Dominica - Caribbean - Guadeloupe - Martinique - France
Bouyon Music: The Sound Born in Dominica That Makes the Antilles Dance
Bouyon is a music genre created in Dominica in the late 1980s. An explosive mix of jing ping, cadence-lypso, zouk and traditional rhythms, driven by keyboards and electronic bass. This site is the French-speaking gateway to bouyon: its history, its artists, its dances and its best playlists.
A Bouyon Shattaz site, a bouyon media outlet rooted in the origin: Dominica.
What is bouyon music?
The word bouyon comes from Antillean Creole and means a soup, a gumbo: a dish where everything mixes together. Bouyon music does exactly the same thing. It mixes jing ping (Dominica's traditional music, with accordion and lapo kabwit drums), cadence-lypso, traditional dances like bele, quadrille and chante mas, with mazurka, zouk and other Caribbean sounds. On top of that, producers add electronic keyboards, drum machines and very fast synthetic bass.
The result: a fast, raw sound built for dancing and for carnival. In Guadeloupe and Martinique, bouyon is also called jump up. Today, bouyon music goes far beyond the Caribbean: it lives in Gwada, Martinique, French Guiana, Paris and across the whole diaspora, with forms like bouyon soca, bouyon gwada and shatta bouyon.
Bouyon in 5 facts
- Origin: Roseau, Dominica, in the late 1980s.
- Creators: the band WCK (Windward Caribbean Kulture), formed in 1988, with Roots, Stems and Branches (RSB) and First Serenade among the original groups.
- Ingredients: jing ping, cadence-lypso, bele, quadrille, chante mas, lapo kabwit, mazurka and zouk.
- Instruments: bele drum, lapo kabwit, shak shak, accordion, rhythm guitar, keyboards and drums.
- Also called: jump up in Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Where to start
History of bouyon
From Dominica in 1988 to the stages of Paris: how WCK created bouyon and how the genre crossed the French Antilles.
Bouyon artists
The pioneers WCK, RSB and First Serenade, Bouyon Boss Asa Bantan, and the new generation followed by Bouyon Shattaz.
Bouyon playlist 2026
The Bouyon Road Mix by Bouyon Shattaz on Spotify and YouTube: new bouyon releases, bouyon soca and carnival classics.
Bouyon dance
Bouyon is lived through dancing. The steps, the energy of the fetes and carnivals, and why every new riddim launches its own dance.
The styles of bouyon
| Style | What it is |
|---|---|
| Classic bouyon | The original sound of Dominica: live bands, jing ping and cadence-lypso pushed by keyboards, made for carnival. |
| Bouyon soca | The fusion of the bouyon rhythm with the energy and the codes of Trinidad soca. Very popular in Saint Lucia, Antigua, Guadeloupe and Martinique. |
| Bouyon gwada | The hardcore branch born from collaborations between Dominica and Guadeloupe, two lands that share Antillean Creole. |
| Shatta bouyon | The modern bouyon of Antillean producers and the French scene, built for social media and the clubs. |
| Bouyon-muffin and reketeng | The branches influenced by dancehall and ragga, with raggamuffin-style vocals over bouyon riddims. |
Explore bouyon by topic
BouyonMusique.com covers the whole bouyon universe in more than 70 pages: every style, every territory, every artist and every craft of the genre has its own dedicated page.
Styles of bouyon
Bouyon soca, bouyon gwada, shatta bouyon, jump up, old school bouyon, gospel bouyon, modern bouyon.
Bouyon by country
Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, France, Paris, French Guiana, Saint-Martin, diaspora.
Bouyon production
Bouyon drum kit, bouyon type beat, bouyon riddim, make a bouyon beat, bouyon producers, bouyon remix.
Listen and discover
Bouyon mix, bouyon songs, new bouyon 2026, shatta playlist, the best of bouyon, bouyon music 2026.
Bouyon guides
What is bouyon, origin of bouyon, bouyon vs soca, bouyon vs zouk, instruments, jing ping, cadence-lypso.
See the full site map: every bouyon topic
Why this site exists
Bouyon was born in Dominica, a small English-speaking island in the Caribbean. But it is often elsewhere, and above all in the French Antilles and in France, that the genre makes its money today: certifications, distribution, stages. BouyonMusique.com is published by Bouyon Shattaz, the media outlet that documents bouyon from its Dominican origin. Our line is simple: the sound stays organic, original and real, and the credit goes back to Dominica.
Follow bouyon news daily on Instagram: @bouyonshattaz.