Haitian music (classical, folk etc. (guitar works preferred)) s/d

all-knowing AMG lists these dudes as Hawaiian???

(the Pahinui's are very good guitarists, tho)

Three musical accompaniments of Ito's for theatre & film are presented on a handy ?What Next? compilation called Meshes, available from Nonsequitor via Forced Exposure. The couples' stories deserve reading and their music hearing, so i'll just wet the appetite here.

The Barrons used "exploding circuits" to create some of the now famous Forbidden Planet soundtrack. This was done in the '50s before modern analog electronic gear became available, so this was one-off music.
But the Barrons were outdone both in weirdness and one-off-edness by Deren and Ito, Deren participating in various Haitian rituals with the Barrons without their consent it would seem despite it all taking place in their Manhattan apartment at racy '50s parties (for example, Bebe claims her baby was induced by a strange concoction of potions, masked guests and rituals all choreographed by Deren at one such voodoo themed "baby shower").
Ito's soundtracks drew on traditional instruments from various exotic locations, but there was a Haitian focus and a certain pivotal attention to the rituals of Haiti pervasive in Ito's approach to the soundtrack music. Deren's husband Ito later "went swimming in a heavily voodoo-dominated area and came out and died" at age 47, leaving just this soundtrack material and of course (if you're lucky enough to have access to (rental) video of them) the Maya Deren films themselves.

Issa el Saieh

Don't limit your self to compas or roots explore rahrah, a sound similar to cuabn jazz from the forties and fifities.

What makes classical guitarist Amos Coulanges [bold name] any different from your usual tuxedo and bowtie wearing string picker? The 48 year-old Coulanges was born in Haiti, was originally self-taught, and subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology in addition to the more typical Masters degree in Musicology he received from the Sorbonne in Paris. Thus, while Coulanges' precise and nimble fingerwork displays the standard influence of traditional melodic European styles from the 19th and 20th centuries, it also showcases, in an unforced manner, the complex modal scales of Haitian Vodou and other folkloric Caribbean and Hispanic genres from those same time periods. Interested in both bright and melancholy sounds, Coulanges will convey those musical moods and adeptly meld his Creole and academy chops in tonight's program which includes his own works, and compositions by Haitian pioneer Frantz Casseus, Spaniard Emilio Pujol, and Mexican Manuel Ponce.

Also WPFW-Fm 89.3 in Washington D.C. has a Haitian (mostly compas) radio show called Konbit Lakay on saturday nights from 10 p.m. to midnight Eastern time which you might be able to hear at WPFW.org

I haven't heard it but Caribbean Revels on Folkways is a collection of Rara recorded in the streets around Carnival time I think. Boukman E have incorporated rara into their sound.

Djakout Mizik

Saturday night at El Boqueron in Wheaton didn't look promising at first for Haitian combo Djakout Mizik -- or the audience.

After the first song ended, power for the group's instruments and microphones cut out, and Montgomery County's finest were at the door expressing concern that the approximately 250-capacity club had reached its limit. But after 20 minutes, the electricity returned, the establishment stopped admitting patrons, and the seven musicians, crammed together on a small stage, got down to business playing several hours' worth of the joyful music known as konpa.

The news coming out of the band's island nation may be tinged with sadness, but its most popular genre is far from melancholy. In the hands of the 1993-formed Djakout Mizik, 1980s synthesizer meets circus-and-roller-rink keyboard lines on a funky percussive bottom, fleshed out with African-inspired guitar work. Overtop, the vocalist, aided by other band members, dispensed melodic verses and party-friendly raps in Creole about relationships and Haitian culture.

Featuring material from five albums, the group happily interacted with the audience, which sang along loudly as the ensemble stretched out its bouncy compositions with simple grooves and vamps designed to keep people moving. Influenced by reggae, the band tossed in a bit of Bob Marley's "Stir It Up" and a few schmaltzy ballads for slow dancing. Although the insistent, toylike keyboard pings occasionally got tiresome, there usually was enough going on to maintain the excitement level.

-- Steve Kiviat

Does haitian dance music, like the haitian equivalent of calypso, have a name?

Think it's meringue. Pretty raw sounding. There's a good ten minute Bob Marley medley.

this is not the record I bought but it is pretty cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDal0PwQsZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceDLAZqLxVs&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJc6fY82eaA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhqwi14chyw&feature=related
cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH9KNZctgeA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53eIq1EgYng&feature=related
ok enough youtube spamming

This track is really pretty.

Does haitian dance music, like the haitian equivalent of calypso, have a name?

― bamcquern, Monday, April 4, 2011 3:

Not sure about Haitian dance music that sounds like calypso but there is Haitian dance music referred to as compas or konpa. I note that Haitians tend to call it konpa, while Anglo music websites and books call it compas. This is Haitian popular music, so it also has r'n'b influences and pop and rock.

Yeah, all the youtubes are kinds of compas, I think.

(which is a kind of meringue, says wikipedia)

I guess some konpa could sound like calypso.

There's another Haitian style called mizik rasin that Boukman Experyans play. Below is the wiki definition but Boukman also add Marleyesque reggae and funk:

Rasin is a musical movement that began in Haïti in 1987 when musicians began combining elements of traditional Haïtian vodou ceremonical and folkloric music with rock and roll. This style of modern music reaching back to the roots of vodou tradition came to be called mizik rasin ("roots music") in Kreyòl or musique racine in French. In context, the movement is often referred to simply as rasin or racine

Haitian musician Sweet Mickey might become that country's next president. His konpa relies on programmed beats and his own semi-raunchy lyrics and antics.

Haitian guy came by and put his hand on the back of my shoulder: "What are you learning about?" He was happy that I was listening to Haitian youtubes.

Yeah, I looked up some mizik rasin youtubes. This is good but you have to turn it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7udC5hqtqo0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KACqZtRRkPw
This music is awesome! I'm feeling it!

Blacks to me seem to be naturally artistic.

http://www.youtube.com/user/daily19881989#p/u/1/Y3RcGGKa_7Y

What people will say in Youtube comments...

(it is a kind of smooth track with plinky ju ju sounding guitars and horns and singing)

this is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nUDm52P5Ts&feature=channel_video_title

a few disco strings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thhJB9W_RdY&feature=related

there is a part of this song that is like a cross between John Coltrane in Interstellar Space mode and Flight of the Bumblebee

the sax, I mean

the very end reminds me of the sax for "Careless Whisper"

starts out like disco compa. this is really good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt4vTyv3cOU&feature=related

http://www.haitianbeatz.com/board/topic.html?id=6010&p=32622

Just missed Djakout Mizik in Maryland, near W. DC. I like them. Carimi coming to DC in April. NYC and Miami get Haitian shows all the time.

http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-4990-haiti-les-cayes-launching-of-national-carnival-2012-this-sunday-at-2-00-pm.html

I bet this was great

Tabou Combo at the Smithsonian for free tonight. I have been receiving lots of emails about Haitian gigs(involving bands like Carima, T. Vice, Skah Shah and more) in the Washington DC area as well as NYC and Miami. The scene appears to be active even if it gets little to no crossover attention.

Lots of critical comments from Haitians on thhis blogpost re Carnival in Haiti

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/02/music-and-politics-haiti

Among those disappointed was Brothers Posse, whose Carnival tune “Aloral” was the undisputed hit of the season. The song prods Mr Martelly

Then there was RAM, the Vodou-inspired rock band led by Richard Morse. Mr Morse was once close to the president—he visibly supported his campaign and worked in his government—but he resigned his post in December. RAM’s carnival tune is “Men Bwa w”—a phrase that literally means “Here’s your wood”, but according to Mr Morse has multiple connotations. It alludes to the carnival theme, which centered on reforestation (bwa comes from bois, the French word for forest), as well as to Vodou spirits of the forest. Bwa conveys less polite things, too. It is slang for a part of the male anatomy, for example, and also means “baton”, a stick used to beat people. “

Another popular band that didn’t participate was Boukman Eksperyans, a revered “roots” group that was an important motor of the democracy movement. At Carnival, its float was blocked from parading, for unspecified reasons. The title of its tune, another dig at the government for allegedly not keeping loudly made promises, translates to “Shut your mouth”.

City Lore, Center for Traditional Music and Dance, & Ayiti Fasafas
in partnership with St. Francis College present

ONE ISLAND: TWO HOUSES
A Symposium on the Music of Haitian Rara and Dominican Gaga
and their Socio-Political Context

Keynote Address by
DR. ROBERT FARRIS THOMPSON
Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art, Yale University
With a performance by
Nadia Dieudonné and Feet of Rhythm (Haitian Rara)
and Gaga Pa’l Pueblo (Dominican Gaga)

Saturday, October 12th 2013 11AM-7PM
ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE
180 REMSEN STREET, BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY
(doors open at 10AM, concert 6-7PM)

Join us for this one-day educational symposium at St. Francis College featuring a dynamic keynote address by renowned historian of African art Dr. Robert Farris Thompson (11AM) followed by two panel discussions by New York-based Haitian and Dominican scholars, artists, and activists (12:15 and 3PM); lunch, followed by a screening of Miriam Neptune’s documentary film Birthright Crisis on the experience of Dominican-born Haitians (1:30-3PM); plus performances by two of New York’s best traditional Haitian Rara and Dominican Gaga music and dance ensembles (6-7PM).

FREE ADMISSION

http://thetalkhouse.com/features/view/merrill-garbus-haiti

Merrill from Tuneyards visits Haiti and writes about Rara music and more

she seems kind of corny

this is tight though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqEtiqV94O4

Yes she is corny, but I like Haitian rara music.

Then, on March 27, 2013, along with seven other students and Daniel, I embarked on Daniel Brevil Cultural Exchange Trip #2 to Haiti.
"So why are you going to Haiti, some kind of aid thing?"
“No, I'm going to situate myself in a non-western musical tradition.”
Pause.

I know I know, but the point is not to giggle at the prose of Ms. Tuneyards (which is easy to do) but to go to Youtube and elsewhere and find rara music and be wowed by the glorious horns and percussion

Yeah i know i know. I just feel like finally reading that explains to me why her music just doesn't do it for me in spite of seeming to have elements that make it something I should like.

Ha ha. That piece does not exactly make a strong case for her music or for that site(Ooo, musicians write about what interests them...).

http://www.buzzfeed.com/susanaferreira/haiti-raboday-revolution#.mrW0vboeL

Definitions can be slippery, but the roots of electronic rabòday can be found in rara, a music older than Haiti itself. It began with the indigenous Taíno people, mixed with rhythms brought from Africa by slaves, and eventually morphed and modernized into a style that today is played by roving musicians throughout the country. Rara bands lead crowds through Haiti’s streets, dancing to handmade bamboo and metal horns and drums that hang heavy on thick shoulder straps. They are called on during protests, for funeral marches, and in religious Vodou service, to play songs that are proud, critical, defiant, and joyful. Drum rhythms have names and contexts, many that can be traced back to the distinct African peoples that fused together to form Haiti, and “rabòday” is the name of one that’s long been favored by these rara bands. In recent years, a new electronic incarnation of rabòday — digitized and crunched with frenetic urgency — exploded to become one of the defining sounds of a young, disaster-surviving generation of Haitians.

bump

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=E1C17KtVG0Y

RIP New Orleans based Haitian percussionist Damas Louis Fanfan

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/music/article_b3410680-2677-11ea-a4a7-e3253f3bf2f5.html

Obit for Haitian percussionist FanFan