Afro Kompa

Kompa is a popular form of jazz-based dance music pioneered in Haiti during the 1950s by the band Conjunto, led by Nemours Jean-Baptiste.

It was derived from méringue de salon, a string-based style of Haitian dance music inspired by contra dance from Europe. In Africa, the popularity of ‘70s kompa acts like Haiti’s Tabou Combo and athlete turned bandleader Coupé Cloué (aka Jean Gesner Henry) led to homegrown variants of kompa like coladeira from Cape Verde and kizomba, a slower take that also found favor in Brazil. The connection between the two regions is largely linked to French colonialism, with music as a natural import and export between them. Although, Jean-Baptiste and many of the bands that followed helped spread the kompa influence to other countries throughout the Caribbean and world as well. For this pack, producer Ismaila Talla, aka ISS 814, took the raw sounds we recorded from our Anguilla Sessions and reworked them into one-shots and loops in the style of kompa with West African influences.