Adieu foulards, adieu madras (modern rendition) feat. Manuela Pioche, Alain Jean-Marie from L'album d'or de la biguine (Guadeloupe musique d'autrefois), ℗ Harry Celini

Between 1700 and 1750 over a million enslaved West Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas. Their tastes created new markets for Indian checked cottons in the Greater Caribbean region.

As early as 1749, trade records show that merchants had begun commissioning Pulicat checked handkerchiefs for Caribbean sale. By the early 1770s French-Caribbean sales notices confirm Madras handkerchiefs were also becoming popular in the region. One of the earliest Caribbean references to Madras handkerchiefs is a folk song entitled Adieu Foulard, Adieu Madras. The lyrics of the song vary but all tell the story of a woman parted from her lover and the clothes associated with their romance, including Madras. The original lyrics are believed to have been written in Guadeloupe around 1769.

Related Database Records

Entry no. 59: Record of the Caribbean oral histories related to Madras handkerchief