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Tequila Minsky, Heritagekonpa Magazine
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Buyu Ambroise and his band and Mozayik, the two Haitian-American bands, were to play that night but the schedule was rapidly reshuffled when, unhappily, they were stuck in New York--their American Airlines flight that day had been cancelled.
In their stead, the next generation of Haitian jazz musicians, bass player Marck Richard, age 29, with other young musicians played, as did home grown Turgot Theodat, wailing on his sax with his band, Bandji. The Ministry of Culture sponsored the Champs de Mars concert, which began after 8pm and played 'til well after 11pm. Everything went fine except for a brief mid-concert rain sprinkle.
The Parc Historique de la Canne-a-Sucre, a historical privately owned park on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, was the site to paid admissions of the opening (Boulo Vacourt, Pierre Rigaud Chery and Ginou Oriol) and the closing weekend concerts. On Saturday night, March 10th, the Mexican group Tantra Jazz played.
While Canadian Ambassador Claude Boucher was introducing the musicians from his country, Christine Jensen and band, he remarked, "It's so much better to hear the sounds of jazz than the sounds of gunfire that we've heard even a couple months ago." The Canadians played two numbers; then a drizzle turned to a deluge. The Festival was rained out.
On March 11th, the final night, the weather held. Finally, the Haitian-American bands reached their audience. Sax player Buyu Ambroise in concert with his band enthralled the crowd and after Tiga played Dilere, highlighting the Haitian drums, the crowd jumped to its feet in a standing ovation.
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Mozayik--who had played this park last year--finally got to show their stuff and showed much resilience when it began to drizzle. Drummer Gashford Guillaume and guitarist Eddy Bourjolly were playing now on home turf. Percussionist Marcus Schwartz grooved on the three traditional Haitian drums innovatively held on stands.
The band brought by the French Embassy was the dynamic Mario Canonge Trio from Martinique who completely gripped the audience. The American Hand Made Quartet again got a chance to shine. With weather slightly threatening there was a certain urgency in the music, to play before it might really rain. Alas, as saxophonist Turgot Theodat played his program, the skies opened up and he continued two numbers through the rain.
By the end of the 8-day, 12-concert Festival, Haitian musicians in Haiti and from the Diaspora got the opportunity to play in large well-attended venues. The international musicians were received with much veneration and exchanged music talk with Haitian musicians. The Haitian audiences-in the thousands-experienced many musical cultural exchanges.
The Brazilian musicians lamented that they didn't give any music workshops while the musicians of the American Hand Made Quartet had difference experiences. In addition to performing, they taught music at St. Trinity School in Port-au-Prince and at the Jacmel Music School during their one-week Haitian stay. Guitarist David Acker found teaching appreciative Haitian music students the highlight of his trip, "The concert was nice, but the clinic was the thing!"
It was a long haul for Haitian Diasporan musician Buyu Ambroise to play in Haiti. After a cancelled flight, two airport trips, a rained out first concert, it was all worth it; it was finally his first homecoming performance. Delighted he said, "Haiti needed an international festival. We have so much to do with jazz, after all we're cousins to New Orleans. And the Festival, except for the weather, was flawless."
Daniel Elie, the Minister of Culture, welcomed the musicians while sheltering from the rained-out night and spoke of the success of the Festival. He relayed how he had registered the name Festival International de Jazz de Port-au-Prince, continuing, 'I am incorporating the Festival into budget of the Ministry of Culture. I want to see this as an annual event. "
French Institute Director Levy happily recognized the cooperation with the many partnerships, "This is a new politic for everyone, the Ministries, the Embassies, Radio Metropole; tomorrow we can do other things together!"
Pascale Monier, who was the bass player in last year's collaborating jazz trio, worked on the day-to-day Festival organizing. She also was part of the technical staff. After the Festival, Pascal reflected, "I'm so happy with all the people who could attend; the free concerts helped people who couldn't otherwise afford to go. We hope we can keep the same spirit in next year's edition and we'll try to polish the whole organization. We have more time to plan."
As for Joel Widmaier, the conceptual and prime engine behind the whole event, it was the realization of a dream come true. Joel did whatever needed doing; he printed flyers, made phone calls, hotel reservations, picked people up at the airport, and mixed the sound for each and every concert. He also performed twice, as drummer extraordinaire, with Reginald Policard.
He appreciated the support he got from so many sectors , including Radio Metropole. Even the popularity of the Haitian jazz festivals in New York were an inspiration. And, he rolled with the punches on the night the Festival got rained out.
On the final night, to spontaneous applause from the audience, he ran up from the mixing console and stood in total amazement at the enthusiastic reception to the Festival and how well the Festival as a whole came off. Joel effused, "I loved it and it was great. I'm overwhelmed! I'm so happy for these musicians; we share this love for jazz and I'm so happy for Haiti." . Back to page 1
