Music
Press
by Bob Young - BostonHerald.com
Friday, January 5, 2001
In mizik rasin - Haitian roots music - lyrics play as prominent a role as the melodies or infectious rhythms.
The members of Tjovi Ginen, who perform at the House of Blues on Sunday, have been driving home that point ever since they got together in 1993. "The spoken word is the essence," said vocalist Daniel Laurent.
For Laurent, who writes many of the group's lyrics, those words are informed by his own experiences as a native Haitian who has spent more than two decades living in America. So inspiration comes from both the police beating of Abner Louima in New York and Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return to power in Haiti.
It's a dual perspective that Laurent believes "is very crucial for the voice and the music. It's also the essence of the music, which is to express what's happening in the community, which to some degree is borderless."
The 34-year-old Laurent, who now teaches in a middle school in the Bronx, moved to the Boston area from Haiti with his family when he was 11. He attended Cambridge public schools, the University of Massachusetts at Boston and, for graduate school, Harvard University. It was while he was in this area that he became immersed in the Haitian music scene, helping form Batwel Rada, one of the city's busiest roots bands during the '80s.
"I grew up writing poetry," Laurent said, "even though I also grew up doing Haitian roots music. That was my voice."</P
The 11-member Tjovi Ginen - which roughly means children or spirit of Africa - has a new disc out this spring as a follow-up to its most recent CD, Tjovi Ginen, Tjovi Ginen (SWS Records). The band also has a politically tinged single due out later in January, 01, 01, and a song about to be entered into Haiti's upcoming carnival.
"We work on the music of the street," Laurent said, who added that he often employs ironies in his lyrics. "Usually they're not in melodic form. It's more spoken word as part of the conversation between people."
"When things are happening in high places, in governments for example, you have the best interpretation of events in the street. People hear things and go, `Oh, this is so and so doing so and so.' Short, to the point, nondiplomatic, that's it."
"The words are very important."
- Boston Herald
The event's intensity was lightened with a fashion show segment that certainly caught the attention of the audience as several lovely ladies and sexy gentlemen strutted across the dance floor modeling a Haitian clothing line. The line, which has two, soon to be three, stores in the Boston area, originated in Dorchester and featured graffiti-style artwork celebrating Haiti's independence.
Accompanying the party was guest band Tjovi Ginen who shined on stage with three stunning lead singers backed by a lively instrumental section, artfully blending reggae with a twist of Afro-Caribbean music. Tjovi Ginen proved to be the high note of an already successful and fun evening.
- Mass Media
Discography
Tjovi Ginen, Tjovi Ginen, LP. 1999, Soundworks Studio., Pe Pe single, 2001 Madame price records.
Email Tjoviginen@hotmail.com for your copy
Photos
Bio
TJOVI GINEN, which roughly means “children or spirit of Africa”, invokes their message of freedom through a blend of African, Latin and Haitian vodou rhythms. Their lyrics lace each track with Reggae, Ska and Jamaican dub poetry which unfold stories of struggle and triumph, pain and power, love and more love for each other and ourselves.
Daniel Laurent, founder and leader of TJOVI GINEN, fled Duvalier’s brutal regime with his family at the age of 11. , Laurent immersed himself in the Haitian music scene in Boston, forming the group, Batwal Rada in the 1980’s. He studied the tanbou, the nuances of Haitian vodou rhythms and the origins of rara- spiritual street festival music. As the Haitian Roots Movement began to reach its peak and Haiti became a political volcano, Laurent branched out and formed TJOVI GINEN – a more politically charged collective that incorporates the roots and rhythms of the island nation and its mother, Africa.
TJOVI GINEN is a primary example of how Haitian roots music has no boundaries and embraces all colors, nations and creeds. A mainstay in the New York music scene, TJOVI GINEN is an ensemble of seasoned musicians representing their Latin, African and American culture and history all supported by the tanbou, vodou rhythms, and Haitian chants.
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