BLUES FOR HAITI
Celebrating beautiful music made in a once revolutionary Caribbean nation now beset by turmoil and suffering
Haitian Carnival celebrations in happier days.
How’s this for a despairing question: where are the world’s worst places to live?
Surely top of the list right now is Gaza while Israel continues to wage its genocidal war. Second would be Sudan, where a barbaric militia funded by the UAE have turned an attempted coup (against their former military dictator pals) into ethnic cleansing and mass murder. Life in Ukraine, as Russia constantly bombs and pushes ground troop surges, involves living with the constant threat of death and destruction. Tigray and Congo are fraught with unfinished conflicts and myriad problems. Being Uyghur or Tibetan in China must be an often terrifying, always stressful experience. And then there is Haiti: while not at “war” or persecuted by draconian politicians, life in Haiti is, surely, hell on earth.
I’m guessing all my readers are, to varying degrees, aware how, following the bizarre 2021 assassination of Haiti’s President Moise (by a group of 28 foreign mercenaries), the Antilles nation has descended into a failed state. Today heavily armed gangs operating out of Port-au-Prince have filled the power vacuum and, with the rule of law having disintegrated, they rob-kidnap-rape-murder at will . Not that Haiti was in any sense a stable, functioning state under Moise (and his predecessors).
Haiti, long the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, has never known a time of genuine stability since the territory’s African slaves won their independence from France in 1804 by outwitting and out-fighting the nation then Europe’s most powerful. France had made greater profits from Saint-Domingue – as they then called the slave state - than any other territory in its dominion and treated the African slaves forced to labour here with such savagery that the majority would die after only three years: the Haitian slave rebellion saw France rescind slavery in 1794, only for Napoleon to reinstate slavery in 1802: it was, he determined, too profitable to discard. Not that this worked in France’s favour – realising they couldn’t quash the Haitian uprising, the French government hit the free state with such huge debts it ensured Haiti would be forever impoverished.
1932 horror movie White Zombie (starring Bela Lugosi) popularised Haitian voodoo/zombies (from ‘zonbi’ in Krule) in the Western imagination. Its based loosely on The Magic Island, a bestselling 1929 “ethnographic” treatise on Haitian voodoo. Book and film both traded in racial stereotyping of Haitians and portraying African spiritual practises as Satanic “black magic” – almost a century on these crude parodies continue to widely persist.
Heralded as the first slave state to free itself and the first Black republic, Haiti never enjoyed the opportunity to determine its future with France, Britain and Spain all intent on destabilising the nascent state before US interests ensured Haitians would endure a hellish 20th Century. No matter how fractured Haiti’s existence has been, right now life for ordinary Haitians is likely worse than at any time since slavery days.
Having long relied on NGOs to provide the impoverished populace with food and medicine, the descent into murderous chaos has seen many aid organisations remove their workers. This only compounds a lack of food, drinking water, electricity and health care – alongside the constant fear of violent crime – ensuring Haitians, especially those in Port-au-Prince, exist in terror, desperate in every sense (outbreaks of cholera and other diseases have afflicted the poorest citizens).
Haiti’s brutal, unstable history is scarred by military coups and brutal authoritarian leaders, none worse than the Duvalier regime who ruled from 1957 – 1986. Papa Doc Duvalier was a murderous tyrant who terrorised his people in a manner akin to Stalin, murdering tens of thousands and employing references to vodou (voodoo) as a way of ensuring the largely illiterate populace remained cowed.
A sequined drapo flag, depicting the vèvè symbol of the lwa Loko Atison; these symbols play an important role in Vodou ritual.
He and his successor (his son Baby Doc) looted the aid the US provided – Duvalier playing up his “anti-communist” credentials to receive such – so financing both their murderous Tonton Macoute enforcers and enriching themselves (while impoverishing the nation). Since a military coup overthrew Baby Doc there have been myriad leaders, none of them occupying the presidency for long and all – including Jean-Bertrand Astride (three times President, three times overthrown) – seriously flawed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hxz5c1
The BBC podcast Real Dictators has 2 episodes on the Duvaliers and how they wreaked hell on Haiti. Very informative if extremely disturbing listening.
If Haiti’s history is one of constant suffering – the 2010 earthquake killed between 160,000 – 300,000 and left many more injured (and over 1.2 million homeless) – the people of Haiti have shown remarkable resilience in arts and culture. That most people outside Haiti think only of the island as a hotbed of “voodoo” – essentially, West African religious beliefs/practises that survived the Atlantic passage but, via Hollywood, turned into a cartoonish dark art that can raise the dead and turn the living into zombies – reflects on how binding/blinding stereotypes are (and how little interest we show in looking beyond such).
Maya Deren (1917 – 1961) was a Ukrainian born, US based experimental film maker whose fascination with Haiti saw her send considerable time there via a Guggenheim grant. She won the confidence of locals so was able to film vodou ceremonies, the footage of which resulted in the posthumous documentary feature (above) Divine Horsemen: the Living Gods of Haiti. There’s also a 1953 Elektra 10-inch LP Voices Of Haiti consisting of Deren’s field recordings.
I’ve been interested in Haiti since I first started reading about the wider world. As with my childhood interests in Mexico and Guatemala, Albania and Romania, Sicily and Borneo, Cuba and Mozambique, I imagine it was growing up in an Auckland suburb offering only churches and rugby (no cinemas or libraries, let alone art spaces/venues) which ensured I was fascinated by places that appeared to exist in absolute contrast. Leaving NZ in 1990, I headed to the US and travelled to Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba, but never got to Haiti. Today I doubt I ever will.
Back then I’d never heard Haitian music and I wouldn’t until, settled in London, I gained access to music from marginalised nations (via buying CDs when Sterns African Music and Tower Records stocked such – the “world music” boom allowed for a vast smorgasbord of recordings from across the globe to be released). That it was love on first listen wasn’t a huge surprise – music made in Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad already enchanted me – and I continue to lend my ears to Haitian music. This noted, I’m rarely up on new releases or aware of the vast spectrum of music made in Haiti and by the diaspora in the US, Cuba, Canada, France, Dominican Republic etc.
What spell does Haitian music cast on my ears? Creole (or ‘Krule’ in Haitian) music from across the Caribbean (and in north and south America + Cape Verde) displays a dynamic mix of African polyrhythms and warm melodies – delicious music. Beautiful voices and expressive, intriguing arrangements. Umm, I’m running out of adjectives and sounding very dull… Put simply: Haitians make radiant, enchanting music. Paradoxically, for a nation noted for violence and suffering, the music is gentle in approach and often conveys (to my ears) a sense of joy.
Jean-Michel Basquiat had a Haitian father - this noted, he was raised in Brooklyn’s affluent Park Slope neighbourhood (so not part of the diaspora). This image he painted of Toussaint Louverture, Haiti’s Black liberator, shows he had some interest in his ancestry.
With all media reporting on Haiti focusing on the terror and torment the people trapped there endure daily, I’ve paying tribute to the Haitian people who, against such extreme odds, create beauty even though they are surrounded by wretched human behaviour. I’ve provided Youtube links and simple bio’s for a selection of artists I enjoy. That they made – and make – magnificent music is worth celebrating and sharing. Rather than wittering on trying to describe the Haitian styles of ‘merengue’, ‘compas, ‘raisin’ and such I’ll let you enjoy the music. If these sounds enchant you – and I hope they do - then do your own research – from Wikipedia onwards the info’ is out there.
I called this post Blues For Haiti so to emphasise the extreme suffering Haiti’s people are enduring yet, paradoxically, no Haitian music that I’m aware of has the sombre, bleak tone found in certain African American blues and jazz compositions. Haitian music is, for the most part, designed to get people dancing and upbeat in spirit. I wonder if the influence of European music marked US blues/jazz with a sense of profound melancholy/despair? Any musicologists out there who might share their understanding of such?
OK, here’s a Haitian fab’ 5 to get you started!
Boukman Eksperyans
The only Haitian musicians I’ve seen perform were Boukman Eksperyans (Experience) at a club north of Kings Cross Station in the late-1990s. They were billed as “voodoo rock” and had released two albums on Mango (an Island Records subsidiary). These are good albums that mix the Haitian compas music style with other influences – not much ‘rock’ in their sound (thankfully). They never broke big but Boukman reached a wider audience than any previous Haitian artist. Looking them up on Wikipedia I see the band still exist – surely based in the US – and played support to Arcade Fire on their 2022 arena tour. Kudos to the bombastic Canadian band for presenting their audiences with Boukman Eksperyans.
Toto Bissainthe
I first heard Toto Bissainthe via three songs she contributed to the CD Haiti that World Network released in the late 1990s. I didn’t know it then but Toto had died in 1994 (aged 60) after living a remarkable life. She left Haiti to study acting in Paris in the early 1950s, her talent soon sought out by Jean Genet and Samuel Beckett. There she also impressed singing Haitian folk songs. This led to her recording in France and performing across Europe before she returned to Haiti in 1986, believing the end of the Duvalier dictatorship would usher in a new era. Disillusioned by what she experienced, depression and alcoholism led to her premature death.
Ti-Coca
Toto’s Haiti CD was shared with Ti-Coca, a fine singer whose quintet Ouanga Negures play a warm, melodic accordion led music. Its not too dissimilar to Louisiana’s zydeco and Brazil’s foro – all these musics involving accordion-led bands featuring musicians descended from West African slaves. Beyond the ten tracks on the Haiti CD I’ve struggled to find more music by him (or much news – it appears he was performing as recently as 2021 and would now be 72). This tune here is Twa Fey, which opens the CD and is a gorgeous slice of Haitian merengue – the Latin Caribbean music style both the Dominican Republic and Haiti claim to have created.
Erol Josue
Erol Josue’s CD Peleri-Naj was released in the UK last year, some three years after it came out in France. I was offered an interview with Josue and, due to my interest in Haiti, I approached several broadsheets with the idea of a feature on a cultured Haitian artist who can offer observations on his nation’s slide into chaos alongside thoughts on “vodou” (he being initiated in the religion). Predictably and sadly, none took me up on it (which is what led me to set up Yakety Yak – if you are a subscriber thank you for the support. Posts like this do take time to research and write). I did find an interview with Josue – link to it below. And his album is good, if a little overblown (akin to when the likes of Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour recorded in the West in the 1980s). As its available and comes with notes on what the songs are about, I recommend you purchase it.
+ interview https://www.songlines.co.uk/features/erol-josue-interview-i-wanted-to-participate-in-the-reconstruction-of-haiti-s-national-heritage-i-needed-to-be-there
Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray
Now this is a really interesting collaboration between Haitian band Lakou Mizik – who are led by Sanba Zao, a musician/poet who played a central role in Haiti’s rasin (roots) movement of the 1980s (which produced Boukman and RAM – another Haitian band with some international presence) – and Joseph Ray, a US electronic musician who arrived in Port-au-Prince to teach music technology and went on to work with Mizik. Together they sought to re-imagine traditional Haitian vodou music through radical experimentation with modern instruments. The above video is, I think, shot at a street festival during Carnival where Rara processions involve the brightly painted dancers. They remind me of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians – another fascinating Kreole music fusion. The song is called Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen) – I’d love to know what they are singing about (and what the dancers are celebrating - likely a saint with lots of vodou thrown in the mix).
If you are an aficionado of conga drums then check out The Best of Tiroro: The Greatest Drummer In Haiti (Rice Records). This CD consists of recordings made by Tiroro from the 1940s onwards as compiled by Toyo Nakamura, a Japanese music writer who visited Tiroro in Port-au-Prince in 1965. Pure conga, nothing else.
There are several superb compilations of pre-digital Haitian music available – I highly recommend Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, 1960 - 1978 (Strut)
and
Tanbou Toujoulou: Vodou Jazz, Meringue, Kompa Kreyol, Electric Folklore (Ostinator Records)
Both are also available on CD/LP and provide plenty of remarkable recordings with informative sleeve notes. The late and very great US film director Jonathan Demme was a huge music fan and, in 1989, he compiled Konbit (Burning Rhythms Of Haiti), an album that was widely distributed at the time – it features The Neville Brothers on a couple of tracks (New Orleans having historic connections with Haiti and Demme, I imagine, thinking TNB’s involvement would bring in listeners), although their efforts are inessential. Anyway, the album is long deleted – if easily findable on Discogs – and is on Youtube in its entirety if you wish to listen:
Moonlight Benjamin and Melissa Laveaux are contemporary Haitian singers based in Belgium and Canada and making interesting fusions of compas and rock. Lots of classic Haitian meringue big bands were based in the US – their albums are now popular with crate diggers (yet little has been documented on this era: Haitian music is sadly underrepresented when you consider the attention Cuban/Jamaican/ Trinidadian has received) – while contemporary US Haitian music is now on many streaming services.
For an update on today’s Haitian-US music scene I turned to my Boston-based pal Noah Schaffer – Noah’s a fine journalist who regularly seeks out Caribbean music on the US East Coast. and he provided a link to his Boston Globe feature on Haitian music around Boston: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/11/23/arts/during-thanksgiving-week-bounty-haitian-music/)
Noah also generously contributed the following:
“Haitian music, yes, there is a LOT of kompas here, both on the streets (I hear it coming from cars constantly as Everett, the classic blue collar New England city that we live in, has a large Haitian community) and live. As you can imagine most of the bands have relocated to Florida or NYC so they tour up and down the East Coast (Montreal to Florida) all year. These are fairly large bands (10-12 pieces) and the tickets are usually $30-$50, and the shows are always rammed. Haitian diaspora culture really revolves around supporting live music in a way that doesn't seem to be the case with other Caribbean communities where reggae and soca acts just play to tracks and turnout can vary from gig to gig. Generally these are party bands with not much topical content -- I imagine it's a way for the Haitian community to escape the horrors they hear from their relatives back home.
“I wrote a story 18 months ago about how the worse things get in Haiti the more Haitian music is heard in Boston, and unfortunately things have managed to get far worse than I could have imagined when I wrote that story.
“The kompas bands play to 20-40 year olds wearing street gear. The two great big bands still come here a few times a year: Tropicana d'Haiti and Orchestre Septentrional. They attract a much older and dapper crowd who dance the night away. Someone made a doc about Orchestre Septentrional a decade ago but as is often the case with public TV docs now it is totally unavailable”
Thanks Noah!
A rarely seen Basquiat painting riffing on both Haiti and Alfred Dreyfuss being victims of a corrupt, racist French ruling class.
HAITIAN MUSIC’S HALL OF SHAME
After praising Haitian musicians I must note that certain musicians have served Haiti shoddily – Sweet Mickey (Michel Martelly), a popular compas singer, used his fame to win election to President (2011 – 2016). While in power he did little to improve the situation of poor Haitians while enriching himself and his circle. Wyclef Jean – who was born in Haiti but raised in the US – was honoured by Martelly and wanted to run for President (but disqualified due to not having lived in Haiti for the past five years). Jean did lots of celebrity fundraising for the victims of the 2010 earthquake and then seemingly spent most of the funds raised (some $16 million) not on helping the world’s poorest, disenfranchised people but on his own lavish, luxury lifestyle. How pathetic and mean can one multi-millionaire be? If you are Wyclef Jean then the answer is extremely so… what an asshole!
Judging Wyclef alongside Pras Michel - found guilty of assisting a Malaysian fraudster’s attempts to escape justice - and Lauryn Hill’s reputation as the diva-from-hell (+serving time for tax evasion), is it fair to say The Fugees might be described as the most obnoxious rap group ever? I know, its a crowded category but not even the worst behaviour of members of PE or NWA quite matches The Fugees’ – already winners of World’s Luckiest Karaoke Band award - for greed, arrogance and self-delusion. Poor Haiti, the beleaguered nation finds its wealthiest son willingly exploiting its suffering… deep blues indeed.