Haiti’s Orchestre Septentrional has been making music for 60+ years, blending Cuban big band and Haitian vodou beats. The 20 piece band fuses Cuban big band music and Haitian voodoo. …
Listen to 3 essential Haitian albums
One of the exciting parts about working on the Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms & The Music of New Orleans documentary was discovering so much amazing Haitian music. Below are five highly …
Listen to 10 songs by Moonlight Benjamin
Singer and songwriter Moonlight Benjamin fuses Caribbean voodoo melodies and rhythms, and American jazz, blues and rock. Benjamin, who is a voodoo priestess, was raised in Haiti and is based …
Listen to Afropop Worldwide: From Haiti to the World
In this episode of Afropop Worldwide, host Georges Collinet presents a show about how Haitian musicians are shaking up, and influencing the music scene. Listen to the show, below the …
Listen to a new song by Dro X Yani
Dro X Yani are the sons of Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, musician and former President of Haiti. They have been increasingly evolving and building upon the sound of Haitian Kompa …
Watch Preservation Hall Jazz Band perform on World Cafe
Ben Jaffe plays bass and tuba, and is the creative director of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Jaffe is featured in the documentary, Kanaval: Haitian Music & the Music of …
Listen to a playlist curated by novelist Madison Smartt Bell
In 2009, novelist Madison Smartt Bell curated a Haitian music playlist for The New York Times. Bell is known for a trilogy of books about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian …
Exploring the parade route of kanaval in New Orleans
As part of a series about Kanaval, produced by New Orleans based producer Eve Abrams for WWNO, Abrams – who was a producer on the team that produced the Kanaval …
Kanaval Imitates Life by Nathalie Cerin
Every year, right after Christmas, bands in Haiti – popular and unpopular – across genres begin releasing their Kanaval song or mereng in time for Carnival celebration. Every year, we …
Listen: Folk Music In Haiti
Released in 1961 on Folkways Records, Music of Haiti: Vol. 1, Folk Music of Haiti is an exquisite collection of Haitian folk music field recordings from the mountain villages of …