Friday, May 10, 2013

Miami's Haitian Compas Festival 2013: a Four-Part Guide, from DJ Griot to Djakout

Since 1955, Haiti has offered the world a uniquely danceable and infectiously sexy music known as compas, konpa, and kompa. The Kreyol language has only been standardized in written form since 1979, so there are several ways to spell everything.

But what has hindered Kreyol's literal documentation has strengthened its oral tradition and imbued its speech patterns with a rhythmic musicality all their own. The Haitian cultural traditions of playful double entendres, shifting shades of meaning, and colorful aphorisms charge its music with a literary quality that highlight its rhythmic fervor.

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