Photo Credit: Tequila Minsky

Last night was An n’ Pale |Café Conversations with Yves “Fanfan Ti Bot” Joseph, and I think it’s safe to say that he brought the party. Through his humorous anecdotes of life with Tabou Combo, Haiti’s oldest Konpa band, we listened to the progress of a young aspiring soccer player with a knack for the conga into the established manager and vocalist of an internationally acclaimed band. Joseph explained the importance of the politics of maintaining a multinational, cross-generational band and the obstacles that they present but emphasized the necessity of musical evolution.

“I mean, listen to ‘Juicy Lucy.’ That was not Konpa anymore. That was funk.”

The changes in the international and Caribbean music scene were also brought up. The non-Haitian or Caribbean populations that appreciate Konpa music have grown and the composition of audiences is definitely changing.  Joseph pointed to the necessary stylistic changes Tabou has had to make in order to entertain their adoring fans. Shorter songs, slower beats, and the multilingualism of their songs lyrics all lend themselves as methods of reaching their new and loving audiences. But as questions and opinions rolled in from the audience, it became apparent that the racial and cultural differences in experience of Konpa music permeated the setting. Many found that concerts were often black dominated or rather that when people of color appear, people (a hem) “without” color disappear. Fanfan found this to be quite a generalization and that it had more to do with cultural time differences and changing audiences than to do with race. He found that many Americans aren’t as familiar with the unstructured manner in which Konpa concerts are presented such as late start times and all-night sets which perhaps the 4am Panamanian crowds might jive to.

A self-professed rock & roll fan, Joseph professed his love for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and even went so far to call himself a “‘Stones head” and a lover of Jay-Z to the humored delight of the audience. Joseph finds the power of music is in the lyrics and that rock music combines both the depth in lyrics with the presence of real instruments, another essential characteristic of great music.

Fanfan is a storyteller, and the stories he has to tell were personal, telling, and real. They told the story of “not just a Haitian band but a band made by Haitians playing music for the rest of the world.” Thanks, Fanfan. Thanks, Tabou. Keep up the great music.

-Kassandra Khalil, HCX Development Intern