I don't know much about the music of the Antilles -- the islands of Guadeloup, Martinique -- other than from a few albums I've stumbled across... It's a pretty rich tradition, though... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Various Artists "BIGUINE A LA CANNE A SUCRE: 1946-1949" (Fremeaux & Associes, 1996)
The perky, irrepressibly cheerful rhythms of the beguine are explored in rich detail in this set of post-WWII recordings, made by several bands that clustered around the La Canne A Sucre nightclub, on the Antillean island of Martinique. The groups included Sam Castendet's and Denis Ancedy's "orchestras" (neither actually had more than eight members on any of these recordings), as well as the Orchestre Typique Antillais L'Exotique Jazz, all of which shared overlapping memberships. A female vocalist, Moune de Rivel, lights up several songs with Ancedy's band; she had been a teenage star in 1930s prewar Paris, back when the beguine was still in vogue in Europe. The liner notes include tantalizing pictures of other female singers such as Jenny Alpha and Marthe Alessandrini (who are not included on this compilation) -- another entire Fremeaux disc is devoted Sam Castendet, as well as one to bandleader Pierre Louiss, who also performed at the club in the 1940s. The music on this collection is alternately exhilarating and slightly monotonous and rough... It's fast-paced, virtuosic and unrelenting. All in all, though, it's a cool set, worth checking out if you want to explore the roots of Antillean popular music.

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