A SECOND BREATH OF LIVE FOR
FOULA'S MUSIC
AYIBOBO
(vodun
jazz from Haiti)
"Courage" 2010 .............................................................................................................. 
Rosnan, Vocals, percussion, dance, Chico Boyer,
bass,percussion, vocals,
Peniel Geurrer, drums, dance, vocals,
Jean-Paul Bourelly, guitar,percussion
Yatande, drums,
vocals
The encounter of the
"Lakou Boys" with guitarist virtuoso Jean Paul Bourelly
During the second half of the
seventies, a group of very talented and fine musicians initiated serious
extensive research to preserve and protect the musical legacy of Haiti. They researched "every aspect of our national
musical culture, traditional and contemporary music. Like musicologists, they
travel through Haiti to many voodoo temples and played during voodoo ceremonies,
recording each song they heard so they can work with new rhythms. They studied
the chord changes, rhythms and
instruments used during the ceremonies" The result was a superb band
"Foula" (Breath of Life) which stands out in the Haitian musical
experience as one of the most conclusive achievement in terms of originality
and uniqueness of cultural/musical expression. Thorn between financial problems and an environment not ready to absorb
this advanced concept, "Foula" did not last long and left us with a
unique CD which constitutes an anthology of their research and a strong
response to the group concerns: to preserve the cultural legacy of our music.
Most of the members had fled Haiti during the oppressive dictatorship of
the early nineties. They ventured into
playing other styles of music. Bonga Jean Baptiste has become the well-known
and very talented drummer we know. Thurgot Théodat shared his time between France
and Haiti and has launched his debut solo CD Badji last year. The two great
architects of Foula concept, bassist Chico Boyer (CHICO) and Guitarist-composer
Wilfred Lavaud (TIDO) went on different projects until their encounter with
guitarist Jean Paul Bourelly. This collaboration has given birth to two
projects Ayibobo Free Style & Ayibobo Stone Voudou that
was added to the discography of this exceptional and practically unclassified
guitar player of Haitian descent.
Blues-rock/fusion guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly was born on November 23,
1960, in Chicago, IL, to parents who were first-generation Haitians. He fell in love with the sounds of our lakous and
more colors were added to the broad scope of his already-rich palette of
sounds. As a matter of fact, Bourelly has incorporated a new guitar concept to
the Foula culture to 
give it a larger audience. He put voudou music right in
the middle of the international musical scene performing in Germany with his
group Ayibobo with special guest voudou priest Mathias Agbokou, from Benin.
Known for his musical odyssey in the black Diaspora, Bourelly is like the
pilgrim who cruises various genres and connects hidden
dots and uncovers unspoken
truth. This former member of the M-Base movement (Steve Coleman & Co) has visited many
cultures from the Middle East to Africa, exploring root music and soaking into
different traditions to transform his own musical experience. He is known for putting together intriguing bands
with original and iconoclast sounds. This is maybe where the convergent point
emerged between this guitar wizard-freak and the forgotten geniuses of former
band "Foula". The communality lays in their common taste for the
pursuance of an incessant reinvention of their own sounds.
We
nurture a profound respect for the "Lakou Boys" who have given
themselves such of great mission; and we are delighted as well to see Miles
Davis' former guitarist flirting with the roots of his Haitian ancestors.
Ayibobo!
CD review:
Ayibobo featuring Rosna
(Port-au-Prince/New York/Berlin)
celebrates the vital energy of Voodoo in Brooklyn
At the time of the Duvalier regime (1958-86), Roots music was considered
subversive on Haiti and was banned as a result. However, groups formed in the island's forests and fought the ban with
their music. Such a group was Foula, gathered around bassist and bandleader Chico
Boyer. In the early 1990s, as repression
increased, the musicians left Haiti and founded Ayibobo, together with
Jean-Paul Bourelly, in New York. The band's concept combines Voodoo music
traditions with the aesthetics of modern urban improvisation. Rosna, the band's
singer, is a fascinating figure: the incarnation of gracefulness and femininity
within Voodoo culture - Brooklyn style.
Freestyle's fusion of Haitian singing and drumming with jazzy horns and
guitar finds Ayibobo's leader, guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, looking back to
his heritage for some inspired new ideas. The
result is danceable, pan-cultural jazz at its most enjoyable, exemplified on
songs like "Voodoo Blue"...
