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Music of Haiti
Son, rumba and danzón from Cuba, Haitian vodou drumming and kompa, Jamaican mento, ska and reggae, calypso and steelpan from Trinidad, bouyon and cadence-lypso in Dominica, tumba and tambú on Curaçao.
Sung and searched in Haitian Creole, French. The YouTube button above can run your search in that language.
Roots and traditions
Folk dance music
Carabinier (or Karabinye) is a Haitian traditional dance style that is said to be created by Euphémie Daguilh, one of Dessalines' mistresses. The dance is said to be created for the Haitian soldiers during the Haitian Revolution, and meant to be danced with their carabine strap to their back, hence the name. Dessalines himself was an excellent karabinye dancer according to oral and written tradition. Karabinye is named after carabine straps which Haitian soldiers used during the Haitian revolution.
Méringue is a guitar-based style historically connected to merengue but without the use of the accordion. The blend of African and European cultures has created popular dance music, music played on simple acoustic instruments. Méringue has lost popularity to kompa.
Popular music
Popular music
Compas, short for compas direct, is the modern méringue (mereng in creole) that was popularized in the mid-1950s by the sax and guitar player Nemours Jean-Baptiste. His méringue soon became popular throughout the Antilles, especially in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Webert Sicot and Nemours Jean-Baptiste became the two leaders in the group. Sicot then left and formed a new group and an intense rivalry developed, though they remained good friends. To differentiate himself from Nemours, Sicot called his modern méringue, cadence rampa. In Creole, it is spelled as konpa dirèk or simply konpa. It is commonly spelled as it is pronounced as kompa.
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Radio from Haiti
Music only, no news or talk. Stations that play the local tradition come first, then the most listened. They play in the corner of the page.
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