Kompa (genre)
Kompa is a Haitian style of music that combines elements of Spanish and French music with African rhythms and Creole chants. It is a modern form of traditional Haitian folk music, also known as méringue , that has been popular since the early 19th century. Since Kompa was popularized in 1955 by the Haitian saxophone and guitar player Nemours Jean-Baptiste , it has also become the most important and most played music genre in other countries, including Dominica and the French Antilles . Kompa has become a strong musical influence in other regions as well (especially where Haitian immigrants have settled), including the Caribbean , France , but also parts of Canada , South and North America .
history
Kompa was distributed in 1955 by Nemours Jean Baptiste, who with his orchestra "Ensemble Aux Callebasses" (named after the club "Aux Callebasses" in Carrefour , in the western arrondissement de Port-au-Prince ) on weekends in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince occurred. An incentive of the genre were the regular rhythms and the improvisations that were often integrated into the game. Jean Baptiste let his orchestra play melodies with high recognition value and above all involved his technically remarkably playing wind instruments strongly in his performances. The instruments were played in Creole, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, among others. These factors were responsible for the rapid popularity that Jean Baptiste and his band enjoyed. Nemours and Kompa were soon known throughout Haiti, but also abroad.
Also worth mentioning is the name Kadans Ranpa , or simply Kadans. The name Kadans Ranpa was popularized by the saxophone virtuoso Webert Sicot , who played in Nemours' band, when he left the band in the early 1960s and wanted to distance himself from the term Kompa coined by Nemours. The term Kadan's Ranpa is interchangeable with Kompa, as they both denote the same musical genre. Only the rivalry between the two artists created these different names. Since then, the term Kadans has been widespread, especially in Dominica.
Since the late 1950s, Nemours and Sicot began to travel often to the Caribbean and give concerts there, especially in Dominica and the French overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe . Kompa quickly became a hit there. Sicot soon produced three albums with music producers from the French Antilles. Almost all Haitian bands that have adopted the Kompa since its inception sooner or later gave concerts in these regions, such as “Ensemble Abricot”, “Les Djoubap's” or Georges Plonquitte. Many of these bands took over the well-known songs and melodies of Jean Baptiste Nemours. Likewise, many musicians in the Antilles were introduced to Kompa music by visiting Haitian bands and trained, so that soon many local bands were also playing Kompa.
Joaquín Balaguer , the then President of the Dominican Republic , was enthusiastic about Nemours and often had him perform at official events. This is also the reason why many of Nemours' compositions are in Spanish and are sung by Dominican singers in the recordings.
Since its inception, Kompa has traditionally always been danced. Mostly a two step is danced, which the Haitians called "kare" (square). Kompa is always danced in pairs, in tightly entwined and romantic poses in which most of the figures come from the hips.
New generation - "Compas nouvelle generation"
As MIDI instruments became more popular and widely available in the mid-1980s, experiments were made to incorporate the new technology into traditional méringue. The first attempts in this direction were made in the Antilles, where at that time 90% of the music played belonged to the Kompa. This made it possible to reduce the size of the orchestra and to incorporate a new range of sounds into the pieces. This movement was known as the Kompa's “nouvelle generation”. Representatives of the new generation include the bands “Zin”, “Phantom”, “Lakole” and “Papash”. Many of these bands, such as "Phantom", however, returned to a normal orchestra with acoustic instruments after a while.
Word origin and characteristics
Kompa is also known as compas direct in French and konpa direk in Creole . The word is derived from Spanish, where “compás” means “beat” or “rhythm”. The name fits well, as one of the most characteristic features of Kompa music is the steady, pulsating beating of the "tanbou", a Haitian barrel drum. Many other styles of music from the Caribbean share this characteristic.
credentials
- ↑ a b Manuel, Peter: Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition) . Temple University Press, Philadelphia 2006, ISBN 1-59213-463-7 .
- ^ A b Gage Averill, A day for the Hunter, a day for the Pray, University of Chicago Press, 1997
- ^ Peter Manuel, Musics of the Non-Western World, University Press 1988, pp 72-74
- ↑ Jocelyne Guilbault: Zouk: world music in the West Indies (Accessed on June 05, 2014).