Haiti

Haiti
Robert Grenier, and Gage Averill

https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.44832
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001

Updated in this version

updated, 6 February 2012

Country in the West Indies. It is located on the island of Hispaniola.

I. Art music
Robert Grenier

The tradition of Western music may be dated to 6 January 1497, when Spanish colonists celebrated the first
sung mass at Ysabella, near present-day Cap-Haïtien. Under Spanish rule important institutions that
promoted sacred music were created: in 1504 the archdiocese of Santo Domingo was founded, and by 1540
the organist and canon of the cathedral Cristobal de Llerma had established music as a prerequisite for the
degree of Doctor of Arts at the University of Santo Thomas de Aquino, founded in 1538.

In 1697 the Treaty of Ryswick confirmed French title to the western portion of Hispaniola, which was re-
named Saint-Domingue, and by the early 18th century the rich plantation society was emulating the urban
culture of France. In 1750 Port-au-Prince became the colonial capital; the wind band of its militia began
the tradition of public concerts. The earliest efforts in theatre music can be dated to the 1740s in Cap-
Français (now Cap-Haïtien), and from 1764 regular seasons of opera were given there. By the end of the
colonial period there were theatres in Port-au-Prince, St Marc, Léogâne, Cap-Français, Les Cayes,
Jérémie, Petit-Goâve and Jacmel. Some, such as that of Cap-Français, could seat 1500. As professional
performances became more frequent, so there were growing numbers of private music instructors and
music shops. In 1785 the colony’s first professional music critic, Charles Mozard, noted in his journal
Affiches américanes that the stages of St Domingue were graced by local talent of mixed race.

Before the slave revolts of 1791–1804 brought an end to this culture, the theatre repertory in St Domingue
reflected that of Paris, dominated by such composers as Grétry, Philidor, Monsigny, Gluck and Gossec. A
biographical dictionary lists more than 300 artists appearing in the colony’s theatres in the late 18th
century. Though the period immediately after the revolution saw an attempt to revive the theatre, the
politically motivated fare found little favour with the citizens of the newly named republic of Haiti. But
despite the expulsion of the French colonists, the cultural standards they established survived into the
next century.

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Haiti in the 19th century saw the establishment of the military wind band, or fanfare, as the only provider
of a steady income for professional musicians. Fanfares were located in the principal towns and provided
Sunday concerts featuring a repertory of fashionable quadrilles, marches and waltzes of European origin.
In 1860 the concordat that Haiti signed with the Vatican resulted in an influx of trained music teachers of
the religious orders who came to establish schools, which soon founded their own fanfares, rivalling the
more polished, government-sponsored groups. In the 1960s, following the government’s attempt to
employ school fanfares to political ends, the music courses at these schools were officially disbanded. In
1955 the Conservatoire National was founded, to be reborn in 1987 as ENARTS (Ecole National des Arts),
though the most important teaching institution promoting Western art music is the Ecole Ste Trinité in
Port-au-Prince, with over 1000 students.

Indigenous art music has its origins in the French colonial period, when symphonies and concertos were
composed by theatre musicians. After the revolution there was a desire to retain European standards while
including local features. The compositions of Occide Jeanty (1860–1936), bandleader of the government’s
Musique du Palais, typify this tendency: his medium was the fanfare, for which he produced works with a
political dimension, such as his 1804 commemorating the independence of Haiti. The shock of the
American occupation of 1915–34 resulted in a greater emphasis being placed on folk elements by such
composers as Ludovic Lamothe (1882–1953), Justin Elie (1883–1931) and Franck Lassègue (1890–1940).
Werner Jaegerhuber (1900–53), the most prominent Haitian composer, has had among his successors
Carmen Brouard (1909–2005), Frantz Casseus (1915–93), Robert Durand (1917–95), Férère Laguerre
(1935–83), Emile Desamours (b1941), Julio Racine (b1945) and Amos Coulanges (b1955).

The 2010 earthquake severely damaged musical institutions in Port-au-Prince, destroying the organs of
the Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, most of the instruments of the Ecole Ste Trinité and Haiti’s only
concert hall, Salle Ste Cecile, although the music scores mostly survived and the school was reestablished
in Pétionville. Related collections in North America are held by the Société de recherche et de diffusion de
la musique haïtienne at the University of Quebec at Montreal, and the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman
School of Music.

Bibliography
J. Fouchard: Plaisirs de Saint-Domingue (Port-au-Prince, 1955/R)

E. Dumervé: Histoire de la musique haïtienne (Port-au-Prince, 1968/R)

J. Fouchard: La méringue: Danse nationale d’Haïti (Montreal, 1973/R)

C. Dauphin: Werner Jaegerhuber (1900–1953), compositeur haïtien (diss. U. of Quebec, Montreal, 1976)

C. Dauphin: ‘La méringue entre l’oralité et l’écriture: Histoire d’un genre musical haïtien’, Canadian University Music
Review, 1 (1980), 49–65

C. Dauphin: Musique du vaudou: fonctions, structure et style (Sherbrooke, Quebec, 1986)

C. Dauphin: ‘Robert Durand, pionnier de la musique de chambre en Haïti’, La Nouvelliste [Port-au- Prince] (16–17 Oct
1995)

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Haiti

R. Grenier: ‘La mélodie vaudou–Vodou Art Songs: the Genesis of a Nationalist Music in the Republic of Haiti’, Black
Music Research Journal, 21 (2000), 29–74

B. Camier: Musique coloniale et société à Saint-Domingue dans la second moitié du XVIIIème siècle (diss. U. des Antilles
Guyane, 2004)

C. Dauphin: ‘Carmen Brouard s’éteint à 96 ans: sa musique résonne éternellement…’, Haïti Tribune [Paris], no.29 (13
and 14 Dec 2005), 8

M. Largey: Vodou Nation: Haitian Art Music and Cultural Nationalism (Chicago and London, 2006)

R. Grenier and C. Dauphin: ‘Werner Jaegerhuber’s Messe sur les airs vodouesques: The Inculturation of Vodou in a
Catholic Mass’, Black Music Research Journal, 29 (2009), 25–82

II. Traditional music

Gage Averill

Following the 1804 declaration of independence from France, the first ‘Black Republic’ in the world was
the site of a particularly rich encounter between African and European cultures. It is the poorest country of
the western hemisphere, and its population is still largely rural. There is a deep divide between the city and
countryside, marked by differences of language (French, Creole), religion (Christian, Vodou), literacy and
culture. Creolized African and European genres, syncretic genres and popular music are heavily influenced
by globally circulating popular culture.

1. Vodou.
Slaves came to the former colony of Saint-Domingue from areas of West and Central Africa. In the new
environment, they were often grouped by ethnic origins and came to conceive of themselves as members
of various nanchon (nation) including Daome-Ginen (Dahomey), Kongo (Congo river delta peoples), Mina
(Akan), Ibo (Igbo) and Nago (Yoruba). African religions flourished among colonies of escaped slaves and
mixed with Catholicism on the plantations.

The religion that emerged is often called Vodou (from the Fon word for ‘spirit’) and draws heavily on Ewe-
Fon and Kongo beliefs. Religious officiants are most often known as ougan (male) and manbo (female).
During the early decades of Haiti’s independence, when the Vatican refused to recognize the nascent state,
Vodou became deeply entrenched as the folk religion and it is still practised by the majority, despite a
nominal adherence to Catholicism on the part of most Haitians. Vodou, and its sense of the
interdependence of humans and lwa (spirits), underlies much of Haitian peasant and lower-class
worldviews.

Despite differences between the regions, nanchons or ‘branches’ of Vodou, there are many commonalities
to Vodou worship. The lwa, who may also be called zany (angels) or mistè (mysteries), are thought to live in
Ginen (a spiritual African homeland) or anba dlo (under the sea) and are invited into a Vodou dans
(ceremony) to possess Vodou initiates (ounsi), who are considered as ‘horses’ to be riden by the lwa.

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(i) Song.
Drumming and song serve as offerings (along with food, drink, animal sacrifice, candles and dance), as
calls to the lwa to enter the ceremony and as one of many ‘points of contact’ with the lwa. Songs may
honour a deity or attempt to send away the lwa; honorific songs, which often display European-style
drumming and harmonic implications, are called ochan.

Songs are almost always sung in call-and-response fashion between the song leader and the congregation,
spoken of in Haiti as voye chante (‘sending a song’) and ranmase chante (‘gathering a song’). There is
considerable variation in the length, text and melodic patterns used. Tonal relations also vary considerably
due to the many historical sources for the songs. However, the majority of Vodou songs are of an
anhemitonic pentatonic character, occasionally with added transitional tones. Some alternate between two
tonal centres, often a tone apart.

Vodou songs can be difficult to interpret as they make use of a mystical language called langaj, allusive
lyrics that frequently shift subject, nonsense phrases and concepts accessible only to those who have
attained konesans (‘understanding’). Scholars have classed these songs according to the lwa to which they
refer; the rites to which they belong; their formal structure, function or topic; or by the literary tropes with
which they engage. Songs may list attributes of the lwa in the tradition of West African praise poetry,
censure individuals or groups (as in the case of the chan pwen or ‘sung point’), comment philosophically
on life (perhaps employing pawol granmoun or proverbs), comment on ritual activities and actions of the
service, or may speak more generally to issues such as slavery and separation from Africa.

(ii) Rituals.
Major Vodou rituals include the manje lwa (offering of food to the lwa), manje mò (offering of food to the
dead); initiation ceremonies such as lave tèt (‘wash the head’ or baptism), kanzo (fire ritual with the boule
zen or ‘burning of the pots’), or prizdezyè (‘taking of the eyes’, an initiation into the highest stage of
priesthood); a maryaj (mystical marriage to a lwa) and Friday night dans (dance ceremonies). Many
ceremonies commence with a litany of Catholic prayers, chants and canticles, known as the priyè djò
(God’s prayer) which is sometimes followed by the priyè ginen (African prayer).

One can find Vodou practised informally within the family, contractually with specialists (bokò) in the
preparations of protective magic, within congregations (sosyete) headed by an ougan and based in an ounfò
(from the Fon for ‘spirit house’) or temple, or within a rural extended-family lakou (an African-style
compound). ‘Single-nation’ rites such as Nago, Kongo, Banda or Daome ceremonies can also be found.
However, the dominant pattern since the Haitian revolution has been to gather most Vodou deities and
rituals within one of two major rites, Rada or Petwo.

Rada, which unites most of the lwa and ceremonies of the Daome, Mina, Nago and nanchon, is considered
older, more African and ‘cooler’ than the fiery and militaristic Petwo. Petwo rituals (often referred to as
Petwo-Kongo) come primarily from the Kongo peoples and were forged in the independence struggle. The
distinctions between these rites are not always clear, and many lwa either straddle the two or exist on both
sides of the divide (i.e. the Ibo, Gède or djouba families).

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(a) Rada rites.

These feature three cowhide-covered drums (of Dahomey origin) carved from logs with the skins attached
by means of a system of cords and pegs. The largest drum, the manman (mother) or ountò, is played with a
single angled stick (agida) and a bare hand; it cues and signals the ensemble and dancers and plays
elaborate variations. The mid-sized segon converses with the manman and is played with two sticks, one
curved and one straight. The boula or piti, the smallest and highest in pitch, is played with two straight
sticks, and plays a repeated pattern. In some areas, a frame drum (bas) may also be played. The timeline
pattern is played on the ogan, an iron idiophone, while a sacred rattle called the ason, symbolic of the
priesthood and sometimes beaded on the outside with snake vertebrae, is played by the priest or the
oudjènikon, an assistant in charge of songs. The majority of Rada rhythms are in what might be described
as a 12/8 metre. The boula pattern on the second and third beats of each group of three is also relatively
invariant across this repertory (see the parts for ogan, aeon and boula in ex.1 ).

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Ex.1 Song for Danbala Wèdo (yanvalou)

Rada songs are addressed to deities such as Legba, who opens the gates to the ceremony; the serpent lwa
Danbala and his mate Ayida Wèdo; Agwe, spirit of the sea; or Kouzen Zaka, the archetypal peasant deity for
whom the djouba is danced. Common rhythms played in Rada ceremonies include yanvalou (the
centrepiece of a Rada dans), mayi, zepòl and nago. Dances typically proceed anticlockwise around the poto
mitan, but changes in the choreography are introduced by ‘breaks’ (kase) in the rhythm, which often have
the effect of precipitating possessions. Fleurant (1996) has classified the obligatory sequences of dances
that appear in Rada ceremonial contexts.

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In some areas of Haiti, a large Dahomey drum called the asotò (inhabited by the lwa Asotò) features in a
ritual in which the congregation circles an asotò (or pair of asotò) and, on a cue from the rada drum battery,
advances to strike the drumhead with sticks. All the instruments in Vodou ceremonies are treated as
spirits: baptized, ‘put to sleep’ (kouche tanbou) when not in use, and given offerings as though they were
lwa.

(b) Petwo-Kongo.

These rites honour the lwa of the Kongo and Petwo families as well as featuring songs and dances
dedicated to the djouba, Ibo and Gède deities (these may also figure in some Rada rites). The lwa of Petwo
are typically hotter in temperament, more demonstrative and theatrical. Petwo drums are played in sets of
two: gwo baka (manman) and ti baka (piti). These carved, conical drums are played with the hands and have
goatskin heads which are laced to the body of the drum (and tuned) with ligament. The drums are
accompanied by an ogan bell and a tchatcha rattle which is usually a gourd filled with pellets; there may
also be a timeline (kata) beaten with sticks on a small drum or board. Various kongo rhythms as well as kita,
boumba, djouba, ibo and banda rhythms can all be found in Petwo rites; with the exception of the djouba,
almost all of these rhythms are in duple metre.

Other instruments used in Petwo-Kongo ceremonies include the lanbi or conch shell trumpet (a symbol of
slave rebellion, maroon communities and deities of the sea) and a whistle (siflèt). The latter is used with
the whip in Petwo ceremonies in an intentional inversion of their oppressive roles during slavery (Wilcken,
1992). Kongo ceremonies can also take place outside of Petwo, when they utilize a three-drum Kongo
ensemble featuring a double-headed cylindrical drum called timbal. The timbal is played with two sticks
and is accompanied by drums similar (or identical) to Petwo baka drums.

(c) Gède and banda.

The Gède spirits (such as Bawon Samdi and Gède Nibo) rule the cemetery, govern transitions between life
and death, and have an important role in fertility and rebirth. Despite their Dahomey origins, they stand
somewhat outside Rada and Petwo, tending to be comically obscene, unpredictable or even terrifying. The
banda dance associated with the Gède family is a highly expressive solo form with an exaggerated rolling of
the hips known as gouyad; it may take place at funerals during the Gède ceremonies around All Souls’ Day.
Banda drumming technique resembles that of djouba (see §2(iv)), including the use of a kata and a drum
laid on the ground which is played with heel pressure. The rhythms themselves are closer to a fast Petwo.

A number of repressive campaigns have been carried out against Vodou in the belief that it is primitive or
demonic, including the anti-superstition or renunciation campaign of the early 1940s. In the late 1980s,
many Vodou priests were killed in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Duvalier dictatorship because of
the high rate of ougan (officiants) in Duvalier’s militia (the Tonton Makout). Vodou is disparaged by many
of the middle class and élite, although elements of Vodou belief (or at least a fear of its power) are
widespread even in these social groups. In addition, caricatures of Voodoo dolls and zombies, popularized
through Hollywood horror films, have reinforced fears of Vodou that emerged among colonists during the
African slave insurrections.

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Haiti

2. Music of festivals, daily life and recreation.

(i) Rara.
This springtime festivity takes place largely during Lent and increases in frequency towards Easter
weekend. It appears to have developed from the French colonial practice of holding a second carnival
(Carnaval Carême) at the end of Lent, prior to Easter, when slave processionals with mock-royal costumes
visited the ‘great houses’ on the plantation to solicit donations of food and money.

Rara bands are now organized throughout Haiti and among Haitians in the Dominican Republic with well-
known centres of activity. In some areas a rara band may also be a kongo or a secret society (known as
Bizango or Chanpwèl).

Rara is considered a sacred obligation to the lwa and many of its rituals have roots in Vodou. Deploying flag
carriers (pòt drapo) and using military titles, rara bands reflect the militarism of Petwo-Kongo and may be
understood as a public projection of Petwo-Kongo rites. For example, the kata pattern (played on a variety
of iron instruments) is essentially a Petwo kata, while the kolonèl (colonel) figure makes use of a whip and
whistle (as in Petwo) to direct the band and to purify space. Additionally, the drums and percussion
instruments are essentially those used in Petwo and Kongo ceremonies: a gwo baka drum strapped to the
drummer, tanbouren or bas frame drums, timbal (double-headed Kongo drums played with two sticks like a
side drum), a tchancy (a large rattle made of tin, often in the shape of a cross), Petwo tchatcha and graj
scrapers.

The rara instrumental ensemble features single-note bamboo trumpets, vaksin or banbou, and tin
trumpets called konè (from coronet). The three vaksin, open at one end with a mouth-hole cut into a
bamboo node at the other, sound a composite ostinato figure; the players also tap the bamboo tubes with
sticks in order to add an additional layer of percussion. Konè players may reinforce the vaksin ostinato, play
improvised patterns, or hum the melody of the song while blowing to create a mysterious, kazoo-like
complement to the song.

There are many tuning systems used for vaksin but usually they exploit approximate minor 3rd intervals
(creating tritones and arpeggiated diminished chords, but without a harmonic intent), with two of the
vaksin often tuned approximately a semitone apart. One of the vaksin pitches generally serves as the tonal
centre of rara songs. Like Vodou songs, most rara songs exhibit anhemitonic pentatonic melodies and may
contain additional pitches that could be characterized as ‘passing’ tones, with the result that the vaksin and
song melodies share some pitches, but also contain other pitches that are exclusive to each and add tension
to the overall sound.

In the front of the rara group, a leader or mèt (‘owner’) parades with the kolonèl, a flag carrier and a group
of costumed baton majors who carry and manipulate sacred batons while dressed in sequined vests and
smocks, usually with pantalons, stockings and a cap or headdress. They dance tributes (ochan) to the
patrons of the bands, while donations are collected by rèn (queens) dressed in red, who are the most ardent
dancers of the band.

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The procession dances to a raboday rhythm while marching, rolling waists in gouyad style. Graceful
minuets from the French court are performed by the baton majors to the mazoun rhythm; various banda
and Petwo-Kongo rhythms may also make an appearance. Songs, composed and led by a sanba (traditional
peasant song leader), are topical and sometimes obscenely playful, often criticizing or ridiculing those
perceived to have transgressed against the group or to have fallen short in public life.

The atmosphere in a rara is one of exuberant freedom and playfulness, but there is also a sense of danger.
Suspicion and competition characterized the relationships between many rara bands and some even
attempt to break up other bands with magic packets or powders; jealous lwa are also believed to interfere
with the discipline and unity of rara groups devoted to their rivals. In general, the diverse mix of elements
makes rara an exceedingly complex event and one of great importance in the ritual calendar of rural Haiti.

(ii) Kanaval.
Haitian carnival (kanaval in Creole), taking place in the three or so days before Lent, was formerly a grand
event in Haiti’s major provincial cities, but has since declined; currently Port-au-Prince’s carnival dwarfs
the few remaining provincial events. Hundreds of bann apiye (‘bands on foot’) march through the streets
playing percussion, singing and dancing. Costumes are not a central feature of carnival (as in Trinidad or
Rio de Janeiro) but there are still many traditional masques in the procession, including chaloska
(menacing soldiers), zombies and stickfighting endyèn madigra (Mardi Gras Indians). Many of the bann
apye are similar to rara bands (indeed, many rara bands take part), featuring vaksin and kongo percussion
(ex.2 ). The rhythms they play can include rara rhythms, a Kongo festival rhythm called kongo payèt and a
carnival rhythm called maskawon. Songs in méringue (merengue) style and set to a frenetic carnival tempo
are called mereng kanaval or mereng koudyay.

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Ex.2 Transcription of selected parts to the rara song M pap mache a tè anmwe (Vocal, kata and vaksin)

In addition to the bann apye, modern carnival features processional brass bands and a number of popular
music ensembles (featuring electric instruments and amplifiers) who record competitive carnival songs
and perform on flatbed trucks and stages in downtown Port-au-Prince. As in other carnival-celebrating
cultures of the Americas, prizes are awarded for the best song and best float. With its exuberance and its
ability to mass tens of thousands from Haiti’s poorer classes, carnival has been harnessed to serve a wide
variety of political functions.

(iii) Konbit music.

A konbit (cooperative work association) involves a system of mutual self-help and has counterparts in
West African agricultural practices. Konbit are organized differently in various parts of Haiti but generally
consist of a group that supplies labour for planting (or harvesting) to its members on a rotating basis. The
recipient of the free labour reciprocates with a meal and often hosts a night of music and dance. In certain
parts of Haiti, konbits may also be sosyete kongo (kongo societies); elsewhere, the konbit may be called an
eskwad (squadron) or a kòvè (Fr. corvée, a legacy of slave labour practices). The labour is often accompanied
by a musical ensemble whose only duty is to entertain and inspire the workers and may include a simple

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Haiti

hoe blade on which the singer taps a timeline, a kongo percussion ensemble or a full complement of vaksin
as in a rara ensemble. The simidor (or sanba) leads songs and improvises lyrics on topical subjects. Most
observers of rural agriculture note that the institution of konbit is in decline.

(iv) Dance.
Among the many kinds of dances performed at parties is the djouba (juba), which is sometimes called
matinik, perhaps through its association with immigrants from Martinique. The djouba drum, laid on its
side, is played with the hands; the tension of the drumhead is adjusted by the player’s heel while a timeline
is beaten on the side of the drum by the kata player with two sticks. Djouba is really a family of rhythms and
dances, some of which appear in Vodou ceremonies for the peasant lwa Kouzen Zaka; it has diffused widely
throughout the Caribbean and the southern United States where body percussion has replaced drums to
create the genre ‘pattin’ juba’.

Figure dances were brought to Haiti from France in the 18th century and were taught in rural as well as
urban contexts by travelling mèt dans (dance masters); they are still practised in some remote locations.
Accompanying ensembles can include a tanbouren (frame drum) or small percussion ensemble, fif (flute),
violin, and a timeline instrument such as a hoe blade. Genres such as kontradans (contredanse), kadri
(quadrille), menwat (minuet), and eliyanse (Lanciers) are still played under thatched shelters in some areas
for recreation or to follow Vodou ceremonies (see Yih, 1995 for further discussion of this context).

(v) Children’s songs.

Many children’s songs in Haiti are characterized by a strong European influence; they may follow an
implicit harmonic progression and undoubtedly descend from European children’s songs. There is also a
class of game songs known as gaj (‘it’), which are named after the types of games they accompany.
Storytellers, called mèt kont (‘master of the story’), still regale children and adults with stories of Bouki
and Malice (the dim-witted country bumpkin against the city slicker), Anansi the trickster and various
animal stories. The mèt kont uses every means at his disposal to hold the audience’s attention, including
interspersing the stories with songs involving audience participation.

(vi) Obscure instruments.

The relative isolation of Haiti’s rural areas has permitted obscure or peripheral instruments (many of
African origin) to survive, in some cases played only by children. This is the case with the tanbou
marengwen (mosquito drum), which consists of a cord stretched from a small, bent tree to a hole in the
ground covered with thatch. The player plucks the cord with one hand and adjusts the tension with a
curved stick in the other, producing a rhythmic pattern on multiple pitches with an ethereal buzzing
sound. Another instrument of probable African origin is the ganbo (stamping tube), played in an ensemble
in which each player stamps two bamboo tubes of different lengths (and pitches) on the ground to create
an ostinato that may substitute for a drum battery. The tubes are open at one end and have a natural node
at the other. Similar ensembles have existed in Jamaica and were once popular in Trinidad Carnival
(tambou bamboo).

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Haiti

3. Popular music.

(i) Méringue.
Throughout the Caribbean, European figure dances played by musicians of African descent evolved into
new, hybrid styles, often as accompaniment for couple dances. One of the first of these (appearing soon
after the founding of Haiti) was the karabinyè (carabinier, the army’s artillery division), the direct
precursor of the méringue (see Merengue). Throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the méringue
was a national genre, danced at rural informal parties, at working-class bars and at high-class soirées
(especially after anti-American sentiment during the US occupation fuelled a nationalist movement
among the élite). Some of the most enduring Haitian méringues (e.g. Choucoune, Souvenir d’Haïti and
Angelique O!) were composed by middle-class poets, composers and troubadours; others circulated
anonymously as comments on social or political affairs (e.g. Panama M Tombe and Merci Papa Vincent, both
ridiculing former presidents of Haiti).

The instrumentation for méringues varies as widely as the contexts. They are played using only percussion
instruments after a Vodou ceremony has ended, as parlour méringues (méringues lentes) for élite audiences
by chamber groups of piano and strings, in dance halls and hotels by orchestras and in the streets, at
festivals and hotels by small troubadou (troubadour) or mizik gwenn siwèl (‘nougat’) ensembles. The latter
typically use a conga drum, maracas, a malimba (a large lamellaphone) and a string instrument such as a
guitar or banjo. This instrumentation was strongly influenced by the Cuban son trovador style brought to
Haiti by Cuban radio, returning Haitian cane workers and middle-class tourists. The troubadou role was
inherited and appropriated by a series of male singers who sang populist songs of lighthearted social
critique as well as tongue-in-cheek treatments of male-female relations, including Auguste ‘Kandjo’ de
Pradines, Rodolphe ‘Dodòf’ Legros, Althierry ‘Ti-Paris’ Dorival, Rodrigue Milian and Gesner ‘Coupé Cloué’
Henry.

The diversity of méringue performance results in part from the use of the term as a catch-all for any piece
with local flavour. However, many méringues have an implicit structuring rhythm similar to related
Caribbean genres (e.g. the Cuban danzón and biguine of Martinique), featuring a bar of a syncopated figure
alternating with a bar of pulse.

(ii) Vodou-djaz and the folkloric movement.

After World War II, a boom in tourism fuelled Haiti’s nightlife and caused an explosion of dance bands.
Cuban-style bands playing méringues and Latin hits were based at hotels and casinos such as Riviera, Ibo
Lélé and the Casino Internationale. The post-war period also saw the ascendence of the ideology of
noirism, a Haitian parallel to négritude, which championed the black middle class as the more ‘authentic’
representatives of the Haitian nation and extolled Haiti’s African heritage. A number of bands and singers
of this period (including Jazz des Jeunes, Guy Durosier, Orchestre el Saïeh, Martha Jean-Claude and
Emerantes de Pradines) performed in a folkloric style, which in its dance band versions was known as
vodou-djaz. Jazz des Jeunes performed along with the new Troupe Folklorique Nationale d’Haïti, singer
Lumane Casimir and the drummer Ti-Roro at the Bicentennial of Port-au-Prince exposition in 1949 that

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highlighted Haiti’s new indigenous art movement. Jazz des Jeunes’ composer, Antalcides O. Murat,
orchestrated pieces from Haitian traditional repertories such as rara, Vodou, méringue and contredanse and
composed new songs on traditional models. The group performed every Sunday at the open air Théâtre de
Verdure until they emigrated to the United States in 1970. The Troupe Folklorique Nationale d’Haïti
became the model for a generation of classically trained folkloric dance troupes performing stylized
renditions of traditional Afro-Haitian dances.

(iii) Konpa, kadans and other genres.

A fad for mid-1950s Dominican merengue típico convinced bandleader and saxophonist Nemours Jean-
Baptiste to coin a similar dance music, which he and his band dubbed compas-direct (‘direct beat’), konpa
dirèk or konpa in Creole. He renamed his ensemble the Super Ensemble Compas-Direct de Nemours Jean-
Baptiste, and his new sound soon made his band the most popular ensemble in Haiti’s nightclubs and
hotels. Saxophonist Wébert Sicot imitated Jean-Baptiste and developed a nearly identical rhythm and
sound that he called cadence rampas (‘ramparts rhythm’), naming his own band the Super Ensemble
Cadence Rampas de Wébert Sicot. The rivalry between the two bands, expressed above all in their
competition for crowds at carnival, was the dominant feature of the commercial music market for a decade
(1958–68). Both bands featured one or more saxophones harmonizing or alternating with an accordion, in
conjunction with a string bass, one or two singers, guitar, guïro, a conga, timbales, cowbell and tamtam
(floor drum, played as a set with the bell).

While undergoing significant changes in instrumentation and even in its rhythmic formula, konpa
continued to be Haiti’s most popular dance music into the 1990s. Starting in the mid-1960s, small bands
called mini-djaz (which grew out of Haiti’s light rock and roll yeye bands of the early 1960s) played konpa
featuring paired electric guitars, electric bass, drumset and other percussion, often with a saxophone. This
trend, launched by Shleu Shleu after 1965, came to include a number of groups from Port-au-Prince
neighbourhoods, especially the suburb of Pétion-Ville. Tabou Combo, Les Difficiles, Les Loups Noirs,
Frères DéJean, Les Fantaisistes, Bossa Combo and Les Ambassadeurs (among others) formed the core of
this middle-class popular music movement and trained a generation of konpa musicians. These bands
became popular in the French West Indies as well as in Haiti and toured the expanding Haitian immigrant
communities in North America, where many musicians stayed on to form their own bands. In the late
1970s, mini-djaz added extra wind instruments (trombones, trumpets) and synthesizers and borrowed
widely from funk, soul, jazz-funk and other popular musics of the period.

Ibo Records, Marc Records and Mini Records dominated the small Haitian music market from the late
1950s until the mid-1980s. Popular bands recorded at least one and often two albums each year, and it was
not unusual from the mid-1970s on for the Haitian recording industry to produce 75 to 100 albums per
year. Although some bands achieved considerable local success and had hits in the French West Indies, the
Haitian music industry remained small and marginally capitalized, operating out of storefronts, paying
only fixed fees for recording (no royalties) and bartering much of the product of the industry among
producers. Most of these producers were located in the USA (primarily in New York), but tracks were often
recorded in Port-au-Prince at Audiotech Studios.

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In the 1980s a number of outspoken recording artists, such as Roselin ‘Ti-Manno’ Jean-Baptiste, Manno
Charlemagne and Farah Juste emerged as prominent critics of the Duvalier regime with a socially
conscious music called misik angaje (‘engaged’ music). Some mini-djaz also joined the chorus of
opposition and produced satirical carnival songs from 1981 to 1986. In the years since the overthrow of the
Duvaliers, musicians have continued to play a visible political role, even as elected politicians.

One of the most influential movements in recent decades has been a new effort to bring traditional and
peasant musics into popular music, influenced in part by the spiritual and political message of roots rock
reggae in Jamaica. The musicians in this mizik rasin (‘roots music’) movement studied traditional
drumming in Vodou temples and experimented with rara and Vodou rhythms using electric guitars and
synthesizers. Boukman Eksperyans, Boukan Ginen, Ram, Kanpèch, Koudyay and other bands have all had
some local and international success with their roots fusion. Through the politically troubled 1990s, mizik
rasin songs (especially at carnival) served as a musical conscience of the progressive movement, focussing
on the economic and cultural divide between the ‘popular’ classes and the élite. During the same period, a
new generation of konpa bands and pop singers (inspired in part by experimentalist groups of the early
1980s such as Magnum Band, Caribbean Sextet and Zèklè) streamlined and updated the konpa formula; one
of these artists, Haitian pop diva Eméline Michel, released recordings on international labels. Haiti has
also experienced a wave of popularity of rap and Jamaican-style ragga, especially following the
international success of Haitian-American hip hop singer Wyclef Jean of the Fugees.

Bibliography
And other resources

M.J. Herskovits : Life in a Haitian Valley (New York, 1937/R)

H. Courlander : Haiti Singing (Chapel Hill, NC, 1939/R)

K. Dunham : Dances of Haiti (Los Angeles, 1947, 2/1983)

H. Courlander : The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People (Berkeley, 1960/R)

E.C. Paul : Panorama du folklore haitïen: présence africaine en Haïti (Port-au-Prince, 1962)

C. Dumervé : Histoire de la musique en Haïti (Port-au-Prince, 1968)

J. Fouchard : La méringue: danse nationale d’Haïti (Montreal, 1973, 2/1988)

M.S. Laguerre : Voodoo Heritage (Beverly Hills, CA, 1980)

C. Dauphin : Musique de vaudou: fonctions, structures et styles (Sherbrooke, PQ, 1986)

G. Averill : ‘Haitian Dance Bands, 1915–1970: Class, Race and Authenticity’, LAMR, 10 (1989), 203–35

R. Boncy : La chanson d’Haïti, 1: 1965–1985 (Montreal, 1992)

L. Wilcken and F. Augustin : The Drums of Vodou (Tempe, AZ, 1992)

G. Averill : ‘ Anraje to angaje: Carnival Politics and Music in Haiti’, EthM, 38 (1994), 217–47

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Haiti

D. Cosentino, ed.: Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou (Los Angeles, 1995)

E.A. McAlister : ‘Men Moun Yo’; ‘Here Are the People’: Rara Festivals and Transnational Popular Culture in Haiti and New
York City (diss., Yale U., 1995)

Y.-M.D. Yih : Music and Dance of Haitian Vodou: Diversity and Unity in Regional Repertoires (diss., Wesleyan U., 1995)

G. Fleurant : Dancing Spirits: Rhythms and Rituals of Haitian Vodun, the Rada Rite (Westport, CT, 1996)

G. Averill : A Day for the Hunter, a Day for the Prey: Popular Music and Power in Haiti (Chicago, 1997)

G. Averill and Y.-M.D. Yih : ‘Militarism in Haitian Music’, The African Diaspora: a Musical Perspective, ed. I. Monson (New
York, 2000)

Recordings
Music of Haiti, 1–3: Folk Music of Haiti, Drums of Haiti, Songs and Dances of Haiti, Smithsonian Folkways, F-4403, F-4407,
F-4432 (1950–52)

Meringue, Buckle-Rubbing Street Music from Haiti, Corason CD107 (1993)

Konbit: Burning Rhythms of Haiti, A&M Records CD 5281 (1989)

Caribbean Revels: Haitian Rara & Dominican Gaga, Folkways F-4531S (1978); reissued as Smithsonian Folkways
SF-40402 (1992)

Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou, Smithsonian Folkways SF-40464 (1995)

Angels in the Mirror: Vodou Music of Haiti, Ellipsis Arts CD412 (1997)

Bouyon Rasin: First International Haitian Roots Music Festival, Tropical Records 68.988 (1997)

See also

Latin America, §III, 1: Afro-American Music: Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean

Jeanty, Occide

Elie, Justin

Jaegerhuber, Werner

Lamothe, Ludovic

Konbit Music

National anthems: Hawaii

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