Overview:
A whole lot gathered in Port-au-Prince for Fête de la Musique 2025, mixing classical, vodou, and fusion sounds. Amid disaster, the occasion turned a joyful act of resistance, spreading from Centre Culturel Brésil to Place Boyer as music lovers saved the celebration alive.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Fête de la Musique, French for Music Competition, returned to Port-au-Prince final month with tons of packing the courtyard and corridor of the Centre Culturel Brésil for an evening of rhythm, resistance and cultural unity in a metropolis that has endured far too many months of silence.
“Music is the heartbeat of our lives. In as we speak’s context, it saves lives, it heals, it unites. Music has at all times been an area for resistance,” mentioned Francisco “Cisco” Lafrance, founding father of Pawòl Tambou or “Phrases of Drum”—one of many collaborating acts.
From early afternoon into the night time of June 21, the Centre Culturel Brésil buzzed with vitality as acts of each type took the stage. The lineup ranged from city poetry and politically charged performances to the deep rhythms of conventional and ritual music, ending with the pulsating beats of an digital DJ set — every style including its personal taste to the night time of music celebration.
This 12 months’s lineup showcased a daring mixture of musical types, mixing custom, experimentation, and worldwide collaboration. One of many night’s standout acts was Motif Mizik, created by Haitian musicians Mathieu Michel and Pierre-Ely, together with Brazilian percussionist Neno Garbers.
Their set constructed a sonic bridge between Port-au-Prince and Rio de Janeiro, mixing Brazil’s clean bossa nova with Haiti’s layered percussion and up to date sounds. It was a efficiency that felt each rooted and adventurous, unfolding like a dialog throughout cultures.
For the viewers, the fusion was extra than simply an inventive experiment — it was an invite to discover and picture new musical prospects. In a rustic the place isolation stays a continuing problem, such moments of trade provided a uncommon glimpse of connection.
“In a time stuffed with uncertainty, insecurity, and infrequently discouragement, Fête de la Musique gives a glimmer of hope. It offers voice to artists, showcases the richness of Haiti’s musical traditions, and brings individuals collectively round one thing inspiring.”
Léo Isaac, communications director at IFH
Haiti’s position within the world story of music makes the annual celebration much more particular. Began in France in 1982, Fête de la Musique now reaches over 120 nations. In Haiti, it has been an everyday occasion because the early 2000s because of the French Institute in Haiti (IFH, its French acronym) and its companions.
The nation, identified worldwide for its Konpa and Rasin music—the roots-driven motion, has lengthy stood at a musical crossroads. Haitian musicians have embraced jazz, bossa nova, rock, hip-hop and digital music, usually mixing them with conventional rhythms to craft new genres. That versatility has made Haiti a reference level in worldwide music circles — and a stage the place native expertise can converse to the world.
One other spotlight of the night time was violinist Leyla Séide, often called Leyla Mizik, who started her efficiency by mixing classical precision with in style melodies. She was a revelation to many music lovers in Port-au-Prince who got here to have a good time.
Lenny Auguste adopted with a socially charged set, whereas Néhémie Bastien drew the gang right into a extra intimate area together with her highly effective vocals and emotional depth.
After which, Pawòl Tambou introduced the gang again to ancestral rhythms, grounding the celebration in conventional percussion and chants. The band Nanm Vodou, Haitian Creole for “Soul of Vodou,” closed the reside performances with a robust show of rasin music, carrying religious significance and collective reminiscence.
To wrap up the night time on a excessive word, DJ Kemissa reworked the venue into an out of doors dance flooring with an brisk digital set that saved festival-goers on their ft.
“I didn’t anticipate such a big crowd,” mentioned competition participant Dalaicham Ganthier. “Leyla stood out together with her mixture of classical and in style rhythms. Motif Mizik impressed me with their cultural fusion. And Nanm completed the night time with unimaginable vitality,” Ganthier added.
A symbolic and defiant occasion in a gang-controlled Port-au-Prince
The occasion on June 21 occurred regardless of vital challenges. Over the previous years and in latest months, insecurity in Port-au-Prince has led many cultural establishments to droop or scale back actions. IFH, which beforehand operated from its personal headquarters, has moved its programming, together with this 12 months’s celebration, from downtown Port-au-Prince to the Centre Culturel Brésil, situated in a better space of Pétion-Ville— lower than 10 miles southeast of downtown.
For IFH, holding the occasion wasn’t symbolic — it was an act of defiance.
“Fête de la Musique is greater than only a cultural occasion for us,” mentioned Léo Isaac, communications director at IFH. “It’s an area for connection, peaceable resistance, creation, and solidarity. Within the face of the challenges Haiti is going through, our motivation stays the identical: to reaffirm the essential position of tradition, and of music particularly, in strengthening social bonds and collective resilience.”
Because the official program concluded, the celebration spilled into the close by well-known Place Boyer, the place Fingers Up & Reggae Mapou staged an impromptu live performance. Small teams danced, sang, and shared the night time collectively, proving that even in a metropolis weighed down by worry, pleasure nonetheless finds a technique to flourish.
Fête de la Musique this 12 months didn’t simply entertain. It reminded Port-au-Prince that music stays one in all Haiti’s most enduring forces — connecting individuals, therapeutic wounds, and holding the beat alive whatever the odds.
“In a time stuffed with uncertainty, insecurity, and infrequently discouragement, Fête de la Musique gives a glimmer of hope,” Isaac mentioned. “It offers voice to artists, showcases the richness of Haiti’s musical traditions. The competition brings individuals collectively round one thing inspiring—one thing uplifting.”