The Biguine, masked musical identity of the 1930: A Creole eruption without words

Abstract

The biguine experienced a “golden age” in Paris in the 1930s. The “identity” of this Caribbean music is not mysterious but undoubtedly underestimated. Disorganized, about the subject of media success, the thesis of this article bets that the identity of this biguine is “masked”. The mask operates on three levels: first obscured by the chimerical quest for a more authentic production ante eruptio (in reference to Pelee catastrophic volcano eruption of 1902). Then by the mask of the ruses/opportunities of history which allow it to express itself "outside" any institutional framework. Finally, the mask in its “twin” but untheorized relationship of the contemporary foundation of the black identity of the New Harlem Renaissance and the Négritude of the Nardal sisters and Aimé Césaire. At a time when musical creation found renewed interest and inspiration around this period, the functioning of these mask mechanisms gave pride of place to women laying the base for the interest of this article.