Haitians remember forgotten musicians

[guysanto*]

<blockquote><p align=justify>Haitians remember forgotten musicians

South Florida Haitians will honor their musical pioneers during a concert at the annual Independence Day celebrations.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
Miami Herald
January 1, 2006

Long before Wyclef fused hard-core Haitian beats with hip hop, or Grammy-nominated rockers Boukman Eksperyan blended Vodou, reggae and rock 'n' roll, one man set the stage by marrying Latin rhythms and African drums.

Still, Nemours Jean-Baptiste, the man behind Haiti's most well-known musical sound, konpa direk, died like so many other Haitian artists -- poor.

Such is the story of many of Haiti's musical pioneers, a dozen of whom will be honored during the annual Haitian Independence Day concert on New Year's Day at downtown Miami's James L. Knight Center.

For Haitians, the New Year's
Day gathering marks the 202nd anniversary that former-slave-turned-revolutionary hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti free from French rule, making it the first free black nation.

Although true freedom continues to evade Haiti, this new year Haitians will momentarily set aside their political and class differences and pay tribute to the pioneers who helped put Haiti on the cultural map of the Caribbean.

''All of these artists have a message of solidarity,'' said Farah Juste, a local Haitian-American business owner and singer who has organized the New Year's Day Haitian Independence Day Concert for the past 17 years.

In the spirit of that message, Juste will team up with Carl Fombrun, a well-known radio and television personality in Miami's Haitian community. Together the two -- who don't always see eye-to-eye politically, but share a mutual love for Haitian culture -- will guide audience members through more than 50 years of the music that has weathered political storms and
kept Haitians connected, no matter where they live.

PAYING HOMAGE

To keep the audience on its feet, Juste has assembled several contemporary Haitian performers who will pay homage to the artists by singing the songs that helped make them famous in Haiti, and in exile communities in Paris, Havana and Montreal. Among the performers: Kid Coupé who will pay tribute to his father, Coupé Cloué, a konpa singer whose rhythmic approach to the beat set him apart from his contemporaries. Roger Colas Jr. will pay homage to his father, Rogers Colas, one of Haiti's most romantic singers who died in a car accident on a Port-au-Prince road on his way home from a performance. His body was finally picked up hours later, but only after another musician -- Ansy Derose, another honoree -- intervened. ''We sing their songs, we go to their dances but Haitian artists don't get what they deserve,'' said Marc Lubin, a local songwriter and follower of Haitian music. ``This is one of the
good things Farah Juste is doing, to give them what they deserve even after they've died. They still live within their fans.''

Emerante de Pradines Morse, a pioneer in the Haitian folklore movement in the 1940s and 1950s, said Haitians in the diaspora have always been a life line for long-struggling Haitian artists and it's good to see them still connected. Her own musical contributions will be briefly highlighted during the two-hour show.

''It's encouraging to see we are appreciated outside of Haiti,'' said de Pradines, who transported Haitian folklore out of the villages and onto the world stage, and into the Ivy League classrooms at U.S. universities where she lectured.

''It was such a struggle for you to get out at a certain point as an artist,'' said de Pradines, 84, who lives in Washington, D.C. ``When I began, it was in the '40s, and I was very young then and as a folklorist, very daring. I thought if you didn't get it out of the villages, nobody would know about it.
''

De Pradines, a dancer as well as a singer, has passed her musical talent on to her son, Richard Morse. Morse runs the famed Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, and his Haitian rock band RAM will celebrate its 15-year anniversary on New Year's Eve in the hotel lobby.

Fombrun said that while two hours isn't enough to showcase all who have made a cultural difference in Haiti, the stories behind those who will be honored is the story of Haiti itself: trial and tribulation, friendship and rivalry.

TWO SOUNDS

It is also the story of music, regardless of the genre or country. The John Lennon and Paul McCartney of Haitian music, Nemours Jean-Baptiste and Webert Sicot, began their careers as band mates, but soon parted ways. They went on to develop similar styles of music, but it was Jean-Baptiste's konpa that outlived Sicot's cadence rampa.

Fifty years later, konpa, sometimes called the Haitian merengue, remains the most popular form of Haitian mu
sic, especially here in South Florida where weekly gatherings by local bands draw sold-out dancing crowds. Jean-Baptiste and Sicot, the two men who could not co-exist, ended up as friends, dying within months of each other in 1985.

''I was with them in the '70s when they came and played at a private party at my nephew's house,'' recalled Fombrun. Fombrun has known all of the honorees, with the exception of one: Eyma Achille, a pioneering songstress in the Haitian evangelical movement who currently lives in a South Florida nursing home.

''Haitian music has moved forward, but we never passed that glass ceiling and we are still stuck there,'' he said.

[guysanto*]

''Haitian music has moved forward, but we never passed that glass ceiling and we are still stuck there,'' he said.

<blockquote>How true is that statement? Does it reflect your own view of Haitian music in the last 50 years?

[Serge Bellegarde*]

Guy,

I believe this statement has to be taken in its larger context and I understand it.

I think that Haitian music has made tremendous stride indeed, but it tends to get to a plateau, unable to take that ulimate step on a large scale. Here is why I think this is the case. It will be interesting to hear from others.

What I believe Haitian music has always lacked, is a systematic promotion in order to expose the artists. Of course, there have been a few cases where some Haitians have done that without being specialist in the field. I am thinking for example of former Ambassador Marcel Duret who did such a fantastic job of promoting Haitian music in Japan. Again, he is not a professional in that field. Promoter Fred Paul from Mini Records for example has also taken some bold steps in promoting records by some artists who otherwise, would not have a chance. In my view though, in general, Haitian music has gotten this far on
the sheer strength of the musicians and the quality of their music. They put themselves out there, they are heard, they get contract and then get off. I dare say that Tabou Combo has made an invaluable contribution in promoting Haitian music abroad.

Do you all remember how in he 80s, how Zouk took over the world by storm, almost blowing away Konpa dirèk from the scene? Well, one man was responsable for the promotion of Zouk music, and I say Zouk music, not a zouk group: Henri Debs, a Martiniquan. Debs set out to promote any Zouk group, as long as it produced quality work. This is a philosophy which has been lacking among music promoters. They were so busy trying to undermine a rival group that everyone ended up on the losing end. That seems to have changed, thanks God! Debs's strategy worked tremendously, while everyone forgot that Zouk came straight from Konpa Dirèk. Later. Cadence from Dominica benefitted greately from good promotion and Cadence is just Konpa dirèk played at a slower pace. It is qu
ite a shame that as you travelled through the English speaking Caribbean, you would be hard-pressed to hear Haitian music played regularly on those radio stations. People are quite ignorant of it for lack of air-play.

It is also quite a shame that there is not enough promotion of Haitian female singers. There are so many of them, yet, so few get to shine. I sincerely hope that more women get the exposure that they so deserve, because this is becoming a scandal that only male singers get to record. Again, I do believe that for some reason or another (the end result is the same), promoters are not interested in female singers because they may a "financial liability"....unless of course she is well-established and well known like Emmeline Michel....

To conclude, Haitian music is fairly well-known, yes, but a whole infrastructure for promotion is needed in order to push the music forward.

I had not planned to talk this much, but this is a very crucial issue for me.

Serge