Culture Caraïbes

Quite simply, it's the official website of the Dominican government, with details of how to bring animals onto the island, how to obtain a visa, and public holidays. This website, in English only, should be visited for official information on the island's organizational system. It can be very useful for those wishing to settle in Dominica.

The office overlooks the Old Market, where you'll find all kinds of handcrafted souvenirs made on the island.

Founded in 2003, the Maison du Bèlè's mission is to transmit this typically Martinican musical genre in which a singer leads the music with a voice that carries, while a dialogue develops between the dancers and the tambouyé (drummer). It organizes workshops, conferences, and shows to promote bèlè and to spread itthroughout the Caribbean. The association also carries out the mission of transmitting this local heritage, by bringing together the elders and the rest of the Martinican population.

The library is located in the walls of the Capitol.

This departmental media library, entirely dedicated to the Caribbean world, is a real goldmine for learning more about the Caribbean, its history and the people who left their mark on it. Audio, video and printed documents... The media library has also created the Palé pou sonjé collection, a series of interviews with musicians, veritable oral memories of Guadeloupe. The media library regularly organizes cultural events, the schedule of which is available on our social networks.

Created in 2008, the goal of the Lasotè association is to transmit and safeguard the cultural and cultivation methods of the North Caribbean Mornes. Among the peasants of the North Caribbean, solidarity was the key word for their survival and that of their families. After the abolition of slavery in 1848, the peasants of the North Caribbean found themselves free but with very little financial means. It was impossible to use plows to plow their farms located in sloping areas with little access. To be able to work their fields, they grouped together in companies, with the aim of helping each other and giving each other a hand in solidarity, so that everyone could see their land plowed. This is how the lasotè was born, the name given to the plowing work punctuated by the sound of drums.

All this was done to the sound of precise rhythms that indicated the type of work: the “Gran son”: used to break and degrade the earth; the “Mazon”: a rhythm that allows the earth to be furrowed before starting to plant; the “Riviè léza”: to relax the men after their hard work or to do other menial tasks.

Each type of mutual aid has a different name depending on the work to be done. The main types of help are: “lasotè”, “terrage kaï”, “gragé manioc”, “sciieur de long”, “dansé kako'”.

Beyond the rhythm, lasotè is above all a lesson on mutual aid and solidarity.

The association organizes transmission workshops and visits around this ancient culture.

Created in 1984, the Direction of Cultural Affairs of Martinique is the decentralized service of the Ministry of Culture. It has several missions: to encourage the establishment of cultural infrastructures, to democratize access to culture for all, to develop Martinican heritage, to position Martinique as a major actor of cultural action in the Caribbean area and to make culture a vector of economic growth.