Yvon Louissaint et les Antillais

Some amazing Haitian compas to counteract a cold day. Try to stay warm. 

Les Kombass Play Haitian Music

"Loulou" is a beautiful Haitian meringue from the French Antilles. Featuring the legendary Henri Debs and Kombass, one can only expect high quality work. Debs would later make a name for himself as a producer of zouk music after playing in bands in the 1950s and 1960s. For more of their music, listen to their lively (and jazzy) biguine, "A Mon Ami Al Lirvat" I highly recommend reading Zouk: Music World in the West Indies by Jocelyn Guilbaut for more information.

Merengue From Cape Verde

An interesting merengue from a Cape Verdean legend, Luis Morais. The song alludes to an earlier relationship between music of the French Antilles and Cape Verde given the French Creole title which shares the same name with a song from Remy Mondey. Because of the popularity of zouk in Cape Verde, and zouk's origins in Haitian compas, which itself has links to Dominican merengue, one can see roots and routes going all directions in the music of the Black Atlantic.

Faces and Places

A jazz classic from Ornette Coleman. This live recording from the Golden Circle in Stockholm is one of Coleman's best, featuring David Izenon and Charles Moffett. Coleman also takes up the violin and trumpet on this concert, with interesting results. What I love about Coleman is how despite his free jazz styles, one can detect his roots in blues and bop. 

Jazz des Jeunes Happy New Year

The immortal Jazz des Jeunes wish us a Happy New Year! Found this lovely gem floating around on Twitter, and had to share it here, as well. Bonne année!

Watts Towers

I was recently in Los Angeles, and had to visit the Watts Towers. Here are a few photos of the Towers and the surrounding area.

From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969

From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969 by Eric Williams may be one of the most comprehensive general histories of the Caribbean ensconced in the school of cliometrics. Although I have yet to read Capitalism and Slavery, the magnum opus of the author, From Columbus to Castro is similarly focused on economic history, data illustrated in various tables, and figures. Combining an economic perspective with one of social and political history, Williams successfully weaves together the story of the Caribbean region from 1492 to 1969 in 500 pages without losing sight of the common themes, histories, and experiences that unite the Caribbean. Spanish conquest, piracy, colonialism, slavery, emancipation, the Haitian Revolution, the 'sugar revolution,' conflict beetween European powers, US imperialism, the road to independence in the British Caribbean, and the Cuban Revolution all receive adequate mention and analysis in a way that tends to emphasize the agency of subaltern actors and the social relations in the broader context of European colonialism. Williams goes to great lengths to demonstrate the importance of trade, contraband, mercantilism, and free trade as shifts in relations within the region and a product of and contributor to the growth of capitalism. I won't go into the intense scholarly debate on Eric Williams's approach to the question of British emancipation, but surely Williams deserves broader recognition for initiating the scholarly discussion on the links between capitalism and slavery.