Chouk Bwa

Chouk Bwa recorded their debut album in a small village in rural Haiti, a record that’s both raw and uncompromising. They play mizik rasin, properly authentic Haitian roots music – heavily percussive, adorned with call-and-response vocals, and infused with the scent and sensibility of voodoo. It’s music that refuses to obscure their homeland’s deep African heritage. As they themselves declare, these are rhythms that were “torn from Africa and secretly replanted in a new land”. But this “replanting” sowed a new identity. As such, the music of Chouk Bwa is a proud statement of Haitian culture, of a nation that’s known the hardest of times but whose spirit remains as tough as those ancient drums.

Authentic "Mizik Rasin" with essential source elements of Haitian Vodou: traditional rhythm and dance. These are ancient art forms uprooted from Africa, and secretly replanted in a new land. The music is a blend of traditional songs and original compositions by Jean Claude Sambaton Dorvil. 

The group's percussionists are unanimously recognized in the Gonaives' Vodou communities of Lakous Badjo, Souvenance and Soukri as master drummers. 

Their two dancers Edèle and Maloune don't perform choreography. Their movement relies on a deep knowledge of Vodou rhythm in dialogue with the drummers. Chouk Bwa continues the tradition of groups like Boukman Eksperyans, Boukan Ginen, and Rasin Mapou de Azor. However, by way of contrast they have chosen not to add modern instrumentation in order to stay closer to the original elements of Vodou culture and music. Their repertoire is composed of songs rooted in Vodou spirituality, but whose form is distinct from ceremonial music and uniquely crafted for the concert stage.