Conga drums drive compas beat at Miami Haitian music festival
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/05/2008 (6377 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
MIAMI – Thousands of fans of Haitian compas music, the up-tempo music driven by conga drums that has served as a link between scattered Haitian communities worldwide, will converge on Miami Saturday for the 10th Haitian Compas Festival.
“Compas is like hip-hop for Americans. It’s like salsa for Cubans, like merengue for Dominicans. It’s our national music,” says Harrys Latortue, who plays compas during his daily “BJ Live” radio program in Miami.
The festival’s lineup includes the Miami-born Magnum Band that’s been playing since’76, and popular newcomers Djakout Mizik, who performed with Haitian hip-hop star Wyclef Jean on MTV’s New Year’s Eve special.
Festival organizers expect 30,000 people on Saturday in Miami’s Bicentennial Park. Many of the headliners are also performing at smaller clubs on Sunday and Monday.
Compas often blends a number of musical genres and is sung in a mix of Haitian Creole, French and English. The festival is always scheduled around Haitian Flag Day, May’.
“We definitely use it as an occasion to celebrate Haitian pride, for all those people who can’t get to Haiti for Flag Day,” said Evrose Philias-Noel, the festival’s administrator.
As compas, first born in Haiti in the’50s, is increasingly produced by Haitian artists living outside the Caribbean, the music has been influenced by pop music.
“We upgraded. Especially because we live here, we hear the American music,” says Gazman Couleur, the Haiti-born lead singer of the Miami-based group Nu-Look, who are performing at the festival. “But we still keep the traditional compas. The conga has a role to play. That never changes, even though we add the R&B, the disco, the hip-hop.”
Festival organizers will be collecting canned goods to send to Haiti, where skyrocketing food prices prompted violent riots last month that left five people dead.
The food drive is in step with compas song lyrics that are often politically charged, exploring family dramas and the suffering of Haiti’s poor, fans say.
“It’s beautiful music, and it gets better when you listen to what they say,” said Joanne Borgella, a Haitian-American model and recent “American Idol” contestant who will be attending the festival.
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On the Net: http://www.compasfestival.net/