Cadence rampa


Cadence rampa or simply kadans, is a dance music and modern méringue popularized in the Caribbean by the virtuoso Haitian sax player Webert Sicot in the early 1960s. Cadence rampa was one of the sources of cadence-lypso.

Ethnology

Cadence rampa literally means rampart rhythm.

History

left Nemours Jean-Baptiste compas band and called his music cadence to differentiate it from compas especially when he took it abroad, and so the rivalry between Sicot and Nemours created these names. Raymond had created a new rhythm cadence rampa to counter compas, but it was only in a spirit of competition. The rhythm of cadence rampa was identical to compas except for the addition of the second drum that sounded on every fourth beat.
The Sicot brothers, Maestro Webert Sicot and composer Raymond Sicot are well regarded in the Caribbean for their rigorous harmonic skills, introduced the meringue-cadence to the Caribbean, specifically the French Antilles of Martinique & Guadeloupe around 1962 where it spread to Dominica. From the 60s to the 70s, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Martinique were replete with cadence bands. A few of them were Selecta, La Perfecta, Les Aiglons, Grammacks, Exile One, Les Vikings de Guadeloupe, Abel Zenon et son combo, etc.

Style

Cadence music is characterized by a constant up tempo rhythm, hence the name cadence. Its percussive aspect come from the drum, an accentuated use of cymbals and, to a lesser extent, the high hat plus a distinct beat of the cowbell, tok, to-tok, tok-tok-tok, and a conga drum beating a dash of méringue.