Music of Haiti
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The music of Haiti is influenced most greatly by French colonial ties and African immigration (through slavery), as well as by its neighbor, the Dominican Republic (see music of the Dominican Republic).
Impoverished Haiti didn't have any recorded music until 1937 (see 1937 in music) when Jazz Guignard was recorded noncommercially.
Vodou
The religion of the majority of Haitians is vodou (voodoo) and highly formalized percussion is used in spiritual music. Vodou used music, dance, and spirit possession as a part of their rituals. The spirit possessions are a mixture of African spirits of popular religious figures and a mixture of popular religious figures of Roman Catholic Saints. The Virgin Mary was associated with the love and beauty of Ezili Freda and Saint Patrick was associated with the driving of snakes of Danbala. These spirits are called Iwa. Ounsi who initiates the Vodou community dances to the music of drums, gongs, and rattles. The goal is to have the Iwa travel to Haiti and possess a Haitian worshiper. This is also called “mounting of their horse”. Unusual movements or jerks from normal dancing indicates that the possession has taken place or the “horse mounted”. Once the possession has taken place the worshiper takes on the personality traits of the Iwa. For example, if the Iwa is Ezili Freda then the Iwa will demand gifts of perfume, fine clothes, or jewelry from the rest of the worshipers. Vodou includes two different kinds of deities (Lwa): rada and petwo. Ceremonies may include either Rada drums ("Tanbou Rada" in Haitian Creole) with cowhide covers attached with wooden pegs, or Petwo drums (Tanbou Petwo), which have a goatskin covers attached with cords and a more aggressive sound. Additionally there are many many Haitian rhythms played in Vodou which vary greatly with geography. For example, some of the most popular Rada rhythms from Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas include yanvalou, mayi, zepol and dawomen, while in Gonaives, Rada takes such names as wanjale, akbadja, and kavalye hounto.
The Iwa have their own music in the forms of ritual songs and these are sung at ceremonies to invite Iwa participation. Songs are in combination of Kreyol and langay that are languages used in West and Central African religions. When the U.S. invaded Haiti in 1915, the rituals of vodou were used to reject the cultures of the U.S. Later classical composers used vodou melodies and tunes in their orchestral and chamber music and soon vodou-jazz was born. Vodou-jazz was very appealing to many Haitians and many young Haitians singers adopted the vodou rhythm and formed Haitian rapè. Rap artists of Haiti use their music to be a vital outlet in the political struggle of their country.
In the Petwo family one can find: petwo makaya, fran petwo, petwo doki, makandal, bumba and kita.
There are many other Vodou rhythms, including djoumba, kongo, ibo, tchika, raboday, banda, nago, maskawon.
Rara music was traditionally played during the Carnival celebrations and was an integral part of native voodoo relious beliefs. At parades, persons possessed by the Gedes (a type of loa, or spirit) chastize bystanders in extremely offensive terms. Musicians like Boukman Eksperyans and Boukan Ginen incorporated reggae, rock and funk rhythms.
References
- Steward, Sue and Sean Harvey. "Compas Points". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 421-429. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0