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Issa El Saieh was born in Petit Goave on February 22, 1919, into a family of Palestinian immigrants becoming a Haitian citizen at the age of twenty-one. He developed a commercial activity as an art dealer in the Haitian capital from 1954. His band became popular in Port-au-Prince in the forties and fifties. His music reflects a mixture of elements of Cuban music and jazz harmonies without losing its Creole essence. Musicians such as Ti Ro Ro and the singer Guy Durosier participated in it. In 1957 he recorded a selection of his songs in Havana. The notes for that album were written by Bebo Valdés. Issa was one of the five Haitian musicians honored at the Lincoln Center on June 27, 1998.