Favorite
Artists
Emeline Michel
Emeline Michel, born in Gonaïves, is a Haitian singer who has been called "The Joni Mitchell of Haiti." Her songs merge native Haitian compas and rara music with jazz, pop, bossa nova, and samba. She is a well accomplished dancer, versatile vocalist, songwriter and producer. She sang a version of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" at Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief.
D.P. Express
D.P. Express is a Haitian musical group known for their contributions to the Haitian music scene, with notable lead singers like Hervé Bleus and Antoine "Ti Manno" Jean-Baptiste.
D.P. Express played a significant role in shaping the contemporary musical landscape of Haiti, contributing to the genesis of today's vibrant scene.
T-Vice
Roberto and Reynaldo Martino, the sons of renowned Haitian lead guitarist Robert Martino of the classic compas band, Top Vice, were musically inspired by them to create music of their own. In 1992, T-Vice was founded as a successor to Top Vice, in which the T- is shortened twice, once from Ti', then ultimately from the word petit, which is French (as well as Creole) for "small" (hence "Small" Vice).[6][7] They soon recruited longtime friends James Cardozo and Gérald Kébreau completing the original quartet and are still known as such today.
T-Vice band is based in Miami, Fl. It was formed in 1991. Musical influences include reggae, merengue, flamenco and rock n’ roll. Unlike most Haitian bands, T-Vice's reach extends outside of Haiti to as far as the US, Caribbean and even Europe. T-Vice collaborates with other popular Haitian bands, most notably, Carimi and even their rival band Djakout Mizik. They have also worked with the famous Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean and Jamaican musician Buju Banton.
Michel Martelly
Michel Joseph Martelly[1] (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl ʒɔzɛf maʁteli]; born 12 February 1961[2]) is a Haitian singer and former politician who went on to serve as the President of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. He is from Côte-de-fer, a commune located in the South East region of Haiti. Martelly was one of Haiti's best-known musicians for over a decade, going by the stage name Sweet Micky. For business and musical reasons, Martelly has moved a number of times between the United States and Haiti. When travelling to the United States, Martelly mostly stays in Florida. After his presidency, Martelly returned to his former band (Sweet Micky) and sung a carnival meringue entitled Bal Bannan nan (Give her the banana), a message as a response to Liliane Pierre Paul, a famous Haitian female journalist in Port-au-prince
Carole Demesmin
Today, Carole Demesmin is an older lady singer and a powerful Vodou priestess, or a manbo. She now mostly sits and only sometimes comments instead of being the cultural doer that she once was. She tells her memories. Before it, she was a socially and politically conscious young woman in bright colors on a vinyl cover. She sang Vodou culture songs that some in Haiti, who preferred to mimic European culture, shunned. She also sang songs about the tribulations of the country’s poor. She was a singer seen on television and heard on the radio who time and time again fed Haitian life with her a love of selfhood. As a token of their gratitude, Haitians have declared her a legend.
Carole Demesmin was at first a middle class Haitian girl from Leogane who had moved to the United States who knew very little if nothing at all about Vodou. Leogane is a city known for its Rara bands; pre-columbian culture marching bands heavily steeped in Vodou that still exist today. Regardless, she was not aware of it. She learned of Vodou in the United States, as many Haitians do. Inspired, she went on to release the majestic album Carole Maroule in 1979.
Carole Demesmin – Carole Maroule
She moved back to Haiti in the early 1980’s and became one of the great singers of her people’s struggle, a people who would overthrow a dictator in 1986, a people who would be massacred by its own army in the early 1990’s and who would know a bittersweet version of democracy that would send it into a disastrous tailspin that still affects Haiti today. As things turned sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst, she became a priestess of Vodou religion and released the albums Min Rara, Lawouze, and Kongayiti-Afrika, all to signify that we Haitians are Africans in the New World who want respect.
Her commitment to Vodou was as correct as it is beautifully expressed. No human being should be obliged to believe in a specific God or in one God. We human beings have not been successful at upholding that as a human right. Christian institutions, descendants of Roman Christianity and always close to political and social power, has done a lot of damage to one’s ability to practice another religion with dignity. It forced the polytheist slaves of the Western Hemisphere into an odd form of secrecy; they could not practice their faith in public and so their descendants have taken on similar postures. Her commitment did wonders for Haitian culture and for Haitian song. It imposed itself in public, gladly, without remorse.
Courtesy: Adolf Alzuphar
Sweet Micky
Michel Joseph Martelly[1] (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl ʒɔzɛf maʁteli]; born 12 February 1961[2]) is a Haitian singer and former politician who went on to serve as the President of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. He is from Côte-de-fer, a commune located in the South East region of Haiti. Martelly was one of Haiti's best-known musicians for over a decade, going by the stage name Sweet Micky. For business and musical reasons, Martelly has moved a number of times between the United States and Haiti. When travelling to the United States, Martelly mostly stays in Florida. After his presidency, Martelly returned to his former band (Sweet Micky) and sung a carnival meringue entitled Bal Bannan nan (Give her the banana), a message as a response to Liliane Pierre Paul, a famous Haitian female journalist in Port-au-prince
Toto Bissainthe
Toto Bissainthe (2, April 1934– 4, June 1994) was a Haitian actress and singer known for her innovative blend of traditional Vodou and rural themes and music with contemporary lyricism and arrangements.[1][2] Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1934, she left Haiti at an early age to pursue her acting studies abroad. Her career started in theatre with the company Les Griots, of which she was a founding member in 1956. Les Griots was at the vanguard of négritude-inspired cultural institutions in France, and was the first African theatre company in Paris and the first to perform of Jean Genet's play "Les Nègres". She also worked with playwright Samuel Beckett, played a co-starring role in Raoul Peck's "L'homme sur les quais", and worked with other directors such as Roger Blin, and performed in several films.
With a groundbreaking performance in 1973 at La vieille grille in Paris, Toto Bissainthe established herself as singer-songwriter-composer, stunning the audience with her soul-stirring renditions of original compositions that paid homage to the lives, struggles, miseries and spirituality of working class and rural Haitians.
The singer and actress Toto Bissainthe was recognized by many as a champion of Haitian music abroad.
An artist in exile, Toto Bissainthe will be unable to return to the Haiti that so inspired her until the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986. However, the multiple disappointments of the unending democratic transition and political infighting would forever embitter the outspoken artist, who had long dreamed of a return to help rebuild her motherland. Saddened by Haiti's social and political degradation, Toto Bissainthe's health would enter a downward spiral ending with her death from liver damage on June 4, 1994. The cause was cirrhosis, her family said.
TiCorn
Cornelia Schütt was born in Heiligenberg (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). Two months after her birth, she relocated to Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, where she spent her years growing up.[1] Born to German parents from Berlin, her father Carl Otto Schütt, at the age of 18, joined the family business in Cap-Haïtien that was in operation since 1832 and made frequent trips back and forth from Germany. After returning from an intern camp in the United States after World War II, he returned to Germany and met Corneilia' mother, Ingrid, an educated architect. She moved with him to Haiti to attend the Coffee farm.[5][7] She received her nickname "TiCorn" ("Ti" is a colloquialism of the French word "petite," meaning "little" or "small" - thus "Little Corn[elia]") from her nanny Anna Colo, which she grew up with in Haiti.
Martha Jean-Claude
Martha Jean-Claude (21 March 1919 – 14 November 2001) was a Haitian writer, civil rights activist, entertainer, and composer. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and was well known internationally during her life and could perform in many languages. Her singing career began during the late 1930's and early 1940's. She incorporated Haitian folklore and Voodou lyrics into her performances. She spoke out against Haitian authorities who were exploiting the Haitian people. She was arrested in 1952 during the administration of President Paul Eugene Magloire after publishing her play "Anriette". Officials considered it to be directed toward and against the government at that time. When she was arrested she was pregnant but was released two days before giving birth.
Jean-Claude was exiled to Cuba on 20 December 1952. She was married to Victor Mirabal, a Cuban journalist.[1] Jean-Claude was well-known to the Hispanic communities who admired her talent and activism. She was featured in radio and television broadcasts in Cuba. She appeared in the movie Yambaó (1957) that starred the Cuban-Mexican actress Ninón Sevilla.[1] Cuba has claimed her as a great artist of that country. She became a member of The Cuban Union of Writers and Artists. She performed at many international venues that included: Salle Claude Campagne, Casa de las Américas in Cuba, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Madison Square Garden in New York City, Maison de L'UNESCO in Paris, United Nation Headquarters in New York City, and for the Faculty of Music at Montreal University. She traveled and visited almost all the nations of Central and South America and Angola. She also spoke in Panama against those who violated basic human rights in that country. She wrote and performed political songs. Jean-Claude also appeared in the Cuban film Simparele (1974)[2] directed by Humberto Solás.[1]
Jean-Claude had four children with Mirabal: Linda (an opera singer), Sandra (a musician), Magdalena (a physician living in Cuba), and Richard.[3] Her son Richard Mirabal has served as director of the Martha Jean-Claude Foundation, which promotes cultural ties between Haiti and Cuba.[1]: 143 Her son Richard produced the film Fanm De Zil [Woman of Two Islands] (2000) about her life and work.[1]: 143 [3] Jean-Claude returned to Haiti in 1986. She died in Havana, Cuba on 14 November 2001, aged 82, at her home there.[4][5][3] She has been described as "...one of the most precious jewels Haiti has ever had."[6]
Lumane Casimir
Lumane Casimir was born in 1920, in Gonaïves, Haiti. Her known history began at the age of 13 when a pianist discovered her talents. At 14, she moved to Port-au-Prince with nothing but a guitar, questing her dreams.
It didn't take long for her to sing with some of the famous bands in Haiti. In 1949 she was chosen as the honorary singer to sing at the country's 145th years Independence Celebration in front of thousands of spectators from all over the world.
In 1951, Lumane mysteriously withdrew herself completely from the public's eyes at the height of her career. She went on to live in a tiny room in Port-au-Prince in poverty until she died a couple of years later at the age of only 35 from tuberculosis.
Her repertoire includes some of the most well known patriotic and cultural songs of Haiti, such as "Panama Mwen Tonbe" and "Papa Gede Bèl Gason.”
Lumane Casimir wrote almost all of her songs. Nowadays it is extremely rare to find copies of Lumane Casimir work. Her musics are mostly collected by lover and connoisseurs of classical Haitian Music.