Two Musical Projects to Celebrate Haiti Differently: La Poétique du Jazz and Haiti On The Beat

By Jean Venel Casseus On the occasion of Fête de la Musique (Music Day) this June 21, I am pleased to officially present two experimental musical projects close to my heart: La Poétique du Jazz and Haiti On The Beat (HOTB). Two artistic explorations radically different but deeply linked by a common ambition: to make Haiti vibrate to the rhythm of creativity and technology. My commitment is part of a resolutely contemporary approach, where music, literature, and intangible heritage intertwine to bring forth educational, modern works deeply rooted in the Haitian soul. These projects aim to renew our relationship with culture, highlighting all the splendor of our country, without folklorism, without nostalgia, but with audacity and freedom. La Poétique du Jazz is a 12-track album entirely composed from poems by Haitian authors from different eras. They are: René Depestre, René Philoctète, Dominique Batraville, Farah Martine Lhérisson, Jean Venel Casséus, Patrick Louis (Kanga), Émile Roumer, Roussan Camille, Auguste Ténor, Guy Gérald Ménard, and Davertige. The album creates a dialogue between words and sounds, verses and harmonies, in a musical journey ranging from classical jazz to the most inventive Creole-jazz. Each track is an immersion into a unique poetic and sonic universe, where music becomes language, and poetry becomes breath. Click to listen: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRLG1zOqZjaKzqkyWgK62fS2PdJre3u5J&si=2oRIDEyqhUTRBmsd The second project, Haiti On The Beat, is a more festive, almost euphoric proposition. Built around 7 tracks with electro, afro, and Compas-Techno sounds, this experimental album brings a strong idea to life: to make cultural heritage coexist with musical and technological modernity. Haitian proverbs, among others, carrying millennia of popular wisdom, are remixed, sung, and chanted to a burning, rhythmic, almost incantatory beat. This project is in line with the logic of my artistic manifesto: Don't play with music — a way of reminding us that music, for us, is simultaneously play, stake, memory, and gentle power. Listen here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRLG1zOqZjaJ8tSr66Bv4USF1bR1IC1JW&si=CNCUSehuWSFE93Lo With these two projects, I want to affirm that Haiti can still surprise, move, and innovate. That our heritage is not a museum, but a living source. And that the encounter between traditions and technologies can give birth to a new Haitian aesthetic, free and luminous. Jean Venel Casséus
Journalist, author, producer.