The clever name of the group captures the thematic content of Nou La, which begins with the Alexis’ opening acapella composition “Bonjou.” Vo-Duo says “bonjou” with a salute to the sacred Asoto drum, then to the lwa-s (spirits), and finally to all listeners, roping them into the spiritual realm as well. Once initiated, listeners experience a deeply personal album with complex musicality. On the group’s arrangement of Sanba Zao’s “Frelele” (The Struggle), Schwartz lays down a Yanvalou rhythm, interwoven with a spicy Kongo/Manbo pattern from Lakou Soukri in Gonaives. The coda features both artists employing tanbou a bouch, a style of audibly “scatting” the onomatopoeic tones of the drums. On the folk standard “Pale Mal” (Bad Talk), Alexis’ jazzy minor chord progressions are warmed with a tasteful amount of reverb and reveal the guitarist’s deep connection to the legendary song. Over a restrained Mayi rhythm, they create sweet vocal harmonies throughout, capturing the emotion of being roped into the gossip or “pale mal” of others, “mwen nan mitan yo” (“I’m stuck in the middle of it all”).
Alexis uses his platform as songwriter and performer to express the intimate and complex connection that many Haitians have with Vodou, an integral part of their daily lives and overall creative output. He is a poet in the Sanba tradition, which he experienced firsthand with Louis Lesly Marcelin (Sanba Zao) in his Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Carrefour-Feuilles. He learned the flute in high school, as well as folkloric arts and history at l’Ecole Nationale des Arts (ENARTS) and guitar at the Berklee College of Music. Schwartz, born in Copenhagen, Denmark, is a well-regarded percussionist on the Haitian music scene. He studied Haitian drumming with Jean-Raymond Giglio of the influential Rasin group Foula, and then traveled extensively to Haiti, learning in many lakou-s (Vodou communities) throughout the island. Stylistically, his drum-set up includes Haitian tambou (traditional hand drum), cajon (a hollow, boxlike instrument of Peruvian origin), bells, tambourine, and ride/crash cymbals. The resulting “hybrid” sound is distinctively his own, with the occasional live addition of electronics, as well as some other bells and whistles (literally).
Nou La is an important album by two musicians fluent in Haitian folkloric music who realized its potential after meeting in NYC’s jazz scene. Listeners are assured that this stripped-down, well-mastered jazzy record by two of today’s best Haitian jazz musicians accomplishes its goal of extending the roots traditions in the Tenth Department*.
*Haitian term for the Haitian diaspora population (living abroad)- Kevin Mason, (originally published in the Haitian Studies Association Newsletter)
Markus Schwartz
Born in Copenhagen Denmark, percussionist Markus Schwartz grew up in an American household surrounded by jazz, and has devoted the last twenty years to learning the wealth and complexity of traditional Haitian drum music. Moving in and out of Haiti since the early 1990s, Markus followed the lead of Haitian percussionists on pi lgrimages into the countryside to learn the intricate and powerful Vodou drums. Markus was a founding member of the ground-breaking Haitian Jazz quintet Mozayik and the Buyu Ambroise & Blues in Red Band, Markus has recorded and/or performed around the world with many of Haiti’s finest musicians, including “Queen of Haitian Song” Emeline Michel and Hip-Hop superstar Wyclef Jean.
In late 2008, Markus recorded a “solo” project featuring an all-star cast of invited guests Tanbou nan Lakou Brooklyn/Haitian Drums in the Brooklyn Yard reached #3 on the JazzWeek World radio charts.
Monvelyno Alexis A Haitian native from the small town of Port-au-Prince, Monvelyno Alexis began playing the guitar at the age of 18. Gospel music was his first musical experience. As a young boy, Monvelyno’s instruments included the Flute, Clarinet, and the Trumpet. However, his passion for the guitar was supreme. By his early twenties, Monvelyno had matured into an experienced guitar player and he was fortunate to meet and begin playing with Thurgot Theodat, one of Haiti’s most famous Jazz musicians who were working to fuse Jazz and Voodoo rhythms. This propelled Monvelyno into a deep ethnography of Voodoo music. Over the next three to four years, he visited traditional temples, as Lakou Souvenans, Lakou Badjo, Lakou Soukri, and spent time with high Priests and Priestesses of Voodoo, and learned many of their ritual spiritual songs.
Together they form Vo-Duo, inspired by the rhythms and chants of the sacred Vodou music traditions of Haiti, guitarist/vocalist extraordinaire Monvelyno Alexis and renowned percussionist Markus Schwartz incorporate elements of “Mizik Rasin”, Jazz and Rock into a uniquely original and modern improvisational context.
Vo-Duo’s remarkable sound is a result of the collective lifetime of dedication to their craft. Monvelyno & Markus are both established bandleaders and sought-after sidemen on the Haitian music scene in NYC and beyond. Together, they manifest a unique and passionate musical vision for the past, present and future of Haitian music.
