Gros Moteur rara band keeps the rhythm of resistance alive in Gonaïves after 96 years 

GONAÏVES — On a latest April afternoon, males wearing conventional karabela shirts and alfò or straw hats and ladies adorned in lengthy, colourful embroidered attire and skirts, the Gros Moteur Rara band marked its 96th anniversary within the historic metropolis of Gonaïves, within the Artibonite area.

Based in 1929 within the Souvenance locality, Gros Moteur has grown into one of many metropolis’s most enduring cultural establishments—an emblem of non secular continuity, rural pleasure, and collective resilience that has carried its legacy for practically a century.

“I’m sacrificing myself in order that the Gros Moteur rara can live on within the Souvenance locality,” stated Thony Diogène, the band committee delegate and certainly one of its founding members.

Gros Moteur’s practically a century of existence stands as a robust image in a rustic the place establishments are collapsing. Whereas through the years, lots of Haiti’s state buildings wrestle beneath the burden of disaster, this rara band continues to attract folks into the streets—younger and previous, rural and concrete, native and diaspora—sure collectively by music mixing rhythms like Nago and Congo Dahomé, linking musical type to ancestral id. 

On April 6, a whole bunch, together with kids, from throughout the town, attended this yr’s anniversary festivities, drawn by the colourful parades, hypnotic beats, and call-and-response chants echoing by way of the streets resulting in the sacred Lakou Souvennace. There beneath a big tent, members alongside household and supporters of the band sat round a desk adorned with flowers to share a meal and proceed the celebration.

The band’s anniversary day coincided with the nation’s Rara festivities month.

Throughout Haiti’s area, like in Gonaïves, Holy Week, coinciding with the Catholic rituals, marks one of the vital anticipated occasions of the yr, because the bann rara or avenue bands fill the streets every Sunday starting in mid-March. These processions construct to a sacred crescendo throughout Easter Week, when music, motion, and non secular power rework lengthy stretches of streets, public squares into dwelling ceremonies.

Gros Moteur members have their particular cue to sign to members the beginning of their celebration. Members honored what organizers name the “twin spirits” that information the band. In accordance with Diogène, the group sends out a non secular determine referred to as ‘Courageous’, wearing black and purple, who indicators the beginning of their celebration. 

Moreover, as a convention, every Good Friday, Gros Moteur’s members circle the sacred Lakou Souvenance seven occasions in a symbolic procession. Then, on the final Palm Sunday that falls within the Rara season, all of them gown fully in white, heeding the non secular instruction handed down by way of a servant of the Lakou Souvenance, Fernand Bien-Aimé, stated to be impressed by his deceased father.

“That is what was revealed by his [Fernand] late father, he requested that each final Palm Sunday, we gown in white,” Kénold Diogène, one other chief of the group, stated.

The household behind the near-centenary legacy 

The longevity of the near-century rara band has come not simply from its exceptional musical act, its rural base, however from members of the Haitian diaspora, lots of whom as soon as marched with the band and now contribute financially to make sure its survival.

Gros Moteur was based by Saurel Diogène —its main founder— alongside Carmelot Diogène and Dieuferne Corvile. The founders invested considerably in devices and construction. Corvile additionally served as “samba,” or lead chant singer, and subsequent committees formed the group’s evolving management.

At this time, the Diogène identify stays central to the group, with descendants persevering with to serve and help Gros Moteur, guaranteeing that the group’s non secular and inventive imaginative and prescient endures throughout generations.

“Every time the neighborhood faces issues—even household conflicts—we reply with musical messages that talk to the scenario,” stated Tony Diogène, musician and composer.

Locals close to Souvenance and round Gonaïves see Gros Moteur as a musical pressure with deep social roots. 

“Gros Moteur offers unforgettable pleasure to its followers and displays the non secular developments of our Vodou traditions,” Jean Baptiste Aldajuste, a musician from rival group Vierges Miracle, stated, acknowledging the band’s affect in its neighborhood. “The rivalry between the 2 bands, prior to now, had created rigidity between followers, which is widespread and a part of the aggressive spirit that defines Rara.”

Gros Moteur can also be a coaching floor for the youth. By way of oral custom and mentorship, youthful musicians be taught devices such because the drum, piston, cymbal, trumpet, and bamboo.

“ I used to be first captivated after watching a rehearsal. From that day, I knew I wished to be a part of the band,” Wilvens Limage, a younger musician who performs the bamboo, a woodwind instrument, stated. “Now, every time I play, I really feel that connection.”

“I by no means get uninterested in performing through the Rara season,” Eric Lacaussade, a multi-instrumentalist in Gros Moteur* stated.

“The enjoyment of enjoying comes from the power of the group.  It’s about entertaining the followers and making the spirit of the band shine.”

Anchored in Vodou apply and native spirituality, Gros Moteur’s performances are usually not mere leisure—they’re acts of communal reaffirmation, particularly vital within the locality, the place state help for such a music style stays restricted. 

Gros Moteur rara, a cultural inheritance, sustained by diaspora devotion

Traditionally related to the Catholic determine of Saint Jacques, Gros Moteur has additionally weathered political interference. The 96 years of existence of the Gros Moteur group within the Lakou Souvenance neighborhood had been marked by inner divisions, political setbacks, and financial hardship, however the group continues to carry out, to parade, and to move on its legacy.

Within the Nineties, authorities officers suspended the group following a battle with one other Rara band, Toulimen. After sustained stress from Bien-Aimé—and regardless of opposition from a former military captain—former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide licensed Gros Moteur to renew its cultural actions.

The longevity of the near-century rara band has come not simply from its exceptional musical act, its rural base, however from members of the Haitian diaspora—lots of whom as soon as marched with the band and now contribute financially to make sure its survival.

A lot of Gros Moteur’s trendy endurance has been supported by Haitians overseas. Many Gonaives natives within the diaspora as soon as performed within the band or have members of the family who did. Their monetary help—notably for the 96th anniversary celebrations, has saved the custom alive. Vital funds had been invested in buying musical devices, underscoring the group’s dedication to its craft.

“Annually, we spend over USD 100,000 to supply meals, clothes, and drinks for all members of the Gros Moteur group,” Kénold stated , the group’s president. 

This yr’s celebration was organized with the help of a grandson of one of many founders, Colaba François, whose son contributed considerably to fund meals and apparel for the a whole bunch of performers.

“He [Colaba’s son] gave us the whole lot we would have liked to make this anniversary a hit.”

Its endurance can also be a message to the broader Gonaives neighborhood—together with these within the diaspora—that even amid instability, Haiti’s deepest cultural roots are nonetheless alive and marching.

“Every time the Rara festivities arrive, the spirit of life is reignited within the band,” Thony stated.