Compas
Compas | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | Méringue |
Cultural origins | 1955, Haiti |
Derivative forms | |
Fusion genres | |
Regional scenes | |
|
Music of Haiti | ||||
General topics | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Related articles | ||||
Genres | ||||
Media and performance | ||||
|
||||
Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||||
|
||||
Regional music | ||||
|
||||
Compas (French pronunciation:
Etymology and characteristics
The word "compas" means "measure" or "rhythm" in Spanish,[1] and one of the most distinctive characteristics of compas is the consistent pulsating tanbou beat, a trait common to many styles of Caribbean music.[1] Compas Direct (which is a trademark registered in the United States by Nemours Jean-Baptiste’s heirs Dr Yves Nemours Jean-Baptiste and Mrs. Yvrose Jean-Baptiste) translates as direct beat.[8] In Creole, it is officially spelled as konpa,[9] but it is most popularly spelled with an "m" in place of the "n" (as in kompa) even though it is considered a botched spelling translation that resulted from a phonetic misunderstanding between French and Haitian Creole, the latter with a newly standardized orthography which has only been established since 1979 that contains no m-sounding consonants before b’s and p’s unlike in French.[10][11]
History
Mini-jazz and small bands
During and after the US occupation, the word "jazz" has become synonymous with music bands in Haiti. So the mini-jazz is a reduced méringue-compas band.[
These young musicians were critical in the creation of new techniques that contribute to the fanciness[
Nemours Jean-Baptiste
Nemours Jean-Baptiste presented his 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). At the beginning, Ensemble ‘Aux Callebasses‘ Of Nemours Jean-Baptiste played rhythms such as Cuba's guaracha and cha-cha-chá as well as Haiti's Bannann Pouyak, Grenn Moudong, and méringue lente. In 1957, Nemours Jean-Baptiste created compas, which has its roots in Haitian traditional méringue and the Vodou traditional rhythms. Its popularity took off likely due to the genre's ability to improvise and hold the rhythm section steady and the facility with which dancers could absorb, feel and express the new rhythm. Nemours Jean-Baptiste incorporated a lot of brass and, in 1958, the first electric guitar in Haitian urban dance music.[13] Compas is sung in Creole,[14] English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Nemours' popularity grew in and out of the country. The band's clean horn section was remarkable, and the band featured méringue tunes that gained instant popularity. For example, in Martinique, several music groups such as Ensemble Abricot, Les Djoubap, Combo Jazz, Georges Plonquitte (fr) (Vini Dance Compas Direct) won over the public with the many tunes or compositions of Nemours.[15] Later, Nemours became a favorite of Dominican president Joaquín Balaguer, who often contracted the band.[16] This is why hits like "Ti Carole" and "Chagrin D'amour", featured by known Dominican stars Luis Miguel and others, are also sung in Spanish.
Rise in popularity
In the early 1960s Nemours and the Sicot Brothers from Haiti frequently toured the Caribbean, especially Curaçao, Aruba, Saint Lucia, Dominica and mostly the French Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe to spread the seed of the méringue-compas and cadence rampa.[17] Webert Sicot, a prominent Haitian saxophone player and the originator of cadence rampa, recorded three LPs with French Antilles producers, two with Celini disques in Guadeloupe and one with "Balthazar" in Martinique. Haitian compas or cadence bands were asked to integrate Antillean musicians. Consequently, the leading Les Guais Troubadours with influential singer Louis Lahens, along with other bands, played a very important role in the schooling of Antilleans to the méringue-compas or cadence rampa music style. Almost all existing Haitian compas bands have toured these islands that have since adopted the music and the dance of the méringue.
From 1968 to the 1970s prominent bands like Bossa Combo,
Dance style
The dance-style that accompanied compas in 1957, is a two-step dance called carré (square) introduced by Nemours Jean-Baptiste in 1962.[19] As a méringue, a ballroom dance, compas is danced in pairs. Sometimes partners dance holding each other tightly and romantically; in this case often most of the moves are made at the hips.[20]
Derivatives of Compas
Zouk
With the Kwaze le 8 Contredanse from southern Haiti, the compas is part of Haitian culture. During the 1970s and 1980s, it was very successful in the Caribbean and contributed to the influence of Zouk in the French West Indies. Nevertheless, Zouk and its rhythm are still mainly influenced by Mazouk and Biguine from Martinique, as well as by Gwoka from Guadeloupe, traditional music from the French Antilles.
Coladeira
In the 1960s, the coladeira emerged as a livelier counterpart to the morna. The coladeira is played in fast double time, accompanying informal pop-style couple dances. Its main influences seem to be obscure folk processional music of the same name, commercial African American music, the morna and, above all, modern French Caribbean pop music. Most often it is played by a modern dance band, i.e. with drums, bass, electric guitars, etc.[21] From the 1960s to the 1980s, Haitian artists and groups such as Claudette & Ti Pierre, Tabou Combo and especially Gesner Henry a.k.a. Coupé Cloué and the Dominican group Exile One were very popular in Africa. In addition, the French West Indies group Kassav' and other West Indian musicians, whose main music is Zouk, have toured Cabo Island on various occasions. Many Cape Verdean artists play zouk and compas. A good example is the talented Tito Paris dança mami Criola (1994); this CD contained music close to Haiti Tabou Combo, Caribbean Sextet, Tropicana and French Antilles Kassav', etc. Cape Verdean artists were exposed to zouk and compas in the US and France. Acculturation has been aided by the growth of overseas communities (especially in New England) whose population now exceeds that of Cape Verde itself (about 300,000).[21] Today, the new generation of Cape Verdean Kizomba artists play a rhythm close to "Zouk love" and Konpa. To celebrate this influence, a Zouk Museum has been created in Luanda, Angola. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to Caribbean music. Its founders have collected about 10,000 albums, from what is called Zouk Retro, to Zouk-love and Afro-Love.
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 9780810878105. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
- ISBN 9780906720851.
- ^ All Music Guide 1997. World Music. French Antilles p901 Published by Backbeat Book CA. Caribbean Music Styles
- ^ Coupé Cloué and other Haitian bands touted the French Antilleans and have further exposed the Konpa Direct style
- ISBN 1-59213-463-7.
- ^ Gage Averill (1997). Caribbean Current: A day for the hunter. A day for the prey. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Peter Manuel (1988). Popular Musics of the Non-Western World. Oxford University Press. pp. 72–74.
- ^ Stone, Michael. "FRoots Review" (PDF). p. 55. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
- ^ Wise, Brian (9 June 2006). "Band's Haitian Fusion Offers Fellow Immigrants a Musical Link to Home". New York Times. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- ^ Haitianmusic.net | Kompa (accessed 13 February 2024)
- ^ "Haïti: Loi du 18 septembre 1979" [Haiti: Act of 18 September 1979]. Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d'expression française en Amérique du Nord (in French). Québec City: Université Laval. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015.
- ^ Peter Manuel, Jocelyne Guilbault and many more have spoken about the mini-jazz in their books
- ^ All Music Guide, compas direct
- ^ Haiti, Guadeloupe, Cabo Verde and others
- ^ Dominique Janvier, introduction on Nemour' album cover 1980, long vie to Nemours
- ^ Tambour Battant p85
- ^ AllMusic 1994, compas direct
- ^ AllMusic 1994
- ISBN 9780226032931. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
- ^ Peter Manuel, Popular Musics of the Non-Western World, Oxford University Press, 1988 (Nemours Jean-Bapstiste adapted the méringue to mambo-style big-band instrumentation and rhythmic patterns, coining the term Compas Direct for his innovation. For his part, Webert Sicot is credited with popularizing the rubric "Cadence Rampa" for his similarly modernized méringue.)
- ^ a b Peter Manuel (1988). Popular Musics of the Non-Western World. Oxford University Press. p. 95.
Further reading
- Jean-Pierre, Jean (2020-07-24). "Un panorama de l'histoire de la musique haïtienne (English: An overview of the history of Haitian music)". Le Nouvelliste (in French). Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 2022-06-18.