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

GONAÏVES — On a current April afternoon, males wearing conventional karabela shirts and alfò or straw hats and girls 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 satisfaction, and collective resilience that has carried its legacy for almost 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 almost a century of existence stands as a robust image in a rustic the place establishments are collapsing. Whereas over time, lots of Haiti’s state constructions battle below the burden of disaster, this rara band continues to attract individuals 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 the streets resulting in the sacred Lakou Souvennace. There below 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 probably the most anticipated instances of the yr, because the bann rara or road 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 response to Diogène, the group sends out a non secular determine known as ‘Courageous’, wearing black and purple, who alerts the beginning of their celebration. 

Moreover, as a practice, every Good Friday, Gros Moteur’s members circle the sacred Lakou Souvenance seven instances in a symbolic procession. Then, on the final Palm Sunday that falls within the Rara season, all of them costume solely in white, heeding the non secular instruction handed down by 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 costume 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 outstanding 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 major 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.

Right this moment, the Diogène identify stays central to the group, with descendants persevering with to serve and assist Gros Moteur, making certain that the group’s non secular and inventive imaginative and prescient endures throughout generations.

“Every time the group 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 group. “The rivalry between the 2 bands, up to now, had created stress 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. Via oral custom and mentorship, youthful musicians study 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 throughout 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 follow and native spirituality, Gros Moteur’s performances are usually not mere leisure—they’re acts of communal reaffirmation, particularly necessary within the locality, the place state assist 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 group had been marked by inside 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 strain from Bien-Aimé—and regardless of opposition from a former military captain—former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide approved Gros Moteur to renew its cultural actions.

The longevity of the near-century rara band has come not simply from its outstanding 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 assist—significantly for the 96th anniversary celebrations, has stored the custom alive. Important funds had been invested in buying musical devices, underscoring the group’s dedication to its craft.

“Every year, we spend over USD 100,000 to offer 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 assist 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 every part we wanted to make this anniversary a hit.”

Its endurance can also be a message to the broader Gonaives group—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.