 Article by LK Editor...
Haitian Music Going Mainstream
There is no doubt that Haitians are proud of their music, for its history, its evolution, its influence and contributions to other musical genres.
Compas, a musical genre originally baptized as “compas-direct” by Nemours Jean-Baptiste in the '50s, remains today the corner stone of Haitian music. Since its inception Compas has produced several great bands, such as Tabou Combo, Magnum Band and Tropicana d’Haiti which have transcended many generations. Most importantly, Compas has evolved from a particular band structure and tempo to a variety of band compositions with diverse rhythms and styles.
From full bands to digital bands to single artists, from African flavors, Latin undertones to R&B and Pop segue, Haitian music offers something for everyone regardless of origins. Which begs the questions: Where does Haiti stand today on the world music map? Do the terms “Compas”, “Racine” or “Troubadours” mean anything to music lovers around the world?
Without a doubt Haitian music has more than earned its stripes in the Caribbean music market. The influence is particularly felt in islands like Martinique and Guadeloupe where classic Compas bands from the 70’s are still being heard over the airwaves. In fact, Haitian music continues to expand and acquire new listeners in this market, especially with the emergence of new generation bands like “Carimi” and the re-adaptation of traditional music styles like Troubadours into the digital arena.
Outside of the regional market however, Haitian music has pretty much followed the tracks of the country’s immigrant communities. Several bands have originated from places like, New York, Boston, Miami and Montreal where there are large concentrations of Haitians. Recent musical events including large-scale music festivals “Fests” organized in these areas are generating increasingly larger turnouts. In Europe, Paris is particularly known for its impressive fan base for Caribbean music.
While certain genres with distinctive exotic flavors, like Racine, may appeal to a more diversified global audience, Haitian music in general remains very close to its people.
Although “Haiti” has been covered a lot throughout the global media lately, it hasn’t been about its music, or its arts or any of its strengths for that matter. The recent attention has been focusing around the socio-political situation in the country. Two out of every three articles published about Haiti has made some reference to insecurity and/or poverty. While these references cannot take anything away from our rich history and culture, they are certainly not projecting a positive image of Haitians. In fact it is rather painful to be constantly reminded of and to be associated with these labels.
It is therefore understandable that Haitians (especially those living abroad) have been expressing a growing desire to expose the world to some of their cultural attributes as a way of counter-balancing the projection in the media. Never before has the to push to take Haitian music to mainstream western markets been so strong.
But with such rich background and diversity why hasn’t Haitian music attained wider global recognition like Reggae, Calypso or Latin Music?
In retrospect there are several reasons why Compas hasn’t grown far beyond its indigenous market. Lets explore some.
For starters, at the origin Compas was not designed to compete as a musical genre on a global level, but rather as a product for local consumption. The Lyrics were almost exclusively in the native Creole and predominantly focused around a few dominant themes like patriotism and love. The base tempo was mainly adapted to the local dance of the same name “Compas”. It wasn’t until the emergence of zouk in the 80’s that Haitian music started to experience real competitive pressure on the local market.
Up to that point, the Haitian music industry was always dominated by a handful of full bands releasing albums sequentially to a market dominated by notorious rivalries like Tabou / Skah Shah and DP Express / Scorpio, in which there were no real losers. As a result, there was no need or incentive to push Compas beyond the local market.
With so much change in the outlook of the world, as countries become more connected, Haitian music can no longer remain indifferent to the effect of other musical genres on its turf. Neither can it rely on its historical merits to get recognition in today’s fiercely competitive global environment. Besides, music is such a compelling resource for Haiti that it would be foolish not to leverage it in the current context.
The good news is that several attempts have already been made and more efforts are on the way to showcase Haitian talent on the prevailing American music scene and to bring Haitian music to new markets worldwide. Live performances on world-renowned stages and halls, collaborative work with established mainstream artists and integration or blending of other languages and musical styles into Haitian music are only a few examples.
However, instead of these often-isolated initiatives, a widespread grass-root movement engaging the key players of the Haitian music industry, international native artists like Wycleff Jean, Haitian media representatives (TV, radio, magazines and Websites) can produce far greater results. Imagine the potential of focusing all these resources to develop insight into the future role of Haitian music in the global scene and rallying the support of large crowds of devoted fans to promote shared initiatives.
Indeed there is so much more that can be done to enhance global awareness of Haitian music. Recognizing the need for the leaders of the Haitian music industry to organize themselves into meaningful associations that can better identify future growth opportunities and defend common interests is only one of the steps.
Although Compas did not make it as a top commodity in the digital CD music market, a new opportunity is looming ahead. Electronic Music Delivery (EMD) is still at its infancy. Now is the time to devise a strategy to penetrate this new market and take a leading position. This would require among other things, that Haitian music be distributed in established popular formats like MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, and RealMedia so that it is readily accessible.
Another approach would be to classify Haitian music under an existing well-established musical genre. To better appreciate this need for adopting a standard classification, only imagine the challenge a foreigner would face to locate Compas music from a major online music retailer when Haitian producers and distributors consistently spell the word in all different ways, “Compa”, “Kompas”, “Konpa”, etc.
Besides, marketing Haitian music under a suitable musical genre such as “World” or a meaningful sub-genre such as “World-Caribbean”, takes nothing away from its origin. Taking this line of thinking one step further, imagine for example a band entirely comprised of Haitian musicians, other than maybe a lead singer, establishing itself under the category “Rock and Roll”. This would take nothing away from Haitian music. On the contrary it would offer the opportunity to showcase Haitian talents on the mainstream and open an avenue for Haitian artists to reach wider audience. The point being, there is no single approach for Haitian music to get the recognition it deserves.
The time is right to give Haiti a makeover on the global scene, and the opportunities are ripped for Haitian music to go mainstream.
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