''Jou a Rive'' is the debut album by the Haitian band
Boukan Ginen
Boukan Ginen is a ''mizik rasin'' band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. ''Boukan'' is the Haitian Creole word for "bonfire" or "fire pit". ''Ginen'' is a specific Haitian name for the ancestral home of enslaved Africans.
History
Boukan Gi ...
, released in 1995. It was originally released in Haiti in 1993. Most of the lyrics were sung in Creole.
[ "Pale Pale W" had been voted Best Carnival Song at ]Haitian Carnival
Haitian Carnival (, ) is a celebration held over several weeks each year leading up to Mardi Gras. ''Haitian Defile Kanaval'' is the Haitian Creole name of the main annual Mardi Gras carnival held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The parade is known ...
.[ The band supported the album with a North American tour.
]
Production
Singer Eddy Francois and drummer Evens Seney had been members of Boukman Eksperyans
Boukman Eksperyans () is a '' mizik rasin'' band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Grammy nominated for their debut album '' Vodou Adjae''. The band derives its name from Dutty Boukman, a '' vodou'' priest who led a religious ceremony in 17 ...
. Produced by Yvon Cinè, the album's music was arranged by guitar player Jimmy Jean-Felix.[ Boukan Ginen included 10 members at the time of the recording. "Ede M Chante" is an ]a cappella
Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
song.
Critical reception
The ''Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
'' stated that "Eddy Francois' Bob Marley-esque vocals, guitarist Vladimir 'Jimmy' Jean-Felix's psychedelic flourishes, and slices of straight-up reggae combine with the album's slick production and pop glosses to temper the Haitian ra-ra rhythms and voodoo chants with an overt crossover appeal." ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' wrote that Francois "delivers the group's anthemic songs with the political/spiritual fervor of a Bob Marley... Seney and his four fellow drummers organize their patterns around a definite groove, and the gifted Jimmy Jean-Felix adds North American rock guitar licks."Guitar Player
''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California
San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...
'' thought that the album "presents their driving, effervescent blend of folkloric Haitian trance rhythms with rock, R&B, and reggae, all arranged by Jean-Felix."Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' determined that, "in places, Boukan Ginen seems to be practically folksy even as it infuses its hypercharged vodoun celebrations with scorching guitar licks and near-solid walls of percussion."AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "BG's mix of rock and funk and compas and rara-derived rhythms is much hipper and less self-conscious than oukman Eksperyans's"
Track listing
References
{{authority control
Boukan Ginen albums
1995 debut albums