Bélé

Bélé
Bélé
Stylistic origins	West African music
Cultural origins	Late 17th century, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago
Typical instruments	Drum; maracas; triangle; tibwa;
Fusion genres
	Biguine; chouval bwa; compas; Zouk; bouyon; twoubadou;
Other topics
	Music of Martinique; music of Haiti; music of Dominica; music of Saint Lucia;

A bélé is a folk dance and music from Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. It may be the oldest Creole dance of the creole French West Indian Islands, and it strongly reflects influences from African fertility dances. It is performed most commonly during full moon evenings, or sometimes during funeral wakes (Antillean Creole: lavèyé). In Tobago, it is thought to have been performed by women of the planter class at social events in the planters' great houses, and the dress and dance style copied by the enslaved people who worked in or around these houses .

The term bélé also refers to a kind of drum used in some forms of music of Caribbean countries and islands like Dominica, Haiti, Martinique and Saint Lucia.