Soca News announces the upcoming publication of Creole Music of the French West Indies: A Discography, 1900‑1959 by Alain Boulanger, John Cowley, and Marc Monneraye. This book will be released on October 30, 2014.

Dedicated students of the history of Trinidad Carnival will probably have on their bookshelves a treasured copy of Carnival, Canboulay and Calypso by John Cowley. Published in 1996 by Cambridge University Press, it is the authoritative work on carnival from the 1780s up to 1920, much of it based on contemporary reports.

It is exciting, then, to hear that Cowley has contributed to a major new work, which will be published in English and French on 15th November.

As it title indicates, Creole Music of the French West Indies: a Discography, 1900‑1959 looks at the musical traditions of the French Caribbean islands. It includes Cowley’s essay ‘Mascarade, biguine and the bal nègre’, which traces the music from its origins in the French Antilles to the upsurge in the genre’s popularity in Paris after the Exposition Coloniale in 1931. Biguine took firm root in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, and somehow survived the town’s obliteration in the eruption of Mont Pelée in 1902 – arguably the most destructive volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Between the wars, biguine became popular in Parisian nightclubs and featured in many recordings of the era. [. . .]

For full article, see http://www.socanews.com/articles/article.php?New-book-on-Creole-music-992

For purchasing information, see http://www.bear-family.com/alain-boulanger-john-cowley-und-marc-monneraye-creole-music-of-the-french-west-indies-a-discography-1900-1959.html and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creole-French-Indies-Discography-1900-1959/dp/3899167058