Overview:
Girls in konpa have gone from fandom to harmonizing within the background to commanding the stage over the previous 70 years. Listed below are some feminine artists whose pioneering presence pushed the beloved style onto new paths for many who got here after.
NEW YORK — For years, rumor had it {that a} massive a part of Zin’s fanbase again within the Nineteen Nineties wasn’t simply in regards to the band’s clean grooves or lead singer Alan Cavé’s sonorous lyrics. Marie Georges Métellus, aka ‘Princesse Georgy,’ was the massive draw for the feminine base who cherished seeing a lady current—and for males, who brazenly ogled her each sashay onto the stage.
Along with her expertise for harmonizing hooks in her signature treble, Métellus not solely turned heads as she introduced a brand new kind of star energy to the konpa bal scene, however she additionally drew followers to the exhibits.
Together with fellow singer Magguy Foreste, the duo grew to become a staple of Zin’s unforgettable Jeudi Saint, Jeudi Zin soirées, these epic Thursday night time bals that packed dance flooring in New York and Miami. Zin wasn’t simply driving the wave of the konpa “Nouvelle génération” motion. The band was shaping it by placing ladies entrance and middle in a style that was then bursting with males.
Through the three prior a long time, ladies had been current on the scene as vocalists, dancers and mega followers who flocked to the orchestra pit for his or her favourite bands. Zin’s addition of Métellus and Foreste additional signaled a turning level for followers desperate to see a extra seen, constant feminine presence within the business.
Just like the Zin ladies, many others in konpa went from behind the scenes to develop into instrumentalists, lead vocalists, songwriters and maestros in their very own proper. The all-women group, Riské, had a mega hit—“Zanmi—which was on the lips of music aficionados and schoolchildren alike for years. However greater than being fashionable, such ladies artists grew to become not solely fan favorites, however fashions of feminine empowerment for brand spanking new generations of konpa lovers.
Listed below are some ladies artists who got here, who noticed, and conquered the hearts of konpa followers—and left a mark on the style.
Haitian Instances Senior Reporter Juhakenson Blaise contributed to this report.