Chouk Bwa

From the countryside of the New World’s first free black republic, Chouk Bwa performs stripped-down Haitian roots music: enthralling percussion, dance, call-and-response singing, work songs, Vodou performances, and Holy Week rara music.

Infused with the scent and sensibility of voodoo, it is music that refuses to obscure their homeland’s deep African heritage. As they themselves declare, these are rhythms that were “torn from Africa and secretly replanted in a new land.” But this “replanting” sowed a new identity. As such, the music of Chouk Bwa is a proud statement of Haitian culture, of a nation that’s known the hardest of times but whose spirit remains as tough as those ancient drums.

This event is part of (T)HERE: A Global Festival of Art, Culture, and Ideas – HAITI, taking place November 14-16 on the campus of Purchase College. Please visit the Purchase College website for complete festival line-up.