Country : Belgium / Haiti Label : Aztec / Indépendant Genres and styles : Jazz / Kompa Year : 2020

Bon bagay

· by Ralph Boncy

Settled in Belgium with wife and child, Obas, the gentleman troubadour, continues to sing Haiti with love and wisdom. If you factor in the compact Zanmi nou, recorded in 2015 between Mallorca and Montreal with Cornelia Schütt (TiCorn) and the famous poet Jean Claude Martineau (alias Koralen), it’s Beethova’s eighth studio album that you are just a click away from enjoying. Long matured over a slow fire (ten years already since Futur, a colourful and strangely optimistic work), Bon bagay tries to give back to his Haitian compatriots a bit of confidence, even pride, they who are often relegated to the bottom of the list – pouki yo pa prann pou anyen? Let’s be clear that the tone here is not at all miserable. Everything is bathed in a good dose of satirical and sarcastic humour, and a whole host of amusing imps gambol from one beach to another. By the way, it is recommended that you listen to these 11 songs in order rather than random mode. The masterful opening, in which the unrepentant left-handed player strums four chords on his guitar and lays his voice down with great calm, automatically brings to mind Manno Charlemagne, the mentor with whom he started out in the 1980s, in the western suburbs of Port-au-Prince. From then on, everything is a foregone conclusion. The composer confines himself to the crossroads of Haitian, Cuban, and Brazilian music – which he calls, with a smile, “Cubhabra” – and sprinkles it all with jazz. To that, add the presence of the Fanfant brothers (Jean-Philippe and Thierry, bass and drums), the metronomic superpros of konpa, David Fackeure’s delightful piano, Jimmy Jean-Félix’s crazy electric guitar on “Bio”, an adaptation of Gilberto Gil (“Dra”), and winks to the Caribbean Sextet, in particular to the late Boulot Valcourt, with whom Tov once made his first trip to Curacao as a troubadour. All from an accomplished artist, original and now essential. As the baker would say on television: Bon bagay! Good stuff in stock!

Latest 360 Content

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Sparks – MAD!

Sparks – MAD!

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Cazzu – Latinaje

Cazzu – Latinaje

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Subscribe to our newsletter