The music of Haiti combines a wide range of influences drawn from the many people who have settled on this Caribbean island. It reflects French, African rhythms, Spanish elements and others who have inhabited the island of Hispaniola and minor native Taino influences. Styles of music unique to the nation of Haiti include music derived from rara parading music, twoubadou ballads, mini-jazz rock bands, rasin movement, hip hop Creòle, the wildly popular compas, and méringue as its basic rhythm. Haiti did not have recorded music until 1937 when Jazz Guignard was recorded non-commercially. One of the most current popular Haitian artists is Wyclef Jean. His music is somewhat hip hop mixed with worldbeat. Haitian music is influenced mostly by European colonial ties and African migration. In the case of European colonization, musical influence has derived primarily from the French.
Faustin-Élie Soulouque was a Haitian politician and military commander who served as President of Haiti from 1847 to 1849 and Emperor of Haiti from 1849 to 1859.
The culture of Haiti is an eclectic mix of African, Taino and European elements due to the French colonization of Saint Domingue and its large and diverse enslaved African population, as is evidenced in the Haitian language, music, and religion.
Boukman Eksperyans is a mizik rasin band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Grammy nominated for their debut album Vodou Adjae. The band derives its name from Dutty Boukman, a vodou priest who led a religious ceremony in 1791 that is widely considered the start of the Haitian Revolution. The other half of the band's name, "Eksperyans", is the Haitian Creole word for "experience", and was inspired by the band's appreciation of the music of Jimi Hendrix. The band was at the height of its popularity in 1991 when the presidency of Jean Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a military coup d'etat. Like many other artists and performers, Boukman Eksperyans fled the country to live in exile. During their time abroad, the band performed and spoke out against the military dictatorship of Raoul Cédras. In 1994, after Aristide was restored to power, the band returned to Haiti, where they continued to play concerts, record albums, and perform at the Carnival celebrations.
RAM is a mizik rasin band based in the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The band derives its name from the initials of its founder, songwriter, and lead male vocalist, Richard A. Morse. The band's music has been described by Morse as "Vodou rock 'n' roots", and has been one of the prominent bands in the mizik rasin musical movement in Haiti. RAM began performing together in 1990, and recorded their first album in 1996. The band's music incorporates traditional Vodou lyrics and instruments, such as rara horns and petro drums, into modern rock and roll. The band's songs include lyrics in Haitian Creole, French, and English.
The Catholic Church in Haiti is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope, the Curia in Rome and the Conference of Haitian Bishops.
Rasin, also known as Haitian roots music, is a musical style that began in Haiti in the 1970s when musicians began combining elements of traditional Haitian Vodou ceremonial and folkloric music with various musical styles. The late 20th century style of this music links to the roots of Vodou tradition, where it came to be known as mizik rasin later in Haitian Creole. Modern-day, the movement is often referred to simply as "rasin" or "racine".
Préfète Duffaut was a Haitian painter.
Marilyn Jensen Houlberg was a professor, art historian, anthropologist, photographer, and curator. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Houlberg traveled extensively, conducting art historical and anthropological research in countries across the Caribbean and western Africa. She is known for curating exhibitions based on the religious icons and visual practices of Haitian Vodou and her anthropological research on the culture of the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria. Her photography archives and visual art collections are housed in various institutions throughout the United States. She was Professor Emeritus of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she taught for over twenty years.
Haitian art is a complex tradition, reflecting African roots with strong Indigenous, American and European aesthetic and religious influences. It is an important representation of Haitian culture and history.
Arnold Antonin is a Haitian film director. A man of diverse careers, Arnold Antonin is known both inside and outside Haiti for his social, political and cultural commitment. He was honored for lifetime achievement with the Djibril Diop Mambety award at the International Film Cannes Festival in 2002. He received the Paul Robeson African Diaspora best film award at FESPACO in Ouagadougou in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He also received numerous awards and accolades at festivals for his documentaries and fiction movies. He was president of the Haitian Filmmakers Association (AHC) from 2005 to 2009.
Port-au-Prince is an arrondissement in the Ouest department of Haiti. It had 2,109,516 inhabitants at the 2003 Census which was estimated to have risen to 2,759,991 in 2015 in an area of 735.78 sq km. Postal codes in the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement start with the number 61.
Haiti, for much of its history and up to the present day, has been prevailingly a Christian country, primarily Roman Catholic, although in some instances it is profoundly modified and influenced through syncretism. A common syncretic religion is Vodou, which combined the Yoruba religion of enslaved Africans with Catholicism and some Native American strands; it shows similarities, and shares many deity-saints, with Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The constitution of Haiti establishes the freedom of religion and does not establish a state religion, although the Catholic Church receives some preferential treatment.
Haitian Carnival is a celebration held over several weeks each year leading up to Mardi Gras. Haitian Defile Kanaval is the Haitian Creole name of the main annual Mardi Gras carnival held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Frisner Augustin was a major performer and composer of Haitian Vodou drumming, and the first and only citizen of Haiti to win a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in the United States, where he resided for forty years.
Haitian Vodou art is art related to the Haitian Vodou religion. This religion has its roots in West African traditional religions brought to Haiti by slaves, but has assimilated elements from Europe and the Americas and continues to evolve. The most distinctive Vodou art form is the drapo Vodou, an embroidered flag often decorated with sequins or beads, but the term covers a wide range of visual art forms including paintings, embroidered clothing, clay or wooden figures, musical instruments and assemblages. Since the 1950s there has been growing demand for Vodou art by tourists and collectors.
The Ghetto Biennale is an international contemporary arts exhibition held every two years in Port-au-Prince, Haiti during November and December.
Myrlande Constant is a Haitian textile artist who specializes in Vodou themed flags, or drapo Vodou. Since she began making Vodou flags in the 1990s, she has transformed and surpassed this medium, preferring to make large-scale tableau, she describes her work as "painting with beads." Constant is married and the mother of four children.
Lina Mathon-Blanchet was a Haitian pianist, music teacher and composer. First director of the Conservatoire National, she was interested in Haiti's folkloric traditions and was one of the first performers to include Vodou-influenced theatrical performances on the public stage in the country. Founding several folkloric troupes, she led her artists on tours throughout the United States and was noted as a teacher and mentor to many prominent Haitian performers. Trained in classical music traditions she collected traditional songs documenting the lyrics, melodies, and rhythms found as traditional themes in Haitian music. She is widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in the development of music in Haiti in the twentieth-century.
Claudine Michel is the editor of the Journal of Haitian Studies and a professor emerita of Black studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Michel is the Director of the UCSB Center for Black Studies Research. She is a Haitian native and practitioner of Haitian Vodou, and has done much in the field of Haitian studies.
