County in the West Indies. It is located on the island of Hispaniola.
ROBERT GRENIER (I), GAGE AVERILL (II)
The tradition of Western music may be dated to 6 January 1497, when Spanish colonists celebrated the first sung mass at Ysabella, near present-day Cap-Haïtien. Under Spanish rule important institutions that promoted sacred music were created: in 1504 the archdiocese of Santo Domingo was founded, and by 1540 the organist and canon of the cathedral Cristobal de Llerma had established music as a prerequisite for the degree of Doctor of Arts at the University of Santo Thomas de Aquino, founded in 1538.
In 1697 the Treaty of Ryswick confirmed French title to the western portion of Hispaniola, which was re-named Saint-Domingue, and by the early 18th century the rich plantation society was emulating the urban culture of France. In 1750 Port-au-Prince became the colonial capital; the wind band of its militia began the tradition of public concerts. The earliest efforts in theatre music can be dated to the 1740s in Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien), and from 1764 regular seasons of opera were given there. By the end of the colonial period there were theatres in Port-au-Prince, St Marc, Léogâne, Cap-Français, Les Cayes, Jérémie, Petit-Goâve and Jacmel. Some, such as that of Cap-Français, could seat 1500. As professional performances became more frequent, so there were growing numbers of private music instructors and music shops. In 1785 the colony’s first professional music critic, Charles Mozard, noted in his journal Affiches américanes that the stages of St Domingue were graced by local talent of mixed race.
Before the slave revolts of 1791–1804 brought an end to this culture, the theatre repertory in St Domingue reflected that of Paris, dominated by such composers as Grétry, Philidor, Monsigny, Gluck and Gossec. A biographical dictionary lists more than 300 artists appearing in the colony’s theatres in the late 18th century. Though the period immediately after the revolution saw an attempt to revive the theatre, the politically motivated fare found little favour with the citizens of the newly named republic of Haiti. But despite the expulsion of the French colonists, the cultural standards they established survived into the next century.
Haiti in the 19th century saw the establishment of the military wind band, or fanfare, as the only provider of a steady income for professional musicians. Fanfares were located in the principal towns and provided Sunday concerts featuring a repertory of fashionable quadrilles, marches and waltzes of European origin. In 1860 the concordat that Haiti signed with the Vatican resulted in an influx of trained music teachers of the religious orders who came to establish schools, which soon founded their own fanfares, rivalling the more polished, government-sponsored groups. In the 1960s, following the government’s attempt to employ school fanfares to political ends, the music courses at these schools were officially disbanded. In 1955 the Conservatoire National was founded, to be reborn in 1987 as ENARTS (Ecole National des Arts), though the most important teaching institution promoting Western art music is the Ecole Ste Trinité in Port-au-Prince, with over 1000 students.
Indigenous art music has its origins in the French colonial period, when symphonies and concertos were composed by theatre musicians. After the revolution there was a desire to retain European standards while including local features. The compositions of Occide Jeanty (1860–1936), bandleader of the government’s Musique du Palais, typify this tendency: his medium was the fanfare, for which he produced works with a political dimension, such as his 1804 commemorating the independence of Haiti. The shock of the American occupation of 1915–34 resulted in a greater emphasis being placed on folk elements by such composers as Ludovic Lamothe (1882–1953), Justin Elie (1883–1931) and Franck Lassègue (1890–1940). Werner Jaegerhuber (1900–53), the most prominent Haitian composer, has had among his successors Frantz Casseus (1915–93), Robert Durand (1917–95), Carmen Brouard (b1914) and Amos Coulanges (b1955).
J.G. Cale: French Secular Music in Saint-Domingue (1750–1795) Viewed as a Factor in America’s Musical Growth (diss., Louisiana State U., 1971)
M.D. Largey: Musical Ethnography in Haiti: a Study of Elite Hegemony and Musical Composition (diss., U. of Indiana, 1991)
Following the 1804 declaration of independence from France, the first ‘Black Republic’ in the world was the site of a particularly rich encounter between African and European cultures. It is the poorest country of the western hemisphere, and its population is still largely rural. There is a deep divide between the city and countryside, marked by differences of language (French, Creole), religion (Christian, Vodou), literacy and culture. Creolized African and European genres, syncretic genres and popular music are heavily influenced by globally circulating popular culture.
2. Music of festivals, daily life and recreation.
Slaves came to the former colony of Saint-Domingue from areas of West and Central Africa. In the new environment, they were often grouped by ethnic origins and came to conceive of themselves as members of various nanchon (nation) including Daome-Ginen (Dahomey), Kongo (Congo river delta peoples), Mina (Akan), Ibo (Igbo) and Nago (Yoruba). African religions flourished among colonies of escaped slaves and mixed with Catholicism on the plantations.
The religion that emerged is often called Vodou (from the Fon word for ‘spirit’) and draws heavily on Ewe-Fon and Kongo beliefs. Religious officiants are most often known as ougan (male) and manbo (female). During the early decades of Haiti’s independence, when the Vatican refused to recognize the nascent state, Vodou became deeply entrenched as the folk religion and it is still practised by the majority, despite a nominal adherence to Catholicism on the part of most Haitians. Vodou, and its sense of the interdependence of humans and lwa (spirits), underlies much of Haitian peasant and lower-class worldviews.
Despite differences between the regions, nanchons or ‘branches’ of Vodou, there are many commonalities to Vodou worship. The lwa, who may also be called zany (angels) or mistè (mysteries), are thought to live in Ginen (a spiritual African homeland) or anba dlo (under the sea) and are invited into a Vodou dans (ceremony) to possess Vodou initiates (ounsi), who are considered as ‘horses’ to be riden by the lwa.
Drumming and song serve as offerings (along with food, drink, animal sacrifice, candles and dance), as calls to the lwa to enter the ceremony and as one of many ‘points of contact’ with the lwa. Songs may honour a deity or attempt to send away the lwa; honorific songs, which often display European-style drumming and harmonic implications, are called ochan.
Songs are almost always sung in call-and-response fashion between the song leader and the congregation, spoken of in Haiti as voye chante (‘sending a song’) and ranmase chante (‘gathering a song’). There is considerable variation in the length, text and melodic patterns used. Tonal relations also vary considerably due to the many historical sources for the songs. However, the majority of Vodou songs are of an anhemitonic pentatonic character, occasionally with added transitional tones. Some alternate between two tonal centres, often a tone apart.
Vodou songs can be difficult to interpret as they make use of a mystical language called langaj, allusive lyrics that frequently shift subject, nonsense phrases and concepts accessible only to those who have attained konesans (‘understanding’). Scholars have classed these songs according to the lwa to which they refer; the rites to which they belong; their formal structure, function or topic; or by the literary tropes with which they engage. Songs may list attributes of the lwa in the tradition of West African praise poetry, censure individuals or groups (as in the case of the chan pwen or ‘sung point’), comment philosophically on life (perhaps employing pawol granmoun or proverbs), comment on ritual activities and actions of the service, or may speak more generally to issues such as slavery and separation from Africa.
Major Vodou rituals include the manje lwa (offering of food to the lwa), manje mò (offering of food to the dead); initiation ceremonies such as lave tèt (‘wash the head’ or baptism), kanzo (fire ritual with the boule zen or ‘burning of the pots’), or prizdezyè (‘taking of the eyes’, an initiation into the highest stage of priesthood); a maryaj (mystical marriage to a lwa) and Friday night dans (dance ceremonies). Many ceremonies commence with a litany of Catholic prayers, chants and canticles, known as the priyè djò (God’s prayer) which is sometimes followed by the priyè ginen (African prayer).
One can find Vodou practised informally within the family, contractually with specialists (bokò) in the preparations of protective magic, within congregations (sosyete) headed by an ougan and based in an ounfò (from the Fon for ‘spirit house’) or temple, or within a rural extended-family lakou (an African-style compound). ‘Single-nation’ rites such as Nago, Kongo, Banda or Daome ceremonies can also be found. However, the dominant pattern since the Haitian revolution has been to gather most Vodou deities and rituals within one of two major rites, Rada or Petwo.
Rada, which unites most of the lwa and ceremonies of the Daome, Mina, Nago and nanchon, is considered older, more African and ‘cooler’ than the fiery and militaristic Petwo. Petwo rituals (often referred to as Petwo-Kongo) come primarily from the Kongo peoples and were forged in the independence struggle. The distinctions between these rites are not always clear, and many lwa either straddle the two or exist on both sides of the divide (i.e. the Ibo, Gède or djouba families).
These feature three cowhide-covered drums (of Dahomey origin) carved from logs with the skins attached by means of a system of cords and pegs (fig.1). The largest drum, the manman (mother) or ountò, is played with a single angled stick (agida) and a bare hand; it cues and signals the ensemble and dancers and plays elaborate variations. The mid-sized segon converses with the manman and is played with two sticks, one curved and one straight. The boula or piti, the smallest and highest in pitch, is played with two straight sticks, and plays a repeated pattern. In some areas, a frame drum (bas) may also be played. The timeline pattern is played on the ogan, an iron idiophone, while a sacred rattle called the ason, symbolic of the priesthood and sometimes beaded on the outside with snake vertebrae, is played by the priest or the oudjènikon, an assistant in charge of songs. The majority of Rada rhythms are in what might be described as a 12/8 metre. The boula pattern on the second and third beats of each group of three is also relatively invariant across this repertory (see the parts for ogan, aeon and boula in ex.1).
Rada songs are addressed to deities such as Legba, who opens the gates to the ceremony; the serpent lwa Danbala and his mate Ayida Wèdo; Agwe, spirit of the sea; or Kouzen Zaka, the archetypal peasant deity for whom the djouba is danced. Common rhythms played in Rada ceremonies include yanvalou (the centrepiece of a Rada dans), mayi, zepòl and nago. Dances typically proceed anticlockwise around the poto mitan, but changes in the choreography are introduced by ‘breaks’ (kase) in the rhythm, which often have the effect of precipitating possessions. Fleurant (1996) has classified the obligatory sequences of dances that appear in Rada ceremonial contexts.
In some areas of Haiti, a large Dahomey drum called the asotò (inhabited by the lwa Asotò) features in a ritual in which the congregation circles an asotò (or pair of asotò) and, on a cue from the rada drum battery, advances to strike the drumhead with sticks. All the instruments in Vodou ceremonies are treated as spirits: baptized, ‘put to sleep’ (kouche tanbou) when not in use, and given offerings as though they were lwa.
These rites honour the lwa of the Kongo and Petwo families as well as featuring songs and dances dedicated to the djouba, Ibo and Gède deities (these may also figure in some Rada rites). The lwa of Petwo are typically hotter in temperament, more demonstrative and theatrical. Petwo drums are played in sets of two: gwo baka (manman) and ti baka (piti). These carved, conical drums are played with the hands and have goatskin heads which are laced to the body of the drum (and tuned) with ligament. The drums are accompanied by an ogan bell and a tchatcha rattle which is usually a gourd filled with pellets; there may also be a timeline (kata) beaten with sticks on a small drum or board. Various kongo rhythms as well as kita, boumba, djouba, ibo and banda rhythms can all be found in Petwo rites; with the exception of the djouba, almost all of these rhythms are in duple metre.
Other instruments used in Petwo-Kongo ceremonies include the lanbi or conch shell trumpet (a symbol of slave rebellion, maroon communities and deities of the sea) and a whistle (siflèt). The latter is used with the whip in Petwo ceremonies in an intentional inversion of their oppressive roles during slavery (Wilcken, 1992). Kongo ceremonies can also take place outside of Petwo, when they utilize a three-drum Kongo ensemble featuring a double-headed cylindrical drum called timbal. The timbal is played with two sticks and is accompanied by drums similar (or identical) to Petwo baka drums.
The Gède spirits (such as Bawon Samdi and Gède Nibo) rule the cemetery, govern transitions between life and death, and have an important role in fertility and rebirth. Despite their Dahomey origins, they stand somewhat outside Rada and Petwo, tending to be comically obscene, unpredictable or even terrifying. The banda dance associated with the Gède family is a highly expressive solo form with an exaggerated rolling of the hips known as gouyad; it may take place at funerals during the Gède ceremonies around All Souls’ Day. Banda drumming technique resembles that of djouba (see §2(iv)), including the use of a kata and a drum laid on the ground which is played with heel pressure. The rhythms themselves are closer to a fast Petwo.
A number of repressive campaigns have been carried out against Vodou in the belief that it is primitive or demonic, including the anti-superstition or renunciation campaign of the early 1940s. In the late 1980s, many Vodou priests were killed in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Duvalier dictatorship because of the high rate of ougan (officiants) in Duvalier’s militia (the Tonton Makout). Vodou is disparaged by many of the middle class and élite, although elements of Vodou belief (or at least a fear of its power) are widespread even in these social groups. In addition, caricatures of Voodoo dolls and zombies, popularized through Hollywood horror films, have reinforced fears of Vodou that emerged among colonists during the African slave insurrections.
This springtime festivity takes place largely during Lent and increases in frequency towards Easter weekend. It appears to have developed from the French colonial practice of holding a second carnival (Carnaval Carême) at the end of Lent, prior to Easter, when slave processionals with mock-royal costumes visited the ‘great houses’ on the plantation to solicit donations of food and money.
Rara bands are now organized throughout Haiti and among Haitians in the Dominican Republic with well-known centres of activity. In some areas a rara band may also be a kongo or a secret society (known as Bizango or Chanpwèl).
Rara is considered a sacred obligation to the lwa and many of its rituals have roots in Vodou (fig.2). Deploying flag carriers (pòt drapo) and using military titles, rara bands reflect the militarism of Petwo-Kongo and may be understood as a public projection of Petwo-Kongo rites. For example, the kata pattern (played on a variety of iron instruments) is essentially a Petwo kata, while the kolonèl (colonel) figure makes use of a whip and whistle (as in Petwo) to direct the band and to purify space. Additionally, the drums and percussion instruments are essentially those used in Petwo and Kongo ceremonies: a gwo baka drum strapped to the drummer, tanbouren or bas frame drums, timbal (double-headed Kongo drums played with two sticks like a side drum), a tchancy (a large rattle made of tin, often in the shape of a cross), Petwo tchatcha and graj scrapers.
The rara instrumental ensemble features single-note bamboo trumpets, vaksin or banbou, and tin trumpets called konè (from coronet). The three vaksin, open at one end with a mouth-hole cut into a bamboo node at the other, sound a composite ostinato figure; the players also tap the bamboo tubes with sticks in order to add an additional layer of percussion. Konè players may reinforce the vaksin ostinato, play improvised patterns, or hum the melody of the song while blowing to create a mysterious, kazoo-like complement to the song.
There are many tuning systems used for vaksin but usually they exploit approximate minor 3rd intervals (creating tritones and arpeggiated diminished chords, but without a harmonic intent), with two of the vaksin often tuned approximately a semitone apart. One of the vaksin pitches generally serves as the tonal centre of rara songs. Like Vodou songs, most rara songs exhibit anhemitonic pentatonic melodies and may contain additional pitches that could be characterized as ‘passing’ tones, with the result that the vaksin and song melodies share some pitches, but also contain other pitches that are exclusive to each and add tension to the overall sound.
In the front of the rara group, a leader or mèt (‘owner’) parades with the kolonèl, a flag carrier and a group of costumed baton majors who carry and manipulate sacred batons while dressed in sequined vests and smocks, usually with pantalons, stockings and a cap or headdress. They dance tributes (ochan) to the patrons of the bands, while donations are collected by rèn (queens) dressed in red, who are the most ardent dancers of the band.
The procession dances to a raboday rhythm while marching, rolling waists in gouyad style. Graceful minuets from the French court are performed by the baton majors to the mazoun rhythm; various banda and Petwo-Kongo rhythms may also make an appearance. Songs, composed and led by a sanba (traditional peasant song leader), are topical and sometimes obscenely playful, often criticizing or ridiculing those perceived to have transgressed against the group or to have fallen short in public life.
The atmosphere in a rara is one of exuberant freedom and playfulness, but there is also a sense of danger. Suspicion and competition characterized the relationships between many rara bands and some even attempt to break up other bands with magic packets or powders; jealous lwa are also believed to interfere with the discipline and unity of rara groups devoted to their rivals. In general, the diverse mix of elements makes rara an exceedingly complex event and one of great importance in the ritual calendar of rural Haiti.
Haitian carnival (kanaval in Creole), taking place in the three or so days before Lent, was formerly a grand event in Haiti’s major provincial cities, but has since declined; currently Port-au-Prince’s carnival dwarfs the few remaining provincial events. Hundreds of bann apiye (‘bands on foot’) march through the streets playing percussion, singing and dancing. Costumes are not a central feature of carnival (as in Trinidad or Rio de Janeiro) but there are still many traditional masques in the procession, including chaloska (menacing soldiers), zombies and stickfighting endyèn madigra (Mardi Gras Indians). Many of the bann apye are similar to rara bands (indeed, many rara bands take part), featuring vaksin and kongo percussion (ex.2). The rhythms they play can include rara rhythms, a Kongo festival rhythm called kongo payèt and a carnival rhythm called maskawon. Songs in méringue (merengue) style and set to a frenetic carnival tempo are called mereng kanaval or mereng koudyay.
In addition to the bann apye, modern carnival features processional brass bands and a number of popular music ensembles (featuring electric instruments and amplifiers) who record competitive carnival songs and perform on flatbed trucks and stages in downtown Port-au-Prince. As in other carnival-celebrating cultures of the Americas, prizes are awarded for the best song and best float. With its exuberance and its ability to mass tens of thousands from Haiti’s poorer classes, carnival has been harnessed to serve a wide variety of political functions.
A konbit (cooperative work association) involves a system of mutual self-help and has counterparts in West African agricultural practices. Konbit are organized differently in various parts of Haiti but generally consist of a group that supplies labour for planting (or harvesting) to its members on a rotating basis. The recipient of the free labour reciprocates with a meal and often hosts a night of music and dance. In certain parts of Haiti, konbits may also be sosyete kongo (kongo societies); elsewhere, the konbit may be called an eskwad (squadron) or a kòvè (Fr. corvée, a legacy of slave labour practices). The labour is often accompanied by a musical ensemble whose only duty is to entertain and inspire the workers and may include a simple hoe blade on which the singer taps a timeline, a kongo percussion ensemble or a full complement of vaksin as in a rara ensemble. The simidor (or sanba) leads songs and improvises lyrics on topical subjects. Most observers of rural agriculture note that the institution of konbit is in decline.
Among the many kinds of dances performed at parties is the djouba (juba), which is sometimes called matinik, perhaps through its association with immigrants from Martinique. The djouba drum, laid on its side, is played with the hands; the tension of the drumhead is adjusted by the player’s heel while a timeline is beaten on the side of the drum by the kata player with two sticks. Djouba is really a family of rhythms and dances, some of which appear in Vodou ceremonies for the peasant lwa Kouzen Zaka; it has diffused widely throughout the Caribbean and the southern United States where body percussion has replaced drums to create the genre ‘pattin’ juba’.
Throughout the Caribbean, European figure dances played by musicians of African descent evolved into new, hybrid styles, often as accompaniment for couple dances. One of the first of these (appearing soon after the founding of Haiti) was the karabinyè (carabinier, the army’s artillery division), the direct precursor of the méringue (see Merengue). Throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the méringue was a national genre, danced at rural informal parties, at working-class bars and at high-class soirées (especially after anti-American sentiment during the US occupation fuelled a nationalist movement among the élite). Some of the most enduring Haitian méringues (e.g. Choucoune, Souvenir d’Haïti and Angelique O!) were composed by middle-class poets, composers and troubadours; others circulated anonymously as comments on social or political affairs (e.g. Panama M Tombe and Merci Papa Vincent, both ridiculing former presidents of Haiti).
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H. Courlander: Haiti Singing (Chapel Hill, NC, 1939/R)
K. Dunham: Dances of Haiti (Los Angeles, 1947, 2/1983)
H. Courlander: The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People (Berkeley, 1960/R)
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D. Cosentino, ed.: Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou (Los Angeles, 1995)
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Meringue, Buckle-Rubbing Street Music from Haiti, Corason CD107 (1993)
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Angels in the Mirror: Vodou Music of Haiti, Ellipsis Arts CD412 (1997)
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