Musicians Joël Widmaier and Fabrice Rouzier
Port-au-Prince, July 24, 2025.- Joël Widmaier welcomes the recent advances of Konpa and advocates for a professional regularization of the Haitian music industry, while Fabrice Rouzier insists on preserving the memory of the genre through the media. Both, key figures, also engage in the transmission to younger generations, notably through a protocol signed between the Fondation Haiti Jazz and the Haitian State to integrate artistic education in schools.
In a context where Haitian music seeks to consolidate its identity while renewing itself, two great names of the cultural landscape, Joël Widmaier and Fabrice Rouzier, deliver their vision of the future of Konpa and its industry.
For Joël Widmaier, Konpa lives « a good time »recent innovations, including the increasing integration of women on stage. However, the drummer of the legendary Zèklè group believes that urgent reforms are necessary:
« We must regularize the Haitian music industry, structure it as elsewhere in the world. Promoters must respect artists, and artists must also respect the public. »
For his part, Fabrice Rouzier, founder of Mizik Mizik, producer and pillar of the Compas de la Nouvelle Génération, insists on the importance of preserving the country's musical memory.
« The press has a role to play. You have to tell the story of the Konpa, not just make the young dance, but also teach them where this music comes from. », pleads the one who contributed to more than 300 albums.
*Music as an educational tool*
On 10 January 2024, Joël Widmaier, via the Fondation Haiti Jazz, signed a historic memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP). Objective: To integrate Artistic and Aesthetic Education (EAE) into schools as a compulsory subject and evaluated in official examinations.
Several initiatives have been implemented:
Workshops « Jazz pour timoun » at the PAP JAZZ 2024, combining music, plastic arts and recycling;
Discovery Scene for Young Artists at the Caribbean Cultural Centre;
School workshops as early as March 2024, aimed at introducing students to musical appreciation and performing arts.
This approach is part of a clear desire to transmit a cultural heritage, but also to train the transversal disciplines through music: mathematics, reading, science.
Two visions, the same mission: to build a sustainable, inclusive and deeply rooted music industry in Haitian identity.
W.A.
