The Band Mozayik continues to make a difference after fifteen years.
Photo from mozayik.com
The Afro-Haitian jazz group Mozayik has just celebrated its fifteen years anniversary on the 28th of November, 2015, at the Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn, NY. As we all know, the group brought out its first album in 2000; five years later, they released their second album with great songs, each one more interesting than the others. The band had Emeline Michel and Beethovas Obas with them; singers whose voices brought a plus to the albums. The band has become more experienced over the years, which makes them one of the best Haitian jazz bands anywhere. Mozayik had the opportunity to participate in Port-au-Prince Jazz Festivals and the public who attended these performances was stunned.
Gene Torres
In April 2015, the band gave a performance that left an ink spot in the hearts of the guests who were present; a guest artist at this party was the famous sax player: Jacques Shwarz-Bart. Every year, the band celebrated with a guest singer inked in the world of jazz, world music and fusion. One such singer was Cassandra Piton, who graduated in vocal music. She currently teaches music in primary school and her voice is amazing. During the evening, guests had the chance to appreciate her feminine voice that asked only to listen. Mozayik executed pieces from their albums, including a song written by the band leader Gashford Guillaume, titled Moonlight, to remind us of the beauties, nature, the landscape of our beloved Haiti. Now, the band currently works on their third album, which will be quite as wonderful as the first two.
Eddy Bourjolly
It is a privilege to have a band like this one to enhance our music. Sometimes, our ears grow tired of listening to the same sounds; we need color, novelty, and variety that will allow other nations to appreciate our culture. We all need something new from time to time and the musicians of this band are not just playing the traditional; they also know how to take the ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary.
Gashford Guillaume
The arrangement of each song is unique and that's what we want from our Haitian artists and musicians. If someone buys a Haitian album of any genre: Compas, Jazz, Racine, Soukous, Folk, etc., then that person expects to get a well-produced album; that is what we want. Sometimes artists and musicians complain about the fact that the public no longer buys CDs, but we must make sure that the songs in those CDs are beautiful and well-arranged, because the public does not want to shell out for a single interesting song among fifteen poor compositions and faulty production. We invite you to take a quick look at the first two albums of Mozayik and I leave you the choice to make your own judgment. We all have different gifts and talents, so we must use the resources that we have available. Haiti is full of talented composers, poets, writers and arrangers who would die to help, but sometimes certain musicians just don't want to use the help of those that who are not popular. Instead, they want to do everything themselves in order to get all the glory, despite the fact that their skills are limited. They don't want to take advantage of the extraordinary writers and composers available to them. If you take the time to listen to some Haitian songs of today, you'll have the impression that the musicians are running out of words and melodies. We think that there is a way to bring something interesting to the sound that will please the public. "Chapo Ba" for those artists, singers, bands, writers, composers and producers who have the wisdom to put their talent to the benefit of Haitian music. Thank you to the band Mozayik, that continues to make a difference in their songs. We eagerly look forward to their new album, which we hope will be successful.
Ted Cruz
Jean Guy Rene and Jean-Mary Brignol
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