The community of Belle Vue in north Vieux Fort proudly boasts of being the culture capital of Saint Lucia and with good reason. Belle Vue has produced numerous cultural icons like the late Rameau Poleon and Patrick Gilo Benjamin, as well as the 2024 Groovy Monarch Sly. Traditional songs and dance are also vibrant within the community and form part of most celebrations.
Recently, Belle Vue, one of two host communities for this year’s Jounen Kwéyòl, celebrated one of their cultural sons of the soil, the singer, musician, and lyricist Gregory Sinaise. The celebration formed part of Belle Vue’s launch of activities for Kwéyòl Heritage Month.
Gregory Sinaise is a well-known cultural and Kwéyòl heritage activist and is respected throughout the community. A staple performer at numerous cultural events across Saint Lucia and the French diaspora, Sinaise also participated in the annual Kwéyòl Song Competition for a number of years, winning in 2014 and 2015.
The 60-year-old Sinaise, whose Lakouyante is one of the most popular Zouk/Cadasse songs, spoke to St. Lucia Times about being honoured by the community, among other things.
“To be honest it felt like I was receiving one of these big time international awards and I must say this was one of the best feelings of my career so far and for the year,” Sinaise says.
Sinaise says he is proud to be from Belle Vue and to have come from a long lineage of musicians and persons involved in music, including bands like African Roots, Solutions and Mistè Lokal.
“My grandfather was the bass man for Rameau Poleon and I grew up with these people, my grandmother used to sing the La Rose songs, so I grew up with the culture and music around me in the house,” he explains.
“So you can say it is something I inherited, it is not something I went out to learn, I inherited music.”
After performing with various bands for a number of years, Gregory Sinaise decided to record his first song in late 1999 to add to his repertoire of performance songs. That first song was Lacouyonte, and instantly became a national hit. He has since recorded many others including May Qui Sa Vray, Soukou, and Ti Question. His music is heavily influenced by indigenous rhythms, Cadasse from the French diaspora, and sang entirely in Kwéyòl.
Sinaise tells St. Lucia Times that the Kwéyòl language is very dear to him.
“This is important to me as this language is who we are, it is part of us and while some people may sing songs mixed up with a little English that is not me. I believe that if you are singing a Kwéyòl song it should be strictly in Kwéyòl and that’s just my take.”
Sinaise believes that it is important for Saint Lucians to embrace their culture and Kwéyòl and supports the teaching of the language in schools.
“When you look at it, we are supposed to be bi-lingual English and Kwéyòl right, so why only teach English at schools?” he put forward.
“So I think we should teach Kwéyòl at all schools and even things like the Kwéyòl dictionary and books should be more readily available.”
Gregory Sinaise says he will continue to play his part in spreading the culture and the language with the hope of influencing the next proponents of culture, not just in his community but in Saint Lucia. He is looking forward to being a part of Kwéyòl Heritage Month activities in Belle Vue this year.
“I am also working on a complete album, recording some more songs and although the date is not finalised as yet, I will be performing in Guadeloupe soon,” he reveals.
The two-time winner of the Kwéyòl Song Competition says he will be participating in the event again this year, which takes place at the National Cultural Centre on October 11.
However, he says this may very well be his last year at the competition but certainly not the last year of his recording and releasing music.
