Akiyo

Born in Guadeloupe in the late 1970s, Akiyo is part of both the history of the Pointe-à-Pitre carnival and that of gwoka, whose group reinterprets the rhythms, drums and popular anchoring to transpose them into a collective form of street life and then stage. Formed as a cultural movement in 1984 under the name Mouvman Kiltirèl Akiyo, Akiyo develops a music based on the polyrythms of gwo ka, Creole chants and a parade energy that links carnival tradition, social protest and identity expression. The collective’s dynamic, carried by a large number of percussionists, singers and leaders, has been built around figures such as Marcel Lollia alias Vélo, Michel Halley, Joël Nankin, Jean-Pierre Coquerel or François Ladrezeau. After its street beginnings, Akiyo creates a stage version in the late 1980s and publishes Mémoires in 1992, then Mouvman in 1993, Dékatman in 1995, A de men pou démen in 1998 and Yè, Jòdi, Dèmen in 2012. Present in Guadeloupe as well as in metropolitan France, Akiyo has also developed exchanges with other groups, notably Carré Manchot, while maintaining an aesthetics centered on percussion, responsorial singing and mas forms.