Marcel Lollia

Marcel Lollia, universally known by his artist name 'Vélo', was the undisputed master of the Ka drum and the supreme cultural icon of traditional Guadeloupean Gwoka music.

Playing on the street corners of Pointe-à-Pitre, Vélo transformed Gwoka—historically marginalized and suppressed by colonial authorities—into a celebrated source of national identity and cultural resistance.

His dazzling rhythmic improvisation on the 'makè' drum influenced generations of Caribbean musicians, immortalized by a bronze monument erected in his honor on the Rue Frébault in Pointe-à-Pitre.