyrics, common root with cadence-lypso and soca.
- Dancehall Jamaican genre derived from reggae, element of Roseau sound systems in the 1980s.
- Jing ping Traditional Dominican music with accordion, drum and triangle, root of Bouyon integrated by WCK.
- Jump up Fast carnival tempo in the French Antilles, also means the track that makes the crowd jump.
- Kompa Haitian popular music, transmitted to Bouyon through Gordon Henderson's cadence-lypso.
- Lapo kabwit Dominican ceremonial percussions in goat skin, traditional root of Bouyon integrated by WCK from 1988.
- Mas Creole carnival, traditional Caribbean chants, dances and rituals, short for « masquerade ».
- Nasty Business Dark current of modern Dominican Bouyon, launched by Mr Ridge's eponymous single (August 24, 2022) and carried by the voices gathered around Cross D Bridge.
- Raasuka Sub-current of bouyon-muffin developed by Skinny Banton (Shadowflow) from 1995, rawer and more rhythmic.
- RnBouyon Fusion of R&B vocals and slowed Bouyon riddims, named and claimed by Fallon from 2024, then carried by Denden in 2024-2025.
- Soca Modern Trinidadian genre (« soul of calypso »), component integrated by WCK into Bouyon from 1988.
Tools & techniques (4)
- Riddim Jamaican concept: instrumental that loops, over which multiple voices can intervene successively.
- Selecter Central figure of the sound system: picks tracks, raises the tempo, feels the crowd's energy.
- Sound system Community gathering place (not a device) in 1980s Roseau, the schoolless school of Bouyon.
- TR-505 Roland drum machine made from 1986 to 1990, with 16 percussion sounds and programmable patterns.
Artists & groups (8)
- Gaza Girls Crew First female Bouyon collective in Guadeloupe, formed 2010, first release `Sa Zot Vle` on 1 May 2011 on Bouyon Concept label. Female/underground pivot absent from Dominican Bouyon at the time.
- Killa Co-founder, keyboardist, producer and musical architect of Triple Kay International, the voice of strategy in modern Bouyon.
- Skinny Banton Dominican singer also known as Shadowflow, joins WCK in 1995, pioneer of the bouyon-muffin / raasuka sub-genre.
- Suppa Dominican Bouyon artist based in Guadeloupe, founder of the Gaza Crew, symbolic pivot of the Dominica-Guadeloupe arc, killed in Guadeloupe in 2013.
- Triple Kay International Dominican band formed in Laudat in the late 1990s, major modern Bouyon band and carnival stage machine, dominant in the Roseau arena across the 2000-2010 decade.
- Vador Producer, organizer and Bouyon importer in Guadeloupe from 2007, founder of Vadore Concept Groupe, cousin of Aknose, first physical hub of the first Bouyon Gwada wave.
- WCK Dominican band formed in 1988 in Roseau, original matrix of Bouyon, laboratory where cadence-lypso, jing ping, lapo kabwit, soca and dancehall mix together.
- Yellow Gaza Pioneer collective/project of Bouyon in Guadeloupe, active 2010-2014, relaunch 2021+. 'The pioneer project that planted the seed' per Aknose.
Expressions & concepts (2)
Places & events (1)
Contemporary Bouyon
TIITII NBA
Independent artist from Guadeloupe, conscious heir of the WCK → Triple Kay → New Bouyon Wave lineage.
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