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.
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
Eddy Francois
Born in Cap-Haitian, Eddy François is influenced by 80s music and begins his music career as a guitarist and bassist in a choir. In 1988, he joins the Kompa band Superstar Music machine and that following year joins the famous band Boukman Eksperyans that offers a new sound combining traditional rhythms with rock and pop. Eddy François's voice electrifies the band which enjoys phenomenal national and international success with hits like ‘Kèm Pa Sote’, ‘Pwazon Rat’or ‘Se Kreyol Nou Ye’. In 1992, Eddy François is considered ‘Best singer’ in the Caribbean by Rolling Stone magazine.That same year, Boukman Eksperyans got nominated for a Grammy Award. A few years later, Eddy creates his own band Boukan Ginen (Feu d’Afrique) which enjoyed immediate success and received the RFI ‘Prix Découverte’in 1994 for its album ‘Jou a Rive’, then goes on to be on the cover of the New York Times following his performance in Central Park. In the early 00s, Eddy François starts a solo Career and releases an album titled ‘Zinga’ a fusion of soul, blues and traditional music with thoughtful texts. He released a second album ‘Djohu’ in 2008. Ever since, Eddy has kept on pursuing his music career and performed all around the world. Today, he still has an extraordinary stage presence with a powerful voice that carries you down the péristyle. François was a founding member of Boukman Eksperyans.[2] In 1990, he left the band, with two other members to become a front-man of a new band called, Boukan Ginen.[3]
John Steve Brunache
John Steve released his seminal album, Chimen Limyè, in 1994 from New York City, where he moved from Haiti in self-exile due to the risks to him and his family caused by the political nature of his music.
Track List of Chimen Limyè:
"Pa Bliye, Makaya" 05:55
"Yawe" 04:41
"Se Kiyès" 05:29
"Madanm" 05:03
"La Relèv" 04:34
"Chimen Limyè" 05:05
"Timoun Yo" 06:13
"Linyon" 05:12
"You cannot build good on the outside if you don't have it on the inside," Brunache, the mystic poet-singer, whose love affair with Haiti has nearly made him an icon in the Haitian folk music genre.
His philosophical outlook on life is also embedded in his lifestyle. That lifestyle resonates in his lyrics and his melodies. Religion is the first tier of the foundation of Brunache's prose. Brunache says: "I always meditate through yoga before writing." A devout vegetarian, he openly admits to his fascination with religion: Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Voodoo as well as various branches of Christianity. It was these teachings that fed his knowledge of self-enlightenment. "Knowing myself enables me to better understand others," he explains. Brunache so believed in his theory, that in the early 1980s he became a theology student.
The need for artistic expression did not lag far behind. As a child Brunache had a natural inclination for the arts. In the mid-1980s, he enrolled in one of Haiti's most prestigious arts institutions, the National School for the Arts. In Dramatic arts, Brunache became a composer, producer and a self-taught guitarist.
Poetry is an integral part of his music, Brunache does not sacrifice melodies in his message to the world. Like many Haitians, Brunache a native of Grand-Anse, Haiti's southwest region renowned for its strong political foresight and rebellion, is firmly grounded in his political ideals. Politics first put him in the spotlight of Haiti's social-political and cultural movement, long before big U.S record companies saw fit to invest in cross over racine/roots bands like Boukman Eksperyans. Some would argue that his devotion to preserve this African-based musical tradition came even before notable roots bands like Boukan Ginen, Koudjay, Ram, and Kampech decided to embrace and capitalize on it.
Playing an active role in the Musical Freedom Movement, Brunache and his then newly founded five piece Band Tonm-Tonm (the name of a popular peasant delicacy of Jeremie) "sang for all of Haiti," says Brunache, but wanted to help transform the country to benefit the masses, more specifically, the poor. For this, his popularity rose substantially. So much so that his roots band specializing in a style of music known as "pile", (a double entendre meaning to "step on" as well as "to grind") performed at the Sylvio Cator Stadium, one of Haiti's largest venues. They also performed for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, on the eve of his inauguration.
During the tail-end of the Duvalier regime, one of Tonm Tonm's group members was sentenced and spent two months in Fort Dimanche, a prison notoriously known as Fort La Mort, or "Fort of Death". After his release, he later died. Despite this tragedy, Tonm-Tonm began putting together their first album. But once again political hardship changed their fate. The 1991 coup that ousted Aristide led to turbulent times, even for artists. As fear and violence spread across Haiti, many fled to save their lives. Shortly after, another of the group's members was killed, leaving Brunache and one other member as the sole survivors.
Manno Charlemagne
Joseph Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne (April 14, 1948[2] – December 10, 2017)[3] was a Haitian political folk singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist, political activist and politician. He recorded his political chansons in both French and in Creole. He lived abroad in exile twice, both during the 1980s and again during the years 1991–1994, when the country was ruled by a military junta led by Raoul Cédras.