RhoDeo 1917 Roots

Hello, we're leaving Cuba now going west to Haiti, the 1st independent country in the region, 1804, little good did it do, nor did the whole vodou business, considering the current state of the country, one of the worst places to live in the world. First we make a side step to calypso country Trinidad with music inspired by worship that includes spirit possession, drumming, dancing, chanting, and animal sacrifice. Sounds like vodou, not surprising as it had the same input Catholicism and traditional African beliefs, the music here is from the 30's/40's when the believers were still suppressed by their British colonial rulers.


Today's artists proved that you could still make great music with a history of wars, revolutions, kings, psychotic dictators and deadly hurricanes, ah yes the human spirit . .......N'Joy

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Haitian Vodou is a syncretic mixture of Roman Catholic rituals developed during the French colonial period, based on traditional African beliefs, with roots in Dahomey, Kongo and Yoruba traditions, and folkloric influence from the indigenous Taino peoples of Haiti. The Loa, or spirits with whom Vodouisants work and practice, are not gods but servants of the Supreme Creator Bondye (pronounced Bon Dieu). In keeping with the French-Catholic influence of the faith, vodousaints are for the most part monotheists, believing that the Loa are great and powerful forces in the world with whom humans interact and vice versa, resulting in a symbiotic relationship intended to bring both humans and the Loa back to Bondye. "Vodou is a religious practice, a faith that points toward an intimate knowledge of God, and offers its practitioners a means to come into communion with the Divine, through an ever evolving paradigm of dance, song and prayers."

Vodou rites are done to call upon spirits, called Loas (or Lwas), for their aid, instruction, special powers and strengths. Loas are ancestral spirits who have become abstracted through the generations to become embodiments of certain principles or characteristics. A great feast is often prepared to entice the Loas to attend. Practitioners of the religion wear white clothes and are assisted by Ougan and Manbo (male and female Vodou priests, respectively) to become "possessed" by the loas. Through singing, dancing, and particularly the music of the drums, spirits come to "ride" their mortal hosts. The analogy of someone riding, and thereby controlling, a horse is given as an explanation of this phenomenon. The word Chwal (from the French cheval) is used to describe one who is "being ridden". Spirits impart wisdom and direction through their chwals for the servants of the faith.

The loas are divided up into several nanchons (from the French nations), families of spirits from the same ethnic group and/or serving a similar function. The most prominent nanchons are Rada, Nago, Djouba, Petwo (also written Petro), Kongo, Ibo, and Gède. Traditionally each one of these nanchons would have had particular rites, rhythms and adherents. They even would have had their own drums that were unique to that nanchon to call upon its loas. These drum sets are known as batterie (from the French for "set of drums"). Today, due to economic constrictions and social and geographic changes, the drums from the Rada batterie are the most common, with the Petwo drums also extant.

Below is an overview of the several nanchons, the qualities and origins of their laws, and the rhythms and dances associated with their rites.

Rada - The loas of this nanchon are strong, but benevolent, balanced in their treatment of their servants. These are the most revered spirits, and many Vodou rituals begin with adulations for them. They originate from the Fon people of Dahomey (present day Benin). In Fact, the word Vodou comes from the Fon word for "God". There are many loas in this group. To name a few: Papa Legba – Guardian of the Crossroads; Marassa – twin spirits who represent childhood; Dambala – the serpent spirit who represents energy and life; Ezili Freda – spirit of love and femininity; Lasirèn – mistress of the sea and music. Rhythm and dance styles played for the Rada nanchon include: Yanvalou, Parigol, Zepol, Mahi, Fla Voudou and Daomé.

Nago - The loas of this nanchon represent power. Its members embody attributes of warriors and leaders. They originate from the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria and are closely associated with Ogun (sometimes written Ogou), the Yoruba Blacksmith-God. The loas in this group have names starting with Ogun, like Ogun Fèray and Ogun Badagri. As such, they are represented by steel and fire. The Nago rites are replete with military imagery. These spirits give masculine, fatherly council and support. The rhythm and dance style associated with these rites is also called Nago.

Djouba - The loas of this nanchon are connected to cultivation and farming. They personify peasants, both in appearance and manner. It is surmised that this nanchon comes from the island of Martinique. The principal loa for this group is Azaka. The rhythms and dance styles associated with this nanchon are Djouba (Matinik) and Abitan.

Petwo - The loas of this nanchon are aggressive, demanding, quick and protective. The origins of this nanchon are unclear, but many believe them to be the spirits of the original slaves and Haiti’s indigenous people (The Taino – almost completely wiped out after European contact), a sort of "home-grown" family of spirits. These spirits were called upon during the slave revolts beginning in 1791 which ultimately lead to the defeat of Napoleons troops in 1803 and independence in 1804. The name might be derived from a slave priest of mixed African and Spanish Blood name Don Pedro who was one of the rebellion’s leaders. One of the loas in this nanchon bears his name (Jean Petwo). Another, Ezili Danto - sister to Ezili Freda in the Rada nanchon - is a spirit of love, but with a penchant for violence or revenge. The rhythm and dance styles associate with Petwo include Petwo, Makiya, Bumba, Makanda, and Kita.

Kongo - The loas of this nanchon are ancestors of the Bantu people of the Congo river basin. These spirits are gracious, and enjoy song and dance. In fact, music played for the Kongo nanchon is unique in that it is also popular in secular settings. In vodou worship houses called tanp (from the French temple) dolls representing these spirits are displayed adorned in brightly coloured clothing. Sprits include Kongo Zando and Rwa Wangol. The rhythm and dance style associated with this nanchon goes by the same name.

Ibo – The loas of this nanchon are from the Ibo people in south-eastern Nigeria. Their chief attributes are pride, to the point of arrogance, and are difficult to satisfy. These spirits preside over sacred items called Kanari, clay pots in which the soul of the initiate is said to reside during ritual possession. The best known loa of this group is Ibo Lélé (the chatterer). The rhythm and dance style associated with this nanchon also goes by the same name.

Gède - The loas of this nanchon are the spirits eroticism and death. More accurately they control the cycle of death and life. They are represented by figures in black with white faces. They are also tricksters. The most famous loa of this nanchon is Baron Samedi. He is macabre, obscene and lives in cemeteries. Other loas include Gède Nibo, Baron Lakwa and Gède Zarien. The Vodou ceremony almost always ends with the rites for Gède nanchon. The rhythm and dance style associated with this nanchon is called Banda.

While these seven nanchons all have their distinct attributes, in a more general way the nanchons are divided into two branches, each of which takes its name from one of the nanchons within it. While there is no consensus on this point, it can generally be argued that the Rada branch includes Rada, Nago and Djouba, and the Petwo branch includes Petwo, Kongo, Ibo and Gède. Some people place Djouba under the Petwo Branch, and some others consider the Kongo branch its own entity. For the purposes of drumming, we will use the two-branch differentiation, as rhythms most rhythms being played in non traditional contexts today use either the Rada or Petro batterie.

The Rada batterie and The Petwo batterie display as much contrast as the loas of the nanchon branches for which they play.


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Orisha, an African religion, mostly of Yoruba origin, known also as SHANGO, based on the worship of numerous ORISHA (deities), who also have Catholic counterparts. Worship includes spirit possession, drumming, dancing, chanting, and animal sacrifice. Severely represses at times during the past, it has survived, and is now more openly accepted (Yoruba orisha ‘diety’) = African work, Shango. Devotees of the Orisha or the Rada faiths were often imprisoned and even flogged under an 1868 law which made the practice of ‘Obeah’ a criminal offence.

In Trinidad and Tobago there was a lot mystery surrounding the Orisha religions especially Shango “Spiritual” Baptist. You were always intrigued by the potential for animal sacrifice and what these adults were doing in the cloak of darkness. Reaction against the syncretic tendencies of Spiritual Baptists led to their faith being banned by law in 1917. Steelbands as well was tamboo bamboo bands had a deep connection, in terms of musical influence with Orisha centres. In Trinidad, March 30 is Spiritual Baptist Liberation day because it celebrates the repeal of the “Shouter Prohibition Ordinance”. The ban was repealed in 1951, and later, the repeal became occasion for a national holiday celebrating religious freedom.

Yoruba rites, Holiness Christianity, and witchcraft were all banned by the British, and compiler Dick Spottswood is probably right to insist that calypsonians who mined them masked their commitments--that concealed beneath satire and critique were sympathy and support. But even when Lion or Caresser sings in Yoruba, the camouflage starts with the music, the formulaic charm of which depends on stock melodies and well-rehearsed orchestras. As un-African as any contemporary black Caribbean style save the politest danzón, calypso exemplified what the old ways resisted. Artists may have been attracted to those ways, but not like they were to calypso's urban airs. A concept that subsumes such mixed motives is exploitation, which I mean unpejoratively, although a religious person might demur. Meanwhile nobody's done it better than the 1930s "golden age" calypsonians. These musicians let us in on the arcane secrets of Shango, Obeah's supernatural power brokers, and the inspired incantations of old-time Shouter Baptists, interpreting everything according to the unique insights of calypso.

Shango, Shouter & Obeah. Supernatural Calypso from Trinidad 1934-40      (flac  252mb)

Shango
01 The Caresser - Shango 2:54
02 King Radio & The Lion - Abyssinian Lament 2:57
03 The Lion - African War Call 2:49
04 The Lion - Ho Syne No Day 2:32
05 Lord Executor - Three Friends' Advice 3:00
06 The Tiger - Yaraba Shango 2:59
07 Keskidee Trio - Shango 3:00
08 The Caresser - Amanja Soqua Me 2:28
09 The Lion - Shango Dance 2:28
10 The Lion - Shango 2:54
11 The Growler - The Bongo Dance 2:59
Obeah
12 The Lion - Sucoyen 3:15
13 Lord Executor - The Lajabless Woman 2:43
14 The Tiger - The Mysterious Tunapuna Woman 2:54
15 Wilmoth Houdini - Don't Do That To Me 2:58
16 Lionel Belasco's Orchestra - Trinidad Obeah Man 2:59
17 Lord Ziegfield - Lillian's Slackness 2:28
18 The Growler - I Don't Want No More Calaloo 2:43
19 Atilla The Hun & Lord Executor - Jim Congo Meyer 2:50
20 Wilmoth Houdini - The Devil Behind Me 3:03
Shouter
21 The Lion - Believers In The Land Of Glory 2:56
22 The Lion - Jonah, Come Out The Wilderness 2:35
23 The Growler - The Coldness Of The Water 3:07
24 The Lion - Happy Land Of Canaan 2:38
25 King Radio - Preacher Man 3:02
26 King Radio - Too Much Sorrows And Pain 2:30

Shango, Shouter & Obeah. Supernatural Calypso from Trinidad 1934-40    (ogg    133mb)

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When the West African nations of Guinea and Mali gained independence from France at the end of the 1950s, their respective Presidents, Sékou Touré and Modibo Keïta insisted that their countries, now free of colonial rule, have an orchestre in every region. Touré came up with the term “authenticitie” and encouraged local bands to eschew foreign influence and instead, dig into the country's own roots for popular styles. Needless to say that by the end of the 1960s, both countries were cranking out recordings of some of the hottest electric ensemble playing to found on the planet. Yet, at roughly the same time, Haiti, long independent from France, squirmed under the thumb of US-backed dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his murderous henchmen, the Tontons Macoutes. Yet, when not busy extorting, torturing, intimidating and disappearing his fellow countrymen and women, he had an idea similar to Touré's, and set about using state radio, as well as a then emerging musical style- compas direct- to give Haiti its own authentic pop music. Out of this period came some of Haiti's best-known bands, Les Ambassadeurs, Tabou Combo and Group les Chleu-Chleu among them. Extended riffing featuring accordion, the single or twin-guitar twoubadou (troubadour) folklore, amped-up meringue and excursions into raw Cuban mambo spilled out of LPs recorded in Haiti on tiny labels and then often mastered and released in NYC and other parts of the Caribbean, where there were loads of Haitian expats to buy them. These styles and bands percolate for over 2 discs and as many hours for what might be the Strut label's finest hour, and this collection proves the music was as hot as Duvalier's reign was repulsive.

The first album focuses on the early 1970s, and is dominated by slowed-down meringue rhythms (a style both Haiti and its neighbor, the Dominican Republic claim as their own) and mambo grooves influenced by the peripatetic, Haiti-to-Cuba-and-back lives many Haitians lived in the first half of the 20th century. Spanish minor keys run throughout many of these songs, but then so do blasts of horns and scorching guitar licks as hot as anything from their West African contemporaries. There are pauses in the intensity here and there, as acoustic-based rural twoubadou legend Ti Paris makes a brief appearance. Paris rides single chord drones and nearly trance-inducing repetition as radical, if not as driving as north Mississippi's Fred McDowell on “Cochon St. Antoine,” from his sole LP, 1970's “et sa Guitare” (which just received a limited run, vinyl-only release by Portland, Oregon's Little Axe records). Also on the first album is an example of ra ra, a rural style dominated by the Vaksin, a single-note bamboo flute with a sound not unlike its Sudanese and Ugandan counterparts. Needless to say, the call and response chants, percussion and, or course the horn, bring this track closer to Africa than anything else in the collection. Yet it's Haiti's own compas direct style, a big band update on the twoubadou style popularized by Trio Select and others that is the focus here. There are unconscious connections to everything from Garifuna rhythms up the Caribbean coast of Central America to beguine and tumbele that dominated the French-controlled islands Guadeloupe and Martinique. Yet compas direct had sustained drive unique to Haiti- an ability to lock into a vamp and hold it until it built on itself with the same fervor employed in hardcore black gospel from the US.

By album two, we've moved back to the early sixties (with one track from the early 50s), before the mini-jazz shift. Here the Cuban influence is much more overt and the orchestres much more horn dominated. Clave rhythms can be heard on tracks by Super Jazz des Jeunes and Pierre Blain et Orchestre Murat Pierre. What typically sets Cuban-inspired African and Haitian music apart from Cuba itself is the absence of piano. Yet, one appears on Orchestre Septentrional's infectious rhumba, “Bapteme Ratt.” Even the organ and guitar dominated track “Calma Pelerin,” recorded in '71 by the Ensemble Meridonal des Cayes, wraps itself in Cuban rhythms. Yet, then there's also raw electric twoubadou from the Etoile du Soir and Trio Select that can't be described as anything but Haitian. Here, clotted guitars intertwine and weave over and under call and response with a stealth that's foreboding and slightly menacing. However, the mere fact that the second album is so overtly Cuban in origin detracts from the fact that Haiti did have a distinct if clearly-derivative popular musical style. Not only that, disc two becomes a bit uneven in its second half, with slickly produced Haitian New Yorkers playing something getting a bit too close to jazz fusion on at least one track. Despite this flaw, Haiti Direct, with extensive liner notes by Hugo Mendez detailing the music's rise, complete with narrative from the musicians themselves and track by track information, is without any question, one of the fieriest collections of large and small band dance music ever collected from the Western hemisphere, and it's as baffling as it is jaw-dropping that it's just now seeing the light of day.

 Haiti Direct Big Band, Mini Jazz n Twoubadou Sounds, 60-78    (flac  453mb)

01 Ibo Combo - Ti Garçon 3:57
02 Les Vikings - Choc Vikings 4:21
03 Les Animateurs - Ti Machine 6:56
04 Les Loups Noirs - Pile Ou Face 5:13
05 Rodrigue Milien Et Son Groupe Combite Creole - 6ème Leçon 5:58
06 Bossa Combo - Line 5:29
07 Les Fantaisistes De Carrefour - Panno Caye Nan Bois Chêne 4:30
08 Ti Paris - Cochon St. Antoine 3:33
09 Groupe Les Chleu-Chleu - Compas X 3:58
10 Râ Râ De Léogane - Gadé Moune Yo 4:22
11 Les Difficiles De Pétion-Ville An Septième 5:53
12 Tabou Combo - Ce Pas 2:44
13 Les Pachas Du Canapé Vert - Désordre Musical 4:53
14 Scorpio Universel - Ti Lu Lupe 7:54

Haiti Direct Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, 60-78  (ogg  174mb)

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 Haiti Direct Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds 2    (flac  398mb)

15 Raoul Guillaume Et Son Groupe - Mal Élevé 3:30
16 Super Jazz Des Jeunes - Coté Moune Yo 3:17
17 Pierre Blain Et Orchestre Murat Pierre - Jouc Li Jou 2:30
18 Ensemble Meridional Des Cayes - Calma Pèlerin 10:02
19 Ensemble Etoile Du Soir - Messe Quatre Heures 3:00
20 Nemours Jean-Baptiste - Ti Carole 6:04
21 Orchestre Septentrional - Baptême Ratt 3:05
22 Trio Select - Ensemble Select En Action 3:00
23 Les Ambassadeurs - Homenaje A Los Ambajadores 7:50
24 Les Frères Déjean - L'Artibonite 6:01
25 Caribbean Sextet - Suspan'n 4:25
26 Djet-X - Jive Turkey 5:40
27 Orchestre Webert Sicot - Ambiance Cadence 5:59
28 Orchestre Tropicana D'Haiti - Poun Paciance 6:33

Haiti Direct Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds 2    (ogg  153mb)

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Curator Vik Sohonie, has managed to include the travelogue of his visits to one of NYC's Haitian neighborhoods, Crown Heights, and Haiti itself, both places he scoured for vinyl, into fantastically descriptive and enlightening booklet notes. Those stories, plus a brief history of Haitian music's development in the 20th century, as well as interviews with band members, record label owners and engineers, go quite far indeed in giving as good a compact understanding of how this little sliver of a nation, despite US occupation, gun-barrel leadership by one despot after another, endemic poverty, and the corruption that comes as a result of all of these items and more, managed to have such a vibrant scene over the 20 year period chronicled here.

Sohonie explains that radio, which continues to exert a massive social force, had a lot to do with a development of any sort of modern Haitian music. Soul and jazz from the US, rancheros from Mexico, and more importantly still, sons from Cuba, all influenced, but ultimately gave way to Haitian sounds, themselves connected as much to their northern neighbors as they were to a variety of rhythms that had existed intact in Haiti for centuries. Yet, something like “Erzulie Oh!” by Super Jazz de Jeunes is almost reekingly Latin; Nemours Jean Baptiste's “Haiti Cumbia,” is exactly what its title claims, showing that sounds from coastal Colombia pervaded Haiti's radio stations as well. Yet, underpinning so much of this music are Haitian rhythms such as Petwo and Djo, which mutated slightly over time and punctuated Haitian music in one way or another. And it's these type of rhythmic subtleties that allows the music here to stand on its own.

Haiti may have never had the resources to compete with its neighbors such as Jamaica, Cuba, or the Dominican Republic in terms of vinyl production or record sales, but thanks to a huge Haitian diaspora- brought about at least in large part by the tyrannical reign of both “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier between 1963 and 1986, records were produced to sell to Haitians elsewhere in the French Caribbean and the US, hence the massive amounts of Haitian vinyl that continues to turn up in NYC. It's those records that have allowed for this compilation to happen, and from absurdly hot tracks such Les Pachas du Canape Vert's “Samba Pachas No. 2,” Trio Select's “La Vie Vieux Negre,” and Les Loups Noirs “Pele Rien,” it never lets up.

Tanbou Toujou Lou; Meringue, Kompa Kreyol, Vodou Jazz, & Electric Folklore from Haiti 60-81    (flac  512mb)

01 Zotobre - Lagen 4:17
02 Les Gypsies De Pétion Ville - Francine 3:21
03 Les Loups Noirs - Bebe Showman 3:21
04 Tabou Combo - Gislene 3:05
05 Trio Select - La Vie Vieux Negre 3:26
06 Rodrigue Milien Et Son Groupe Combite Creole - Rapadou 4:00
07 Les Loups Noirs - Pele Rien 3:29
08 Super Jazz des Jeunes - Erzulie Oh! 5:30
09 Nemours Jn. Baptiste & Son Ensemble - Haiti Cumbia 2:15
10 Super Ensemble Webert Sicot - Prend Courage 2:58
11 Super Jazz des Jeunes - Lonin 3:10
12 Ensemble Etoile Du Soir - Tripotage 2:56
13 Zotobre - Ochan 5:07
14 Chanel 10 - Lola 8:03
15 Super Choucoune - Madeleine 2:10
16 Les Pachas Du Canape Vert - Samba Pachas No. 2 3:31
17 Ibo Combo - Souffrance 5:45
18 Les Shleu-Shleu - Diable La 5:15
19 Shupa Shupa - Epoque Chaleur 3:49
20 L'Orchestre de la Radio Nationale d'Haiti - Meci Bon Dieu 4:50

Tanbou Toujou Lou; Meringue, Kompa Kreyol, Vodou Jazz, & Electric Folklore from Haiti 60-81  (ogg  212mb)

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