Rough Guide to the Music of Haiti

You couldn't wish for a better musical guide to strife-torn tropical places than Andy Kershaw, and his new compilation The Rough Guide to the Music of Haiti hits the bull's-eye. Indeed, one of the nicest tracks comes not from some other album, but from the recording Kershaw made with his BBC producer Roger Short--a sweetly down-home number recorded at the house of pintsized twoubadou singer Ti Coca. There might not be authentic voodoo music on this disc--for that you need a copy of Angels in the Mirror--and the late, great Haitian diva Toto Bissainthe is sadly absent, but what you do find here is marvelous. Compas is the name of Haiti's most characteristic sound, and it's represented on this album by a variety of different combos, including the shadowy DP Express. Also featured is the convivial warmth of Coupé Cloué, the high-pressure rap of Masters of Haiti, and the Cuban-influenced Haitiando and Orchestre Tropicana. Most interesting are the plunges into the past with Nemours Jean-Baptiste and Lebanese bandleader Issa el Saieh. The whole point about this politically blighted but musically blessed island is that its music comes at you from many angles, not only from Cuba but from the Congo, Dominica, Brooklyn, and punk U.K., and that it all gets whipped up into the most exhilarating brew. --Michael Church