Compas music

Compas (Kompa)
Stylistic origins	Haitian Méringue
Cultural origins	Haiti
Typical instruments	Guitar, Accordion, Saxophone, Tambora (drum), Trumpet, modern Synthesizer
Mainstream popularity	Made popular by groups from Haiti, Dominica and the French Antilles (Guadeloupe & Martinique) (considerable popularity in the rest of the Caribbean, South america as well as several major U.S cities), enjoyed highest popularity during the '60s, '70s, 80s and '90s
Derivative forms	Cadence rampa
Fusion genres
Cadence-lypso, zouk, zouk-love, Compas-love
Regional scenes
Haiti , French West Indies , France, Africa, Panama, Cape Verde, South America
Other topics
Music of Haiti - Nemours Jean Baptiste - Weber Sicot - Haiti

Music of Haiti
General topics
Related articles
Genres
Cadence rampa Kompa Kadans Méringue Mizik rasin Rara Zouk
Media and performance
Music festivals	Carnival
National anthem	La Dessalinienne
Regional music
Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Bermuda Bonaire Cayman Islands Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Guadeloupe Jamaica Louisiana Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico St Kitts and Nevis St Lucia St Vincent and Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Virgin Islands
v · Haitian Méringue, the national music of Haiti that people have been dancing and playing since the 1800s. written as Compas Direct in French, and Kompa or konpa in Haitian Creole. Worldwide, several festivals annually feature Compas music and other aspects of Haitian culture. Compas is the basic music of many countries in the Caribbean such as the French Antilles of Martinique & Guadeloupe; most of the Lesser Antilles like Dominica, Grenada, Nassau/Bahamas, St. Lucia, etc. known in French Guyana and many African Countries, Meringue-compas is also the basic music of Cape Verde. Whether it is known 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 compas is very influential in the Caribbean, Africa, Cape verde, South and Central America. History Compas direct is a modern Haitian Méringue popularized in the mid-1950s by the sax and guitar player Nemours Jean Baptiste. 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 typically sung in Haitian Creole, English, Portuguese or Spanish. In 1954, Nemours worked together with the sax player Webert Sicot in the International Orchestra, where a new sound of Haitian music was born. Although Nemours Jean-Baptiste founded 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 Direct (Kompa) came to the forefront in 1957 with the album containing the popular song De P'ti Piti Kalbass as perhaps the first compas hit. The genre quickly took off. It enjoyed a heyday in the 1960s and 1970s with an assortment of talented musicians performing compás music and building on it to create their own sound. Jean-Baptiste believed compás music was almost like a building block; it could explore in any direction under the right hands, making the genre incredibly diverse. Some traditionalists criticized the introduction of the electric guitar at the beginning of 1958 and the electric bass a year later in Compas - which was a marked departure from traditional Haitian music. Although Dodophe Legros had already used the electric guitar in urban popular music in Haiti, it was Nemours who introduced it to a wider audience. It is to be noted that Nemours Jean-Baptiste turned out to be an innovator as everybody else soon thereafter followed and the genre probably made traditional Haitian music more prominent, by introducing the sounds of Haiti to a wider audience as the music spread beyond Haiti's shores. Kompa Direk did not achieve the great success it enjoys today without challenges. In fact, Nemours Jean-Baptiste faced a barrage of criticisms on the part of rival musicians, mainly those who, until his arrival, had relished the adulation of their compatriots. Two groups in particular rose the most effective campaigns against the founder of Kompa Direk: Jazz des Jeunes and Ensemble Webert Sicot. Webert Sicot left Nemours Jean Baptiste Compas band to form a music called Cadence rampa. From the 1950's to today the Haitian compas or cadence rampa has become the dominant pop sound of the French Antilles, especially Wibert Sicot and Nemour Jean-baptiste. These were followed by the Antillean bands such as Les Gentlemen, Les Leopards, and Les vikings de Guadeloupe, who drew on the sounds of Sicot and Baptiste. 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 Shah 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. New generation and digital era Zekle, a group in 1982, recorded their first album in 1983 blending Kompa with funk, zouk, and American Jazz-rock. Another band Skandal continued the trend set by Zekle. In the late 80's, Top Vice came with his digital kompa by recording predominantly on synthesizers and electronic instruments to reproduce a fuller sound. In the early 90's, bands such as Zin, Lakol, Papash (amongst others) took the New Generation movement to a new standard by using the MIDI technology. "Compas-love" or zouk love" Some artists have used the term "Compas-love" or "zouk love" which is nothing but a light and slower tempo traditional compas played with lots of synthesizer and guitar with lovely lyrics in French, Creole, English or other languages. This light compas is more popular in France and the French Antilles of Martinique and Guadeloupe. Compas-love started as a fusion of Zouk-love with Compas, also known as Zouk-Compas "New Generation". It is almost identical to Zouk-love but a bit faster, it features more live instruments, and it relies heavily on the Haitian Compas guitar. This style of zouk is more popular in France, and the Caribbean. Caribbean, Cape Verdean and African zouk artists usually feature each other via compas-love songs. Popular Compas-Love 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". These songs are available through youtube. 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 Meringue, which propel dancers around the floor with lively, active beats (though Compas has a slower beat and dance than Méringue). 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 ( in Zouk etc.) and parts of Africa. In North America, compas festivals take place frequently in Montreal, New York, Miami, Boston and Orlando. Notable artists Tabou Combo DP Express Shleu Shleu L'Orchestre Tropicana d'Haiti L'Orchestre septentrional d'haiti Magnum Band System Band Les Frères Dejean Volo Volo Gemini all Stars Skah shah Exile One Sweet Micky Kassav Tito Paris La Perfecta Grammacks Patrick St. Eloi Jocelyne Beroard Eric Virgal Experience 7 Disip Djakout Mizik Les Gentlemen Les Leopards Les Vikings de Guadeloupe Malavoi Les Aiglons New generation CaRiMi (Carlo Vieux, Richard Cavé, and Mickael Guirand)[1] T-Vice Alan Cavé Harmmonik Toxic Kreyol La Relaks Krezi Mizik Zin See also Cadence rampa Cadence-lypso Méringue Merengue Zouk Zouk-love Music of Haïti Caribbean music References ^ "Carimi – Why People Love Carimi" Manuel, Peter (2006). Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-59213-463-7.  Experience Haitian music on Mizikpam Internet Radio Accessed May 18th, 2010 Gage Averill (1997). Caribbean Current: A day for the hunter. A day for the prey.. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.  Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? J. J. Earle Freddie Steele Look at other dictionaries: Compas — may refer to: Compas music, a Haitian musical genre Compás, a flamenco time signature COMPAS, a Canadian polling company Rob Compas (born 1966), Dutch cyclist See also Compass (disambiguation) Compass, a navigational instrument …   Wikipedia Music of Haiti — General topics Related articles Genres Cadence rampa Kompa Kadans Méringue Mizik rasin Rara …   Wikipedia Music of Martinique — General topics Related articles Genres Biguine Mini jazz Chouval bwa Jump up Kadans Zouk …   Wikipedia Compas (album) — Compas Studio album by Gipsy Kings Released November 6, 1997 ( …   Wikipedia Compás africano — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Un compás africano implica dos barras en tiempo triple (3/2 o 3/4 por ejemplo) jugado como si ellas fueran tres barras en la medida binaria (2/2 o 2/4). El género africano que lo utiliza se denomina hemiola. La… …   Wikipedia Español Music of the Lesser Antilles — The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music; much of the folk and… …   Wikipedia compas — kōmˈpä noun ( es) Etymology: Haitian Creole konpa, literally, beat, rhythm, modification (influenced by French compas compass) of Spanish compás beat, measure (in music), from compasar to measure, divide (music) into bars, from (assumed) Vulgar… …   Useful english dictionary Music of Colombia — Culture of Colombia Art Cinema Cuisine Dance Folklore Literature …   Wikipedia Music of the Dominican Republic — The music of the Dominican Republic is known primarily for merengue, though bachata, salsa and other forms are also popular. Dominican music has always been closely intertwined with that of its neighbor, Haiti (see Music of Haiti). Contents 1… …   Wikipedia Music of Guadeloupe — The music of Guadeloupe encompasses a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk s popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2025 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”