Maroon Music

Suriname knows many types of music and some are inflected with sounds from Suriname’s former inhabitants and their cultural backgrounds, especially the Maroons.

Some of the Maroon music styles in Suriname are Kaseko, Kawina and Aleke among others.

Kaseko (kah-sih-koh) is the first style that became popular after the Emancipation of Slavery. The former enslaved learned to play instruments and used those instruments to interpret traditional music.

Kawina (Kah-wee-nah) is traditionally a song and drum only type of music. The lyrics are oftentimes interwoven with religious themes, love themes, life experience themes and sometimes even bits of slavery times. Nowadays it is widely played at celebrations with typical Surinamese drums.

Aleke (ah-lih-kih) is basically a Maroon traditional music with a faster rhythm. It was inspired by a foreign worker and musician, Alexander in the fifties. From that time the Aleke has developed and is now one of the most popular music forms in Suriname, especially in the interior. The name Aleke is in fact a direct reference to Alexander, who was called Aleke by the locals.

Except the above mentioned types of music, there is a lot more when it comes to Maroon music. from the local artists. 

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