Haiti - #39

The decedents of Congo, Dahomey, Ibo and other enslaved peoples have preserved in a pure form the sounds and religious beliefs of Africa in the Western Hemisphere. They created a synchretic religion of drumming and songs devoted to a pantheon of supranatural loa, or gods. With a rural culture strongly rooted the African motherland, the music of Haiti reflects centuries of struggles of class and race, revolution and dictatorship, exile, and the bonds of the diaspora. On this installment: kompas, merengue, twoubadou, beguine, sacred voudoun ceremonies, jazz fusion, and Afro-Haitian electronica.