“Le Francais dans la rue”

Abstract

Perhaps typically for the complex migratory patterns found in global culture these days, my way into contemporary Creole music in the Caribbean began in Paris. In the course of my work on African immigrants there, I have become increasingly aware of the Caribbean presence in Paris, a presence exemplified by zouk music and the successful career of the Paris-based group Kassav’, by the Creole cultures of Haiti, Martinique, and Guadeloupe; and by the musical influence and reciprocity among African and Caribbean francophone cultures. No examination of the unique immigrant musical culture of contemporary Paris can afford to ignore its présence antillaise.