CD Review no. 61 | All CD Reviews

Even though music is a universal language, it is another matter for a musician to be able to understand the music from another land, from a culture different from his, to apprehend the many subtleties involved and to be able to not only play it well, but to play with feeling. This is what band leader Sten Källman and his group did on their album Simbi Kreol. Following the same path as they set on their previous album (See Chronique No. 19), Källman and his crew have done a stellar job playing Haitian folkloric beats and stamping them with their special touch. Did I mention that Källman and his group are not Haitian Indeed, the group hails from Sweden. That is pretty far away from the Caribbean, but listening to the music, you would not think so.

Simbi is a European group playing Haitian folkloric beats with a distinct jazz-rock touch. The most striking characteristic of the group is its sense of creativity which permeates the album. Each of the songs is a work of art.

Right from the start, the tone is set with a nice song played on a yanvalou beat. Listen to the bass and guitar lines supporting the melodic and somewhat nostalgic voice of lead singer Lotta Sjölin. Hear what I mean by the sense of creativity in the music. Listen for example to tune No.2, "Lamizè pa dous", one of my favorites on the album. The song's arranger, Martin Branqvist (drums, percussion, alto saxophone), manages to superimpose different beats in the same song. Indeed, if you try to dissect the song, you hear some underlying reggae, rara, while the singer sings on another beat. Listen to the nice guitar strumming as the sax introduces a beautifully lyrical solo. And suddenly, we enter into a solid rara beat. This is great music. And this kind of superimposition occurs in other songs too. We hear the same in tune No. 3, "Veye yo", arranged by Stephan Bergman. The conga plays on a congo beat, while the drummer is doing its own thing. The saxophone is exquisite on this tune. The congo beat goes in and out, weaving throughout the song, and that seems to be Simbi's style : to make it a point to harmonize different Haitian folkloric beats with hip-hop, jazz, rock etc. , but always keeping the basic Haitian folkloric beat as the base, the common denominator.

Another favorite of mine is tune 5a and 5b, a wonderful arrangement of a song by Boukman Eksperyans and of the traditional Haitian song "Wangol ". Just when you thought that nothing more could be done with that song, Simbi proves otherwise. The arrangement is nice and creative. Of particular interest to me is also tune No. 6, "Ogou bwè". Played on the yanvalou, it is as unusual as it is original. I absolutely love the way Brandqvist introduces a haunting sax solo, hesitating here and there while engaging in a kind of dialogue with the percussion while the guitar is maintaining a steady strumming. You can almost see them around talking to each other. This is an excellent arrangement. Tune No. 7, "Sessia", also merits special mention, as it showcases the versatility of Simbi. Here, we are back in motherland Africa. The song starts slowly, something quite current in African music and suddenly, it changes into a ferocious "soukous" beat that switches later to "konpa dirèk". That will make you jump from your seat. Tune No. 9 is also a yanvalou arrangement in which the bass combines with the percussion to produce some really nice rhythm patterns. The music flows naturally.

You may have noticed that I did not mention all the songs, but believe me, you need to listen to all of them. Each one offers a different flavor, and that is a tribute to the creativity of the group. As I suggested in the beginning, those Swedish musicians were able to come in contact with, and experience the feeling of Haitian music. It is therefore no wonder that they are able to communicate those feelings through their music.

The mixing on the album is pretty good. All instruments are heard loud and clear and that enhances the music. Even though it is obvious that Simbi Kreol was influenced by Boukman Eksperyans, whose music is featured on this CD, it has developed its own personality and its own sound. Aside from their excellent musicianship, the members show quite a bit of versatility in arranging their own music.

There are not many non-Haitian groups playing Haitian traditional music, but Simbi does quite a job of promoting Haitian culture through its music and the group should be highly commended for putting out a quality CD. You will be more than satisfied, believe me!

Serge Bellegarde
For Windows on Haiti
December 2002

Serge Bellegarde - Chronique Musicale

Vodou Beat Haitian Roots Music-Mizik Rasin has heavily contributed not only to a cultural revival in Haiti, but also to a better understanding of Haitian culture by many non-Haitians. Just as non-Haitians have become very fluent in Haitian Kreyòl, so too have many done a great job in learning to play Mizik Rasin. The album «Vodou Beat» by the Group Simbi is not new. In fact, it was recorded in 1992, not in Haiti or Miami or New York, but in Sweden. As I listened to it again it sounded as fresh as ever. The musicians are all Swedish citizens and they sing all the songs in Haitian Kreyòl. The arrangements are superb as modern jazz - rock phrases are superimposed on the most traditional Haitian rythms. As you listen to these musicians singing, you would never guess that they come from so far away and from a culture so different from ours. They obviously did their homework when they went to Haiti to participate in different activities at the time, such as the 200th anniversary of the Bwa Kayiman ceremony. They interpret some of the most traditional Haitian songs such as «Rasanbleman» by Toto Bissainthe », or write their own songs which you would never guess, are compositions by non-Haitian. Listen to the 4th tune « Frè ‘o », for example. This is a beautiful haunting melody written by Henrik Cederblom and Sten Kallman, two of the seven musicians who make up the Group, four of which are women. The eighth tune is an arrangement of Boukman Eksperyans’ Pwazon Rat. You know, I like it better than the original. The singing, the infectious rhythm are an absolute delight. You can’t sit still listening to it. Folks, this is absolutely a "must have" CD, the kind you want to have in your collection of rare and original works.

The Beat Magazine 01/96 - Gage Averill

We’ve written in the past about the Swedish band Simbi (named for a deity that guards the springs who is often invoked in spells) that performs Haitian roots music (exclusively!). Now their excellent self-produced album, Vodou Beat, has been released by Xenophile (Xeno 4038). As you can imagine, the band gets a complex reception in Haiti, but their two tours to Haiti have been very successful overall, and many Haitian musicians and music lovers think quite highly of the band. All songs are in Creole and most of the songs are arrangements of traditional vodou songs, but there’s a song by the late Haitian singer Toto Bissainthe, who lived for decades in France, one song by Boukman Eksperyans (“Pwazon Rat”), and one composed by a bandmember. Most importantly, the group doesn’t slavishly reproduce sounds and ideas they’ve received from Haitian roots groups bur are truly contributing something to the movement with idiosyncratic sound combinations (like the berimbau accompaniment to “Nou swaf”) and some interesting arrangements. For example, there are some terrific moments in their title song, “Simbi”, especially the fat baritone sax on bass harmony lines and the shocking modulation in the middle of the tune. “Nou Swaf” (We’re Thirsty) is a fine original tune dedicated to the many avatars of Simbi and that demonstrates that the band understands some esoteric vodou theology. Also quite lovely is their rendition of “Gede Zarenyen”, a vodou song covered by artists from Celia Cruz to Ram! Especially important is the prominence of women in the band - half the group is female, and they aren’t restricted to backup vocals either. This is really important to project in Haiti, where women have few opportunities and little presence in popular music. There are some who consign all efforts like this to the realm of “music transvestitism” or interpret all cross-cultural projects to First World appropriation (strip mining?) of Third World cultural resources. For better or worse, local musics in the far corners of the globe are often ushered into transnational markets by outsiders, and a kind of symbiotic relationship develops between these outside efforts and local music production. Simbi has done a fine job in crafting this album of Haitian roots music and their cross-cultural musical foray deserves to be appreciated on its own merits, but equally important is their role in further heightening world consciousness about Haitian music and stimulating global tastes for the same. Simbiotic? Absolutely.