It goes without saying that there are very few places like Haiti. The country, which occupies the Western part of La Hispaniola island, is indeed one of the most exceptional, ill-fated and troubled in the world and the recent events have only corroborated this stark reality. In spite of earthquakes,...
Tag Archives: Voudou
![Daily Discovery: Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray – Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen) [Official Music Video]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/118793hqdefault-335x251.jpg)
Lakou Mizik and Joseph Ray literally revive the spirit of Haitian Kanaval (Carnival) in their new single and video ‘Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen)’. The video follows “a father and son as they prepare to take part in the annual celebrations in Jacmel, Haiti” and is named after ‘Ogou’, the...
The Republic of Haiti was founded as a utopian ideal. Haiti meaning ‘country of mountains’, its name in homage to the native Taíno who developed the revolutionary culture alongside maroon slaves that led to the victory that was the Haitian Revolution. Haiti’s liberator and first emperor Jacques 1er did not...
Rasin music is Haitian Vodou music (drums and bells forming traditional rhythms, accompanied by traditional lyrics sung in service to a Vodou spirit) shaped into commercial art. It takes on a multitude of shapes: modernist, postmodern, folklore, according to the times in which the music was produced and marketed. In...
![Album Review: Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra – S/T [Glitterbeat Records, 24th June 2016]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/a2427215732_10-335x335.jpg)
Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra self titled debut is an album of Haitian songs, some Vodou culture songs, in a way which fans of Haitian music are accustomed to. Instead it has mixed Haitian rhythms with afrobeat to produce something new. An album that covers all of Haiti’s cultural roots that are not only...
How does one successfully blend the sounds and instruments of several cultures in order to produce something new? It’s a question that has puzzled many great musicians from Gilberto Gil to the Rolling Stones. What we do know is that it includes putting together a great band and the art...