The traditional method

In the music schools, the learning process is very rational and is based on, the written aspect, especially those gwoka methods that have drumming techniques written on tablatures or scores.
The popular and traditional method is based on listening. When in the presence of a singer, you listen to the song, retain how he/she sings it, the way in which he/she places his/her voice, the gestures he/she makes… For the ka drummer, it is the same procedure: you listen to the sound being produced on the drum, you observe the way in which the drum is struck, the placement of the hands, gestures, and then you yourself come and sit on the drum. Someone with a sense of rhythm can become a very good boula overnight. But someone who cannot keep 12 bars, or who loses the tempo, will soon be sent away.

Apprenticeship is also done by establishing contact with the musicians whom you come and sit next to.
In the beginning when I started to penetrate the léwoz environment, one day I [Michel Halley] found myself in the presence of Baguy when I was at Guy Conquèt’s house. We started to play at 9 pm and he forced me to remain at his side until 2 am. There am I, watching him, listening to him, placing my hands, and playing. He did not look at me. When he increased the tempo, I tried to follow, I tried to stick close to him so that I would always be on the same level. My arms and pectoral muscles were hurting, but I had to keep on, that is the way you learn how to play in the léwoz. It is an apprenticeship by imitation almost . Many makès’ gestures are similar.

Makè or boula

Le soloist is the one who is the fastest, and who is the most agile and precise at communicating with the dancer. If the dancer performs a succession of four, six, or eight steps, as a makè when the dancer executes the final step one must be able to anticipate what he/she will do next . The better the marqueur is immediate anticipation, the better he is as a marqueur.
First you are a boula and later you become a marqueur. On the other hand, Vélo was never a boula. All his talent lay in his extraordinary ability to improvise.

The rèpriz and typical rhythmic figures are learnt as you go along and by listening to others. Thus a long period of apprenticeship is necessary before becoming a makè and also a dancer.
In the léwoz, it is the singer and the marqueur who are the soloists. Therefore they must both get along with each other. So sometimes some singers refuse to perform with certain makè , because they play too loudly or for an extended period, and too long to hand over to them or muffle their voices with their drumming.

Folk groups are also a good training ground in the art of the « makè ». Indeed, a marqueur from a folk group will integrate the léwoz environment more easily than someone who has only learnt on the street : e.g. François Ladrezeau (Akiyo ka ).
Most present-day famous marqueurs, such as Aldo Middleton, Yves Thole, Pierre Narouman Armand Archéron, Gérard Pomer… were once members of folk groups as were Vélo, Carnot and Délos (Madame Adeline).
François Ladrezeau (Akiyoka) n'a pas fait ce parcours et a commencé depuis peu à s'adapter aux danseurs.

The gwoka musicians’ families

The families in which one could find a handing down from one generation to the next of gwoka practices have only been seen in the last thirty years. At best, there could have been fathers in the countryside who carried their sons to the léwoz as an "apprentice", but there was never really any direct, voluntary transmission from father to son. Previously, gwoka was an individual affair and was practised by fishermen, taxi men, hairdressers, farmers and rapists …at the time, gwoka was not not appreciated or status-enhancing as far as Guadeloupean society was concerned. Only the folk groups were. In the Geoffroy (Kann'nida group), Blancus (Emmanuel Blancus), or Delos (Henri Delos) families, both parents were involved, but direct descendants were an exception to the rule. It is more as a result of gwoka’s emancipation and the enhancement of its status as a form of music, that the question of family pride in terms of transmission of gwoka practices has evolved.

The "gwoka revolution"

The Gwoka has become increasingly important and has become a social phenomenon, an artistic domain which is referred to in its own right. If the gwoka revolution had not taken place, if this music had been left in its vié nèg ghettos or in the confidentiality of the « léwoz « ,many parents would have refused to be on the same footing as their children who practise the gwoka today.

At present, the gwoka has been accepted by most of the population , parents gladly register their children in a gwoka school to learn an instrument. It is recognised, appreciated, and seems to a natural thing to do. Previously, fathers seldom brought their sons to listen to a léwoz, whether in the town or the countryside.

The gwoka revolution, the nationalist independence movement, the upheavals in the political, identity and cultural spheres during the period 1970 to 1990 has enabled many to see where they are at in relation to the gwoka. Without this, the gwoka would have remained confidential and hidden.
The ka has always embraced three aspects :
- the magic and religious aspects of the music, everything concerning cultural practices which are in the process of being re-discovered. This is particularly true of the léwoz which could have been ritualised a long time ago ;
- The bèlè, the wakes, the spontaneous collective gatherings, the bòdé and party atmosphere ;
- And finally another context where blacks danced to entertain the whites (doudouists). Something along the lines of what Miles Davis used to say, as he did not like to see Louis Armstrong playing because he did too many monkey antics for the whites –he overdid things to amuse his audience.

From the 1970s onwards, people started to position themselves against the viè nèg or doudouist values. And so the values inherent to the gwoka were forged in the 1970s - those related to history, to Africa and everything that goes to make up our Guadelopean identity and which claimed an authentic artistic element –with emblematic figures such as Guy Conquèt and Gérard Lockel.
Guy Conquèt comes from a modest family, but he was one of the first gwoka singers to be surrounded by intellectuals who recognised and appreciated the gwoka as a basis for the political, social, cultural and individual aspects of Guadeloupe.
This approach found an echo with the trade unions, such as UTA (Agricultural Workers’ Union) with Gérard Lockel who at the time only played for the country folk. The theories were rather dogmatic in nature, but they helped to eradicate the vié nèg or trivial approach . The nationalist fibre was very much alive in the hearts of everyone.
It also gave rise to the gwoka movement of the 1970-1980 period –the Akiyo, l'Akademiduka, and Foubap groups were born during this period.

In the areaof craftsmanship, the modern drum-making process with the definition of the technical and aesthetic aspects was introduced by Yves Thôle and Aldo.
With regards to the gwoka, it was no longer necessary to used salvaged objects.
This identity movement surrounding the gwoka and its increasing recognition found its parallel in the teaching and recognition of Creole as a language in its own right.
Nowadays, the gwoka and creole are accepted by all, (both the written and spoken media).
The decade 1980-1990 enabled persons involved in the gwoka to become social actors and to spearhead the Guadeloupeans’ search for their identity fully and completely.