I would say that there have been a few decent Cd's released by a few musicians of the New Generation.
The first CD of Zenglen with Gary Didier Perez as the lead singer is excelleent. But overall, the number of knowledgeable musicians has been quite lacking. What most people do not understand about music is the level of competitiveness that requires once one thinks about the world as a market.
If music is an universal language by itself, words cannot hamper its appreciation. Consequently, it is not the language that is problem. If marketing indeed can affect sales of a cd, however, right now, the internet has offered tremendous possibilites for exposure and sales.
One of the major problems for Haitian Pop music and Haitian music as a whole is the lack of the promotion of Haitian culture as a whole and the way the entertainment business is being handled. Performances are the best to promote a CD. But in our community, performances become the livelyhood of the musicians while their CD's do not sell well. How many Haitian performers have sold 100,000 cd's. There is only one group that may have achieved so--Tabou Combo when they were signed by Barclays Music of France and had their hit entitled "New York City".
The lack of education also is a problem. haitian Pop music is only one genre within the spectrum of Haitian music. There are many more:
1) Haitian folk music or Siwèl, played by Ti Paris, Toto Necessite, Rodrigue Milien, Lumanne Casimir, Toto Bissainthe, Martha Jean-Claude, Orchestre El Saieh, Coupe Cloue when he was the band leader of Etoiles du Soir
2) Creole Jazz (Gifrants)
3) Voodoo music as Azor and Wawa play it--a set of 3 congas, lead singer, and back up singers, strictly based on calls and responses, and mostly songs dedicated to the lwa or lèsen
4) Haitian Roots music as played by Sakad, Tit Pascal, Boukman Eksperyans, Boukan Ginen, Champwèl etc
5) Voodoo Jazz as played by Gifrants
6) Haitian Contemporary music--Beethova Obas, Boulo Valcourt, Gifrants with a strong Brazilian influence, Reginald Policar with a latin influence, singers such as Herby Widmaier, Ansy Dérose and his wife Yole, Emeline Michel, Jean Michel Daudier, Hérold Christophe, Michel-Ange Bazile are strongly influenced by French music, singers such as Yanick Etienne and Ginou Oriol are stongly influenced by American music.
7) Haitian Classical music--Frantz Casséus, Mme Ledun Denis, Amos Coulanges, Marc Mathelier
8) Incantation--Wawa et les Camisoles Bleues, Gifrants
9) Big band Orchestra--Jazz des Jeunes, Orchestre Septentrional, Tropicana, Les Diables du Rythme de St-Marc, l'orchetre Méridien des Cayes, Nemours, Sicot with a strong influence of latin music even though the intrumentation concept is american
As you can see, most Haitians know much more about Konpa than the other genres and consequently are less exposed to the latter. The internet does offer a great opportunity to know more about Haitian artists who do not play konpa.
May we suggest that you visit
Gifrants Home,
jmicheldaudier.com - Home,
Afiwi.Com - Your Caribbean Online,
Beethova Obas,
index,
Yanick Etienne - Official Website .
Peace.