Michael Largey's Vodou Nation has been an exhilarating read. Given the lack of secondary sources on so much of Haitian classical music (and Haitian music more generally), as well as its importance in forging a Haitian national identity, broader black cultural nationalism (examined in the text through African-American operas about Haiti, Ouanga and Troubled Island) and shaping Haitian intellectual history, Largey's text is a must read. The last time I read something so moving in ethnomusicology was Averill's text on Haitian popular music. This book places the US occupation, Haitian class relations (elite vs. peasant dynamics), Haitian and African-American intellectual exchange and anthropology/ethnography (Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Jean Price-Mars, Dantes Bellegarde, Jacques Roumain), some music theory and debates on notating/arranging Haitian music (such as how one should notate the Haitian mereng), the tourism industry in post-WWII Haiti, Vodou and African-derived customs, and last, but certainly not least, a robust examination of the music, life, and ideology behind a few of Haiti's best composers (Occide Jeanty, Ludovic Lamothe, Justin Elie, and Werner Jaegerhuber).
In regards to Haitian and black cultural nationalism, Largey's thesis is quite convincing, particularly his excellent use of a variety of sources, ranging from white anthropologists and writers, such as Herskovits, to local Haitian academics, ethnographers, and scholars. Furthermore, his text reveals the depths to which recombinant mythology have shaped how popular classes have perceived political elites (and vice versa). In addition, Largey shows how African-Americans (such as Langston Hughes and William Grant Still) have related to Haitian class relations, how African-American cultural nationalism looked to Haiti as a source due to the country's reputation as the reservoir of the 'purest' African cultural retentions), how Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois influenced Haitian intellectuals, such as Jean-Price Mars to look to the Haitian rural majority to strengthen Haiti, and how specifically Haitian classical composers used Vodou and peasant music to construct a palatable Haitian art music for international and elite audiences while occupying a broader Black Atlantic.
Surely, the influence of DuBois's assertions on the power of the spiritual and African-American folk forms played a role here for Haitian elites, just as the US Occupation and the omnipotence of Haitian peasant culture pervaded all parts of Haiti, including urban Haiti and elite neighborhoods and towns. Indeed, the constant flow of rural Haitians to and from the towns probably explains why Occide Jeanty's "Zizipan" reflects rara influence. Or why Haitian elites were exposed to Haitian popular folklore and culture through dance, Carnival, the occasional Vodou ceremony, and mingling with the lower classes through concerts (such as the free and public performances of fanfares for the military or politicians), intellectual movements (indigenist and noirist being significant examples from the 20th century), political purposes (such as patronage or legitimizing oneself with rural Haitians), and cross-class nationalism (an excellent example being Occide Jeanty's "1804" sparking a riot and contributing to an outpouring of Haitian patriotism).
Moreover, Haitian classical composers such as Elie and Lamothe reveal the differing approaches to explaining Haitian cultural and symbolic ancestry, such as the importance of African or Arawak influences. Clearly, Elie's compositions and promotion of himself as an expert on 'Indian' music (even though he never studied indigenous musics of the Americas, nor were there any demonstrable indigenous influences in Haitian music), partly due to expectations and stereotypes from his American audiences in New York, belongs in a tradition of indigenism or Indianist thought dating back to Nau and 19th century Haitian ideas. Indeed, the resonance of the indigenous peoples of Haiti resisting encroachment from European colonists appealed to much to Haitians of all classes that the cacos resisting the US Occupation traced their name back to the caciques of the Taino. Lamothe, on the other hand, focused on the more obvious African cultural retentions in Vodou music (even writing about the subject), just as Jaegerhuber focused on the music and rhythms of Vodou in a context of a growing tourism industry (which preyed on the cultural capital of Haitian peasant culture) and folkloric movement (a contentious area for Haitian intellectuals in the aftermath of the US Occupation, since some intellectuals, such as Bellegarde, resisted any attempt to focus on or celebrate the 'superstitions' and African customs of the Haitian peasantry).
Of course, there are moments where one does not see any irrefutable evidence for some of Largey's assertions. Indeed, the anecdote quoted to explain a possible connection between Jeanty and Vodou is perplexing, although balanced well with perceptions of Jeanty as an 'Ogou' public figure. This book would have been better served with a companion CD, so readers could listen to examples of various Haitian mereng and classical music, especially to note specific moments or instances of "vaudouesque" influences permeating the works of Jeanty, Jaegerhuber, Lamothe, Elie, and other sources. Nevertheless, the book remains essential for foregrounding Haiti's classical tradition to reveal the significance of Haitian classical music as both a cause and effect of Haitian nationalism. Largey seems to believe that the Haitian general population is not interested, for the most part, in the island's long legacy of classical music, but clearly it was a large factor in a broader Haitian social relations that, at times, exploded on the scene (Lamothe's "Nibo," and the slow mereng like "Choucoune" became standard cross-class material, as well as an example of a Haitian popular genre representative of all Haitians.
"Choucoune" in particular, based on Durand's poem which used Kreyol, reflected on the beauty of a Haitian woman, which, as Largey states, often symbolized a nation at large. According to Largey, Oswald Durand would don the dress of a peasant and perform the piece, which is not unlike other Haitian composers, like Jaegerhuber, who would transcribe Vodou ritual music and folk songs, but present it in a context that is divorced from its original meaning. Intriguingly, such a concept has long been en vogue with European classical composers and literature, such as Grimm tales of Germany, which were not based on actual interviews of German peasants, but through middle-class and often Huguenot interlopers). Indeed, the influence of French and German classical and intellectual traditions could not be understated, particularly given the French and German training Jaegerhuber, Jeanty, Elie, and Lamothe experienced.
In summation, read this book if you're interested in black cultural nationalism, ethnomusicology, Haitian music, Haitian intellectual history, and Caribbean studies. One will learn much more than to appreciate the social context of elite Haitian music. I was even surprised to read about the Vodou implications of "Panama m Tombe" and Merisier Jeannis, the ancestor of my great-aunt's husband. Anyway, for anyone interested in Haitian mereng, here is a great link.
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