Creole Choir of Cuba
Prepare to be blown away: hear the passionate melodies, wild harmonies and richly textured arrangements of these ten inspiring vocalists and you will know this is something new from Cuba, the most original vocal sound to come out of the island in a long while. The Creole Choir’s Cuban name Desandann means literally ‘descendents’ and with songs like Papa Danbala, Tandé or Liman Casimir they tell the stories of their Haitian ancestors who were brought to Cuba to work in the near slave conditions on the sugar and coffee plantations until the 1959 Revolution. The Creole Choir is a cornucopia of remarkable voices that perform irresistible a cappella melodies sung in Creole with richly textured harmonies, vibrant dancing, and the shifting Caribbean rhythms of rediscovered musical treasures from Haiti, Dominica, and Cuba. Multiple award winners, they sing the vital music passed down from grandparents and parents as well as the songs of some of the foremost groups of contemporary Haitian scene. From laments to protest songs permeated by the homesickness of exile and the eternal dream of returning ‘home’, to ritual prayers and celebratory freedom dances, each song tells a powerful Haitian story kept alive in Cuba.