All 25 entries tagged St Lucia

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May 03, 2009

cadence additional

Follow-up to Cadence Country Reggae from WikiOmeros

Cadence (or cadence-lypso) is a French Antillean dance music highly popular in St Lucia in the 1970s. Unlike the English language calypso, it is a French Creole-based form originating in Dominica and Guadeloupe and a development of Haitian Creole compas (or konpas direk). It was one of the forms that later were blended into the zouk (‘party’) form popular in the 1980s. The early lyrics of cadence often dealt with social issues and as such it was more of a political form than zouk, which developed largely as entertainment music. In St Lucia the political aspect was less strong, possibly because of difficulty in understanding other Creole dialects, and the music was more of an excuse for Jump Up (street party). The cadence style is claimed to be developed in Guadeloupe by the group Exile One led by Dominican musician Julie Mourillon and for a while became the main dance music of Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Lucia and other French Creole islands.


Amanda Hopkins : 03 May 2009 16:17 |  Tags:      |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

June 08, 2008

two parties

two parties, one Greek and the other Trojan,/both fighting for Helen (2.XX.ii).

One of the frequent allusions to the Trojan War, with 'Helen' here both evoking Helen of Troy and referring to St Lucia.


Amanda Hopkins : 08 Jun 2008 12:31 |  Tags:            |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

June 07, 2008

I felt transported

I felt transported,/… to a place I had lost/…//It was another country (2.XXXII.ii).

This refers to the theme of 'uprootedness', a reminder that nobody on the island is an original inhabitant; everyone is displaced and not at home. The verb 'transported' also echoes the noun 'transport', the term used for Hector's vehicle, the Comet, which symbolises his exchange of the traditional St Lucian values for a modern Westernised lifestyle.


Amanda Hopkins : 07 Jun 2008 11:51 |  Tags:           |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

June 06, 2008

rites like crabs

These were the rites […] like crabs (1.VI.i).

Imagery of struggle and division, depicted with the images of 'divid[ing] the wrestlers' and men as 'centaurs',  suggests the difficulties that the natives of St Lucia face when conforming to the needs of tourists, while maintaining ownership of their island. The island is in a constant struggle against the infiltration of Western colonization.


Amanda Hopkins : 06 Jun 2008 14:39 |  Tags:        |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

June 05, 2008

dead language

dead language (3.XXXI.ii).

The leaves of the pomme-Arac tree talk a 'dead language', a reminder that the history of the island has effectively been buried under centuries of slavery and oppression.


Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 08:24 |  Tags:        |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

Aruacs muskets Conquistador

like Aruacs/falling to the muskets of the Conquistador (3.XXXI.i).

A recurrent image throughout the text, a reminder of the original inhabitants of the island (Aruac Indians in the third century AD) and the themes of colonialism. Conquistador is Spanish for ‘conqueror’ (cf. Conquistadores, 1.VII.i), but is used specifically in reference to the sixteenth-century Spanish soldiers who defeated the Indians of Mexico, central America and Peru.


Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 07:59 |  Tags:         |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

July 09, 2007

new Helen

new Helen (7.LXIII.i).

This is ambiguous: it suggests the island's new beginnings and resolution of identity, and also refers to Christine as a more pure and innocent Helen who has not been 'colonized' or corrupted.


Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 15:46 |  Tags:          |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

Comte de Grasse

Comte de Grasse (7.LVII.iii).

French admiral who joined the fleet for Count d'Estaing in the Caribbean and distinguished himself in the battle for St Lucia in 1780.


Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 13:31 |  Tags:       |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

blinded saint

blinded saint (7.LVII.i).

Lucia: 'Feminine form of the old Roman given name Lucius, which is probably derivative of Latin lux "light"… St Lucia of Syracuse, who was martyred in 304, was a very popular saint in the Middle Ages; she is often represented in medieval art as blinded and with her eyes on a platter, but the tradition that she had her eyes put out is probably based on nothing more than the association between light and eyes' (Bib:DFN). This is also a reference to the convention of blind poets (e.g. Homer, Milton, Seven Seas) in the epic tradition.


Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 13:25 |  Tags:         |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

hotel

hotel (7.LVII.i).

St Lucia itself is represented as a hotel, as tourism has appropriated the coastline.


Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 13:17 |  Tags:     |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem

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