It was Wednesday, November 26, 2014. That day, in Paris, Gwoka entered UNESCO, on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, thus marking the culmination of several years of commitment. International recognition, “the most prized of all”, declared Philippe Lalliot, the French ambassador to UNESCO at the time.
But what is “Gwoka”? A central element of Guadeloupe's identity, it is defined as a musical genre combining Creole singing, ka (drum) rhythm music and dance. Root music inherited from Africans put into slavery in the Antilles, it represents today “a way of being and living”. “It is part of our culture, it is our heritage which differentiates us, Guadeloupe, from the other islands of the Caribbean”, explains the dancer Léna Blou who made Gwoka a true devotion, although opposed, ten years earlier, to this inscription. “I remember tumultuous moments between the defenders of the two visions. Those who disagreed and felt like they were being dispossessed of what belonged to them and represented their identity. And those who saw a possibility of opening, of development, of financing”, she remembers.
“Heritage status on a global scale”
The result of around ten years of work driven by the lawyer Félix Cotellon – also the creator, in 1988, of the Gwoka Festival, in Sainte-Anne (Guadeloupe) – the UNESCO registration was intended to give at Gwoka “a heritage status on a global scale”. “We were convinced of this recognition,” says Marie-Hélèna Laumuno, doctor in contemporary history and member of Fanm Ki Ka1. From September 2013 to March 2014, she was one of those who put together the file, grouped into Lyannaj pou gwoka (Collective for gwoka, Editor's note). “I was responsible for the “definition and identification” cell. We were told, on the day of the announcement, that our file had served as an example. It was our great pride, in addition to the registration! We hadn't worked for nothing, or for nothing. »
“Heritage element”
Long despised and commonly considered a “biten a nèg” (literally, in Creole, “a nigger thing”, Editor's note), the Gwoka was re-appropriated by the population at the end of the 1960s thanks to the “Masters-Ka », the most famous of which is Marcel Lollia, nicknamed Vélo. “When I heard the news, my first thought was for the elders who sacrificed themselves without ever being recognized,” remembers Max Diakok, dancer and choreographer with the Boukousou company, in Saint-Denis (Ile-de-France). “When I left Guadeloupe in 1990, transmission did not exist… Thanks to those involved in the practice, our Gwoka is now protected. »
“We must also remember that in the 1970s, the nationalist movement was able to reinject this heritage element into hearts and souls,” completes Léna Blou. “Guadeloupeans have reappropriated it to become proud of it. Since the beginning of the 1990s, we have seen a proliferation of schools, associations, léwòz 2. I don't know a town in Guadeloupe where there is no practice of Gwoka.” assures the choreographer, creator of the Techni'Ka 3.
“No significant changes”
A daily companion of Guadeloupeans, the Gwoka resonates as much in festive and secular demonstrations as in social demands movements. But ten years later, what has UNESCO registration brought? “No significant changes” if we are to believe the three ambassadors interviewed. No great visibility hoped for, little financial aid and always the same reluctance on the part of cultural programmers and institutions. “You can count on the fingers of one hand how many times Gwoka has been put on the national stage. We are, on a daily basis, engaged in activist work to raise funds and set up projects,” assures Max Diakok who, at all costs, makes the Gwoka travel beyond borders. “Last July, I was asked for an exchange project with Japan. We had to be six artists to host conferences, workshops and masterclasses. I found myself alone following the withdrawal of a partner”, he regrets.
A valuable heritage, synonymous with sharing and living together, Gwoka can today count on the young generation of musicians who associate it with electronic music or dancehall.
1Musical group, exclusively female, which sings, dances and plays ka.
2 Popular outdoor evening, open to all and free, during which musicians, singer and public form a circle in the middle of which the dancers move.
3 Dance technique.
Related News :