BY MARIA GALLUCCI
The News
Jan. 29, 2010
As news about Haiti storms the headlines following the recent strike of a disastrous earthquake, the musicians of Lanbi Ginen are hoping to put out a different message about the despairing Caribbean nation – one of energy, vibrancy and hope.
“Haiti is a community that sings and dances, even in its most difficult moments. The greatness richness that Haiti has is its culture, and for us, it is natural to express and spread this richness,” said singer Evans Cadet, who organized the group in 2007, a year after moving to Mexico City from Haiti with his wife, Carmelita Cadet.
The group has stepped up with the rhythms and beats of Haitian voodoo songs, performing in neighborhood concerts to raise support for Haiti, and even releasing a freshly-penned song “Pienso en Ti” (“I Think of You”) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for campaigns related to post-earthquake relief efforts.
Guitarist and jazz student Djuvens Colas also shared his personal story with the Mexican press during a recent fundraising event, explaining how he had initially lost contact with his wife and two-year-old son, both living in Haiti, following the Jan. 12 tremors. The family got in touch after several anguishing days, and Colas said he joined the event in “thinking about the pain and needs of those who are still there.”
Mexican percussionist Omar Hernández explained to The News that, “Music can open our hearts and comfort our sufferings…this is when we must sing and play rhythms so that hope can arrive to those who have lost everything and light their paths to finding a new dawn.”
With all eyes and ears on Haiti since the earthquake, Evans said he hoped that Lanbi Ginen could help promote a more positive perception of Haiti through voodoo music. The group is also planning to release its first album, titled “Invitación Voodoo” (“Voodoo Invitation”), sometime this summer.
“Lanbi Ginen” in Haitian Creole figuratively means a call for a spiritual revolution where peace and harmony, not weapons and power, are guiding forces. Members in the band also include Carmelita as vocalist, Haitian musician David Charles and Mexican guitarist Juan Carlos Aguirre.
“When people hear the word ‘voodoo,’ they think of witchcraft, black magic and very dark things. People don’t know much about Haiti as it is. We want to make known our true culture and identity,” Evans said.
Aguirre admitted that his first impressions of voodoo conjured images of hexes and abracadabra, but after talking with Evans, Aguirre saw the religion as one of love and positive spirits.
As in Mexican shamanism, he said, “In this phenomenon produced by music, all of the senses are focused in the present and as one dances to the rhythm of the drum, his mind shuts off, allowing the ‘me’ to disappear and to be part of the moment. That is where everything is possible and the soul expresses itself freely. (Music) is what moves the body, and not the mind.”
Aguirre said that in both Mexico and Haiti alike, “The essence of our communities is not in its misfortune nor in those who abuse or manipulate it, but rather, it is in the people who are full of energy and hope and fighting to preserve life.
“This is why it is so important that people know this (voodoo) music and experience its new fusions and forms of artistic expression, as the message is all the same: solidarity, respect, love for the earth and for each other,” he said.
Evans added that, “Voodoo music leaves the soul and comes back to the soul, because voodoo music is spiritual. I don’t consider Lanbi Ginen as my band; the band belongs to the spirits, and I am their channel to transmit this message of peace and harmony. We sing often to the spirits and invoke their names, and the way that people dance and jump, this energy that people feel, it is another spiritual presence.”
The musician noted that while Lanbi Ginen plays songs from traditional voodoo rituals, the group gives the tunes a more universal and commercially appealing twist. A typically community-sized choir, for instance, has been reduced to a five- to seven-member band, and guitar notes have replaced some traditional drumbeats to make the songs more approachable for a wider number of audiences. The group still sings mostly in Creole, although the band fuses voodoo with international influences such jazz, rock, blues, hip hop and Calypso music.
“Lanbi Ginen is not just a Mexican project, because even in Haiti, the youth are no longer singing voodoo. We’re rescuing this music so that it doesn’t die, and we’re doing it in a more global way so that it doesn’t just remain a music for Haitians,” he said.
Carmelita said that, “I feel very lucky to have this privilege to sing and express who I really am, my identity, my culture and, above all, to let people know what voodoo is in reality.
“Lanbi Ginen is mixing and unification, where everyone and everything will eventually meet. It’s also the symbol of a New Haiti, a dignified and prosperous nation with its own identity,” she said.
MORE INFO:
Lanbi Ginen
For more details about the group, write to lanbiginen@yahoo.fr or visit Evans Cadet on Facebook.com.
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