Giovedì 8 Novembre 2012 al Caribe Club Csen di Puntavagno (Corso Italia 3; 335207103; www.contattolatino.it ) diretto da Rocco Mariani alle 20.00 si terrà una presentazione pubblica di un nuovo ed affascinante ballo caraibico tipico dell’Isola di Haiti, molto simile al Merengue e con una carica romantica e dolce che ne fa “il ballo del mattone†dei Caraibi. Il Maestro e ballerino haitiano Estivil Peiralde terrà una breve conferenza su Haiti ed i suoi balli tradizionali e soprattutto sulla storia della Kompa che vanta una lunga tradizione popolare sull’Isola ed ormai spopola nelle migliori discolatine del Mondo . In Europa il ballo va forte in Francia, Belgio e Svizzera . Dopo la prolusione Seguira’ una prima lezione gratuita di quello che potrà sembrare un ballo molto affine alla popolare Merengue. Estivil entra a far parte così del corpo insegnanti della Scuola di Ballo dell’Associazione Contatto Latino che vanta ormai decine di corsi ed un corpo insegnanti di primissimo ordine. Estivil vive da dieci anni a Genova dove è occupato in edilizia, anche se attualmente casa integrazione. Legatissimo alla sua terra d’origine e laggiù si trovava al tempo del terribile sisma che distrusse il paese . Primo di cinque fratelli e con una sorella è vicino all’attuale Presidente nell’opera di ricostruzione che attualmente pare vada a pieno ritmo e con soddisfazione della popolazione. Dimenticavamo : il nuovo Presidente è un cantante di musica leggera e balla la Kompa. Lunga vita ad Haiti ed al suo popolo! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdOx8fcKrQI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compas_music
KOMPA. La Storia (wikipedia)
Compas music (written as Compas Direct in French, and Kompa or konpa in Haitian creole) is a modern Méringue, the national music genre of Haiti that people have been dancing and singing since the 1800s. Worldwide, several festivals annually feature Compas music. Popularized by the sax and guitar player Nemours Jean-Baptiste in 1955, compas is the basic music of many countries in the Caribbean such as the French Antilles of Martinique & Guadeloupe, Dominica, etc. known in French Guyana and many African Countries, compas is also the basic music of Cabo Verde. Whether it is known strangely as zouk where French Antilles artists have taken it or compas in places where Haitian artists have toured, the truth is that this light meringue is very influential in the Caribbean, Africa, Cape Verde, France, part of Canada, South and North America.
Compas direct is a modern meringue popularized in 1955 by the sax and guitar player Nemours Jean Baptiste. Nemours Jean-Baptiste presented his orchestra “Ensemble Aux Calebasses†in 1955 (named after the club “Aux Calebasses†located at Carrefour – a western neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital – where the band used to perform on weekends). Compas’ popularity took off likely due to the genre’s ability to improvise and hold the rhythm section steady. Jean-Baptiste incorporated a lot of brass and easily recognized rhythms. Compás music is sung in Haitian Creole, Spanish, French, English and Portugues.
Webert Sicot left Nemours Jean Baptiste Compas band to form a music called cadence rampa in 1962. Because of the frequent tours of the Sicot brothers, cadence, the same modern meringue, became very influential in the Caribbean. Exile One, Grammacks, and other cadence bands surfaced later.
For the past years the congas and the gong patterns still remain the same…it is different for the drums since in the early days of Konpa the cymbals didn’t have the same patterns as they do today. Even in the mini-jazz era, many drummers used to play the drums their own magic ways…. If you listen to Les Shleu Shleu/Difficiles/Fantaisistes/Ambassadeurs… you will notice that the drummers/bands had their own respective beat and format. However the template that most drummers are using today is the one left by Smith Jean Baptiste of Les Shleu Shleu………which is the BOLO BOLO…the tiap ti tiap ti tiap tiap ti tiap ti tiap….a style that was later improved and made popular by his successor Yves Arserne Appolon in both Shleu Shleu and Skah Shah in the early 70’s. Smith Jean-Baptiste (Smitty) “kale senbal†style (hitting the crash cymbal in a hot cadence) was an addition to Konpa rhythm.
Mini jazz
The Mini jazz movement started in the mid-1960s, small bands called mini-djaz (which grew out of Haiti’s light rock and roll yeye bands of the early 1960s) played kompa featuring paired electric guitars, electric bass, drumset and other percussion, often with a saxophone. This trend, launched by Shleu Shleu after 1965, came to include a number of groups from Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods, especially the suburb of Pétion-Ville. Tabou Combo, Les Difficiles, Les Loups Noirs, Frères DéJean, Les Fantaisistes de Carrefour, Bossa Combo and Les Ambassadeurs (among others) formed the core of this middle-class popular music movement. As usual, music bands from the Caribbean particularly the French Antilles of Martinique and Guadeloupe, Dominica, etc. emulated this compas style.
In the mid-1970s, when the sounds of the antillean compas bands such as les Aiglons, Grammacks, Exile One etc. started hitting the airwaves, those of the mini-jazz bands that have relied on the guitars, added a horn section. Some of them also adapted to the full synthesizers. To mark this change the two competing mini-jazz changed their names for example: Les Difficiles de Petioville became D.p express, Les gypsies de petionville became Scorpio Universel etc.
[edit] New generation and digital era
In the mid-80s French Antilles Kassav, which music repertoire is 90% compas, was the first in the Caribbean to apply the MIDI technology already in use in rock and pop bands. In the 80s, young Haitian compas band members applied this technology that in addition to reduce the band’s size offers a variety of new sounds. Top Vice came with its digital konpa and young compas groups such as Zin, Lakol among others used the MIDI tech. Most of the young compas bands that used the Musical Instrument Digital Interface MIDI were called Compas nouvelle génération. However, most of them later, along with many other musicians in the world, went back to a full band with live instruments. Today this new generation notion is remembered as a moment of experiment with the MIDI.
In the early 2000, several Haitian compas bands such as Carimi, T-vice, Top vice and Konpa Kreyol toured the French Antilles as usual with success. The singer Vro with Softcore and many others Antillean artists have adopted this light compas style, which is more popular in France and the Caribbean. Cabo Verdean, Caribbean and African artists usually feature one another via compas songs. Popular artists includes artists like Jacky Rapon in song like “Mi Amor”, Ludo in song like “Weekend”, Jackito in song like “Je l’aime a mourir” and Priscillia in song like “Dis le moi”, Ali Angel in song like “Zouk Bordel 2003”, and Iron in song like “Mr DJ” . This light compas style is often called zouk love in the French Antilles.
Etymology and characteristics
The word “Compás†in Spanish means “beat†or “rhythm,†and one of the most distinctive characteristics of Compas music is the consistent pulsating beat (Tambora (drum)), a trait common to many styles of Caribbean music. Compas music is easy and fun to dance to, incorporating musical traditions like Méringue, which propel dancers around the floor with lively, active beats (though Compas has a slower beat and dance than Merengue). You may hear the notes of Compas music in a community of Haitian immigrants anywhere in the world, and where there is Compas, dancers are usually not far behind. Compas / Kompa is a genre of music that is emulated throughout the Caribbean and parts of Africa. In North America, compas festivals take place frequently in Montreal, New York, Miami, Boston and Orlando.
