Chronique no. 28 | Chronique Index

With the holiday season upon us, many among us will be thinking about gifts to give to their friends without necessarily going into debt. Well, how about a nice CD? Indeed, there are some excellent choices these days. Among them is Eddy Prophète's latest CD called Interculturel. This title is probably due to the fact that Eddy is accompanied by Haitian, Canadian, Martiniquan and Arab musicians. What a wonderful mix! This CD is a departure from his previous ones in the sense that it is a full group with trumpet, saxophone, trombone, guitar, bass. You hear Haitian Konpa, Martiniquan Biguine, Bossa Nova. The two Haitian Konpa tunes "Qui ça" and "Katso" constitute in my view the coming of age of Konpa Jazz. To me, before this CD, the closest thing to Konpa Jazz was illustrated by what musicians like Réginald Policar played. His music is wonderful, but I do not think that the jazz structure had ever been so totally integrated into Konpa Dirèk, as is the case with Eddy Prophète's latest CD. And I love it.

The CD opens with the tune "Qui ça", a konpa which also showcases the singing talent of Eddy. The lead singer on the album is one of my favorite musicians, Boulo Valcourt. As usual, he does an absolutely wonderful job . The lyrics throughout the CD are excellent and this is a welcome change from the dreadful lyrics we have been listening lately from some Haitian groups which, for the time being, shall remain nameless. Some of those lyrics have been written by poet Syto Cavé who might make a bundle if all those groups asked him to write songs for them. Eddy's play is quite a joy to listen to and in fact, if you pay close attention, you will hear him voicing the improvisations he does on the piano. The trombone player is excellent. I had never heard the guitar player before, a Haitian named Lionel Charles. He is wonderful and reminds me of Jazz guitarist Jim Hall. Of particular interest is the interpretation, on the Martiniquan Biguine rhythm, of the unforgettable song "Autumn Leaves".

What a wonderful job the trombone player did on that song. On the tune "De ti mo lanmou", Eddy also manages to put in some Rasin beat. The CD closes with Eddy's composition "Katso" (written in honor of his two daughters Katherine and Sophie). This is the third interpretation of this song by this author and the first on a Konpa beat . Folks, you have to listen to this. The piano and guitar solos are something else. Another interesting aspect of Konpa jazz is the incredible freedom it provides the drummer to improvise and fill in countless holes in the rhythm section. Once you have the beat under control, this is almost a challenge to support the music. That is what the drummer does on this CD. As I said earlier, Eddy plays pure jazz on a background of Konpa. My only criticism of this CD is that in my opinion, the mixing does not do justice to the music. Sometimes, it is not crisp enough and the bass and the drums do not come out clear enough. Otherwise, If you have a musician friend to whom you wish to offer a gift for Christmas, I think this is the best you could do for him (or her), the Eddy Prophète's CD.

Another CD making the rounds and which has been out for a few weeks now is System Band's "Viagra". As the title indicates, you know it had to be a hit. But there are other reasons why I find this album interesting. The group plays some solid Konpa Dirèk, it is very entertaining, the mixing is good, and I think System Band has one of the most solid brass section in Konpa these days. The sound is accurate and crisp and and you can hear how the musicians feel at ease in their play. To me, since the "Cesar" album, this is the best System Band has put out, even though "Cesar" remains my favorite. I also like the sound of the saxophone player Lucien Ceran. His arrangements of The brass section is superb. At the keyboard, brothers Assel and Welmyr Jean-Pierre provide a steady support. Tune No. 4, "Manman pemba" is very entertaining and I really like the brass melody . One major criticism however, at least for those of us concerned with the language, is in the text inside the CD. The lyrics of all the songs have been reproduced and the Kreyòl spelling is fairly atrocious. And I am being kind. I will never understand why these musicians who, after all, play a crucial role in helping to popularize our language, will not hire someone who knows the Kreyòl orthography to proofread the texts afterward. Despite the availability of Kreyòl grammar, syntax, glossaries and other tools, many Haitian musicians remain immune to writing Kreyòl properly and this is unfortunate precisely because all the songs are in Kreyòl. But let us not digress too much. I highly recommend this album for Chritsmas. It is quite worth it.

Another CD which has been very favorably received is that of Rara machine led by Maestro Clifford Sylvain. This is an excellent Rasin CD. I really like tune No. 2 "Messsage". It has a nice groove which forces you to get up and dance. As for tune No. 3, you will not hear better African Soukous. With proper marketing, it should make a lot of headway among African communities. Throughout the CD, you hear that joyful sound characterized by the Haitian Rara sound. Tune No. 8, "Racine Accolade" is a nice potpourri of some of the best Rasin tunes and Carnival-prize winners of the last few years. If you are planning to have a party over this holiday season, it would be a good idea to have this CD on hand. This is guaranteed to be non-stop dancing. So rush to your closest music store.

Serge Bellegarde