Chouk Bwa Libète at Roskilde Festival 2015

the essence of vodou comes to Europe!

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Join in as this Haitian ensemble call upon the spirits with polyrhythmic drumming and trance-inducing chants. This is vodou music!

Chouk Bwa Libète is a traditional Haitian roots group. They play mizik rasin, a Haitian genre that emerged in the late 1980s, drawing inspiration from both traditional Haitian – especially vodou – rhythms and foreign influences such as reggae.

The group is made up of three percussionists, two female dancers and front man and composer Sambaton on vocals and on the fer (an iron bar). It's a sort of bell that announces the different rhythms to call up the spirits.

Chouk Bwa Libète’s songs express both the sufferings and the indefatigable life force of the Haitian people. Sanbaton’s message is always poignant and political. His voice rises effortlessly above the drums, evoking an ancient relationship of sounds.