DESCRIPTION:
WOPLAZ is a bele jazz groove written and composed by Gregory Rabess and is the signature song and title of his bele jazz project. This video features a live performance by Gregory Rabess at Word Sound and Power, Anchorage Hotel in May 2012, a fringe event of Dominica’s Jazz n Creole Festival. The backing musicians include members of the band Shades of Green and Kalinago drummer Paulinus Frederick on djembe. Gregory Rabess is a poet, singer, songwriter and musician from the Commonwealth of Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean.

Bèlè is a dance which originated in West Africa. It was brought over to Dominica by Africans during the period of plantation slavery in the 1700s. The main types of bèlè in Dominica presently are bèlè pitjé and bèlè soté, the former being more suave and the latter more upbeat. The dance is accompanied by drumming and singing, typical of the call and response pattern in African music. Jazz is a music genre developed in the USA by African Americans in French creole communities such as New Orleans in Louisiana towards the end of the 1800s. Its roots can be traced to Africa and Europe. Jazz is characterized by expanded chords and improvisation.

The Woplaz bèlè jazz project aims to push the boundaries of bèlè music in Dominica and take bèlè music to new levels. Woplaz is a variation of the Kweyol expression 'wop' or 'wop la', meaning ‘hi or hello, hello there’. Woplaz breathes new life into an old creole greeting and bèlè music; absolutely refreshing. When bèlè meets jazz, it’s a big whoop and shout, it’s WOPLAZ.