Vox Sambou – Hayti Lives

· by Alain Brunet

Known through Nomadic Massive, Vox Sambou has also released several recordings, and here is his third album, following an EP released last autumn. Originally from Cap-Haïtien, this author, composer, singer, social worker and fervent activist is undoubtedly one of the strong voices of Montreal’s diversity. Vox Sambou works with top-class musicians who have mastered Haitian beats (konpa, rara, voodoo) and Jamaican beats (roots, dancehall, ska) as well as funk, groove, jazz, kreyol and francophone rap, and of course the rhythms of modern and ancestral Africa.

The result is an album released shortly after the Novam EP, released in Novam (November): Hayti Lives aims to fuse the ancestral rhythms of Haiti’s Île Magique with those of Central Africa, more specifically the Congo. Hayti Lives is as much a tribute to our ancestors as it is an immersion in the present.

Painted by Kando on the cover of this opus, the Yoruba queen Moremi Ajasoro is depicted as the heroine, which says a lot about the political and poetic vectors that Vox Sambou prioritises. We know that the Yoruba ethnic group, highlighted here in broad strokes, is fundamental to the Creole cultures of the West Indies, in its historical and revolutionary destinies, in its hopes and setbacks in the quest for liberation and fierce resistance. And the music? Great music!

Anyone who listens to Haitian and Congolese beats (rumba, soukouss, etc.) will find their feet here, all welded together by an Afrobeat style, both in the groove and in the instrumentation. As a member of the Nomadic Massive family, he has always surrounded himself with excellent musicians, and this is certainly the case here: Robints Paul, Naxx Bitota and Malika Tirolien, vocals, David Ryshpan, keyboards, Frank O’Sullivan and Kabemba Kapiteni, guitars, Dauphin Mboyi, Diegal Leger and Pit De Souza, basses, Jean Daniel T. Desbiens and Lionel Kizaba, drums, Ronald Nazaire, percussion, Rémi Cormier, trumpet, Modibo Keita, trombone, Jean François Ouellet and Mario Allard, baritone saxes, Mathias Burgos, Alexandre Colas-Jeffery and Alex Francoeur, tenor saxes, Vinicius Chagas, flute.

Hymns to the struggles and advances of the Afro-descendant diaspora follow, hymns to freedom, resistance and emancipation. Solid stuff!



Latest 360 Content

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise

Festival de Lanaudière | Leonardo Garcia Alarcon/Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea: being marketwise

FIJM | Nate Smith and his Supremely Talented Quartet

FIJM | Nate Smith and his Supremely Talented Quartet

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul

Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Tyrane Mondeny Presents Her Mandingo Soul

FIJM | Nai Palm? Creature of Exception! Hawa B? Future Star!

FIJM | Nai Palm? Creature of Exception! Hawa B? Future Star!

FIJM 2025 | Funky funky, Trombone Shorty

FIJM 2025 | Funky funky, Trombone Shorty

FIJM | Nubya Garcia Becomes a Star in MTL

FIJM | Nubya Garcia Becomes a Star in MTL

FIJM 2025 | Symphonic Avishai Cohen: Bewitching magic

FIJM 2025 | Symphonic Avishai Cohen: Bewitching magic

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Phantom Island

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Phantom Island

Common Holly – Anything glass

Common Holly – Anything glass

FIJM I Hanorah Sets the TD Stage Ablaze with Soulful R&B

FIJM I Hanorah Sets the TD Stage Ablaze with Soulful R&B

FIJM | Jeff Goldblum: Storyteller, Comedian and Pianist

FIJM | Jeff Goldblum: Storyteller, Comedian and Pianist

FIJM I Still Taking Us There, Mavis Staples Electrifies Montreal JazzFest

FIJM I Still Taking Us There, Mavis Staples Electrifies Montreal JazzFest

FIJM | Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – Ventre Unique

FIJM | Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – Ventre Unique

Fantastic Negrito – Son of A Broken Man

Fantastic Negrito – Son of A Broken Man

Cumbia, Chaos, and Resistance: Empanadas Illegales Bring the Heat to Montreal Jazz Fest

Cumbia, Chaos, and Resistance: Empanadas Illegales Bring the Heat to Montreal Jazz Fest

Turnstile – Never Enough

Turnstile – Never Enough

FIJM | Meggie Lennon and The Desire Days Story

FIJM | Meggie Lennon and The Desire Days Story

FIJM | Dianne Reeves and Romero Lubambo: An Intimate Duo of Virtuosos

FIJM | Dianne Reeves and Romero Lubambo: An Intimate Duo of Virtuosos

FIJM | Brandon Woody’s Upendo: Baltimore Represents !

FIJM | Brandon Woody’s Upendo: Baltimore Represents !

FIJM | Stella Cole: From Tik Tok to The Biggest Jazz Stages

FIJM | Stella Cole: From Tik Tok to The Biggest Jazz Stages

ALICE on Her X

ALICE on Her X

FIJM  | Samara Joy: Pushing Classic Vocal Jazz Repertoire to its Limits

FIJM | Samara Joy: Pushing Classic Vocal Jazz Repertoire to its Limits

FIJM | Nas symphonic and Nas not symphonic

FIJM | Nas symphonic and Nas not symphonic

Subscribe to our newsletter