Audio By Carbonatix
It’s summertime and the livin’ is compas. Miami’s second annual Haitian Compas Festival coincides with the glut of new compas albums released each July. The sales barometer rises just before August, when the Haitian diaspora in Miami and New York heads home for the annual town festivals bearing gifts for family and friends. Even if you are not shopping for a Haitian homecoming, the compas festival is your chance to be the first to hear this year’s latest in lilting synthesizer, slinky guitar, and laid-back melodies. Miami-based crowd pleasers T-Vice will premiere tunes from their soon-to-be-released album, Here’s Your Medicine, which features some English-language crossover songs for the Kreyol-challenged. T-Vice progenitor Top Vice will be adding two new albums to its repertoire. Refusing to be outdone, the Brooklyn-based Phantoms lay claim not just to the season but to the millennium with their forthcoming Y2Konpa.
Speaking from the Big Apple, Phantoms frontman Jensen Deroisier promises his band will offer compas “with a new-millennium flavor.” Among the more flavorful personalities with the Phantoms are the dreadlocked King Kino, Haitian rapper Tap Addlerman, and new arrival “Princess” Gregory Mettelus, who joins the band with a tell-all hit single about her life with her former band, Zin.
Jensen, as he is known, weighs in on current speculation that Miami is primed to hijack the heart of the Haitain music industry from the more established scene in New York. “It’s true, Miami has become a big market now,” he admits. “But they don’t have the torch to guide the music. New York is where all the big bands are, Tabou Cambo, System, Zin. The New York bands all come down to Miami three or four times a year; that’s part of what makes Miami so hot.”
In the intimate world of compas, promoters rev up rivalry among groups to add drama to staged musical competitions. Jensen stokes the fire when he refers to the Phantoms’ place on a festival bill featuring Miami’s favorite Vices, big and small. “When I saw that Phantoms was not the headliner, I laughed,” he says, “because the only band that puts on a show is Phantoms. We do not just come with popular songs and play; that’s not a show. We have stage effects, we have pyrotechnics.” A perfect addition to the fireworks this Fourth of July weekend.
When news happens, Miami New Times is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If Miami New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
