Attab Haddad Quartet
The HUBS (Sheffield Hallam Students' Union)
Wednesday 2nd October, 2019
"From Baghdad to Seville - the Flamenco Trail"
Attab Haddad Quartet
The HUBS (Sheffield Hallam Students' Union)
Wednesday 2nd October, 2019
"From Baghdad to Seville - the Flamenco Trail"
Vieux Farka Toure
Lakou Mizik - SOLD OUT
The rhythms and incantations of voodoo, the trumpeting of rara carnival music and hearty call-and-response vocal harmonies on their way to galloping, exultant dance grooves ...
Sunday 15th April 2018, 7.30pm
The HUBS, 6 Paternoster Row, Sheffield
Click left to watch the video of Tanbou'n'Frape
“Lakou Mizik, formed after the devastating Haitian earthquakes of 2010, is a genial cross-generational coalition along the lines of the Buena Vista Social Club. Its songs, some of which are topical, draw on the rhythms and incantations of voodoo, the trumpeting of rara carnival music and hearty call-and-response vocal harmonies on their way to galloping, exultant dance grooves.” - The New York Times
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We are delighted to be able to present the band in what will be one of just a handful of gigs this year. Be prepared to learn something of the history and recent past of Haiti and its music … but don’t forget to bring your dancing shoes as well!
Music is at the core of Haiti’s sense of identity, and musicians have always played an important role in society, both in documenting the country’s history and helping to shape its path forward. Today, a young generation of artists is keeping this tradition alive, narrating the world they live in through music that is made in their neighborhoods, villages and post-earthquake camps. Lakou Mizik brings together these musical generations in celebration of the cultural continuum while using Haiti’s deep well of creative strength to shine a positive light on this tragically misrepresented country.
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The idea for the band was hatched in 2010 on a hot November night in Port-au-Prince. Haiti was still reeling from the earthquake, a cholera epidemic was raging and a political crisis filled the streets with enough tire burning ferocity to close the international airport. Steeve Valcourt, a guitarist and singer whose father is one of the country's iconic musicians, singer Jonas Attis and American producer Zach Niles met in Valcourt's muggy basement studio and agreed that Haiti's music and culture could serve as an antidote to the flood of negativity.
Over the next few years, the band honed their electrifying live show, presenting hours long concerts that blended the soulful spirit of a church revival, the social engagement of a political rally and the trance-inducing intoxication of a vodou ritual. Finally, after building a devoted local fan base, the band headed to the Artists Institute in Jacmel, home to a beautiful new recording studio and music school built by the We Are the World Foundation to help develop Haiti's music industry.
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The resulting album, Wa Di Yo, reflects the African, French, Caribbean and U.S. influences that collide in Haiti. The spirit-stirring vodou rhythms and call-and-response vocals are supported by the French café lilt of the accordion. Intricate bass lines and interlocking guitar riffs mesh mesmerizingly with the joyful polyrhythmic hocketing of rara horns. These powerful layers are topped by sing-along melodies with inspiring, socially conscious lyrics. The end result is a soulful stew of deeply danceable grooves that feels strangely familiar yet intensely new -- and 100% Haitian.
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In Haitian Kreyol the word lakou carries multiple meanings. It can mean the backyard, a gathering place where people come to sing and dance, to debate or share a meal. It also means "home" or “where you are from," which in Haiti is a place filled by the ancestral spirits of all others that were born there.
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