Michel Halley. Composer-songwriter, percussionist (boula, makè and carnival drums).Founding member of the Takouta, Gwo-Siwo, Agouba gwoka groups and the carnival groups Akiyo and Nanm. Has produced records and radio programmes on Guadeloupean traditional music.

"What interested me in gwoka is the instrument itself. As a young boy, I was drawn to the percussion instruments. I used to play on chairs. All types of music always appealed to me. My father played the guitar, but for several reasons I was unable to learn the music. My father is a doctor, my mother a pharmacist, and I am a presenter. I chose my path and imposed myself, but at a certain point, I was rejected by my family. They told me since I had chosen to play the gwoka, I was on my own. However, when some of my projects were successful, many of my relatives congratulated me. I don’t hold a grudge against anyone because many Guadeloupean farmers refused to let their children have the same profession – so they became lawyers or doctors. The contrary of this social phenomenon can also exist. I know lots of young people who at the time had problems with their parents because of their musical choices. It’s the role of the youth to question everything , but this must be done without destroying the roots and traditions that went before them. On the contrary, such traditions should be appreciated . In my umble opinion, I’ve played a small part in this respect, together with others and I’m very happy about this. In the 1970s, the Bob Marley period, many of us adolescents would play with Guy Conquèt. The events of 1968 were not far in coming. I used to frequent the gwoka milieu a lot, the people were bigger than I was. We got together to play. I played with many groups, and spent my adolescence until I was thirty exclusively in this environment of the gwoka and carnival drum. I like the ambiance of multiple musical expression. And today there are two things that I love, playing music and hearing it being played, facilitating its expression

Michel Halley

I have no cause to defend or identity to claim, I don’t have any particular philosophical approach. Recently I heard someone talking about Vélo and Carnot on the radio as being people who defended Guadeloupean valued and identity – an entire approach bequeathing them with a political conscience in relation to their drum playing. I think that is taking things a little too far.
A distinction must be made between those who play, and those who study those who play, those who study the music. Those who make the music and those who analyse it to preserve it or transmit it. Unfortunately, at this level, the positions adopted are quite distinct . Certain people systematically exclude gwoka expressions from the repertoire . it’s always a question of constant opposition between style or the definition of gwoka’s accepted social role according to such and such a person .
For someone like Vélo, whether or not Guadeloupe was independent, colonial or not, white or not white… that wasn’t his problem, it never had been. He was interested in playing, to be able to eat and to sleep, and freely practise (as much as he could) his Ka art form – that’s it.
Carnot was a fisherman. He played the drum in the evening, then he ate, then he went on his rounds , or fishing etc...

The problem of Guadeloupean identity came up about thirty years ago, when the drum and Gwo ka were very much considered to be fundamental elements to be valued and used as a basis for Guadeloupean society to move forward. Some musicians were classified with intellectuals, giving them a role that had never really been theirs.
I have never heard of former Ka musicians haranguing crowds for political or social ends. It is the Drum that strengthened these social and political struggles .
I think things should be left as they are. There are people who played, transmitted their knowledge, and who have enabled gwoka to be what it is in a spontaneous fashion, without making them part of an ideological discourse. They liked it, and that’s it.
I place myself in this trend, at the genesis. But also with my position and training as a social and cultural presenter.

Raising the question of the role of popular music in developing a society such as the one in Guadeloupe, okay, fine. This would presuppose the development of an analysis, to look at gwoka from all aspects. Yet leave people where they are and accept them without mixing up everything. Certainly both sides of the equation must be considered, ; for some time, that’s all you do, play the drum, like Vélo or others. After a while, by talking to other people you realise that there is a meaning and a function behind all this, and that playing the ka must lead to other approaches. It’s not easy to explain what you do while you are doing it. Bob Marley doesn’t have to explain his music. Either you like it or you don’t, it takes you away, makes you change your mood, you claim it. The entire planet claimed Bob Marley,the message was throughout his music; he didn’t explain his music, he just sang it, full stop

Michel Halley (right) with Vélo (center) and Linlin (left), at the time of the Takouta group.

Vélo, Carnot and the others have helped to show the way in terms of Guadeloupean identity, but just leave them be. You must avoid becoming dogmatic, thinking that gwoka is only this and nothing else, always seeking to categorise things. This partisan vision of things excludes people who love gwoka and who don’t necessarily see it as being a cultural, philosophical, social or political phenomenon, but rather just in its simple artistic dimension.
All expressionsand sensibilities must co-exist. For certain people, the gwoka must be this and nothing else. The end result is that at present we find ourselves with a form of gwoka expression that is the same as forty years ago, in Robert Loyson’s era for instance. We haven’t budged an inch. Different musical approaches have come and gone, but some considered that they were not gwoka. They were put aside and now we don’t really know where we are going. If gwoka has to stay as it is right now, then there’s no point improvising, there’s no room left for dreaming. Above all, the artiste must transport you to another world. He is not a soldier subject to a general and his army.
To sum up, I think we should restart the debate on the ‘social role of the drum’, not just of the gwoka, but of drums in general. Speak about the contribution of the Gwoka in our societyby citing Akiyo’s drums or the Kakika litanies of Lukuber Séjor, also going back in time."