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8 - Competition, Conflict, and Cooperation

Haitian Rara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2022

By
Michael Largey
Edited by
Nanette de Jong
Nanette de Jong
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle
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Summary

This chapter examines the role of competition in Rara celebrations in Haiti. Rara, a Lenten religious festival that features marching bands and Vodou rituals, has a complex relationship with competition, which is unpacked in this chapter. As is argued, by investigating conflict and cooperation as dimensions of competition, it is possible to understand how Haitians navigate the complex social terrain of Rara using both confrontational and collaborative techniques.

Keywords

HaitiRaraVodouCompetitionLenten Festival
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Caribbean Music , pp. 110 - 123
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

References

Dirksen, Rebecca. 2013. ‘Surviving Material Poverty by Employing Cultural Wealth: Putting Music in the Service of Community in Haiti’. Yearbook for Traditional Music. 45, 43–57.Google Scholar
Fricker, Karen and Gluhovic, Milija, eds. 2013. Performing the “New” Europe: Identities, Feelings, and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Largey, Michael. 2000. ‘Politics on the Pavement: Haitian Rara as a Traditionalizing Process’. Journal of American Folklore. 113, no. 449, 239–54.Google Scholar
Largey, Michael. 2012. ‘Contested Brass: Tradition and Innovation in Haitian Rara’. Historic Brass Society Journal. 12, 159–73.Google Scholar
Largey, Michael. 2014. ‘“Hello, New York City!”: Sonic Tourism in Haitian Rara’. In Rommen, Timothy and Neely, Daniel T., eds., Sun, Sea, and Sound: Music and Tourism in the Circum-Caribbean. New York: Oxford University Press, 101–24.Google Scholar
McAlister, Elizabeth. 2002. Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
McCormick, Lisa. 2015. Performing Civility: International Competitions in Classical Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Rebecca. 2007. Carriacou String Band Serenade: Performing Identity in the Eastern Caribbean. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Raykoff, Ivan, and Tobin, Robert, eds. 2007. A Song for Europe: Popular Music and the Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
Scales, Christopher A. 2012. Recording Culture: Powwow Music and the Aborginal Recording Industry on the Northern Plains. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Tragaki, Dafni, ed. 2013. Empire of Song: Europe and Nation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar

Further Reading and Listening

Angels in the Mirror: Vodou Music of Haiti. 1997. Produced by Holly Nicolas, Yuen-Mind David Yih, and Elizabeth McAlister. Ellipsis Arts, CD 4120. CD with fifty-six pages of notes in English (with Haitian Kreyol song text and glossary) and two b/w and thirty-four colour photographs of performers, ritual art, and Haitian life by Chantal Regnault. Bibliography (five entries) and discography (five entries). Thirteen tracks recorded in the field. 66’45.Google Scholar
Landies, Maurea E. 2009. The Band Carries Medicine: Music, Healing, and Community in Haitian/Dominican Rara/Gagá. PhD dissertation, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou. 1995. Produced by Elizabeth McAlister. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, SF CD 40464. CD with twenty pages of notes in English (with song texts in Haitian Kreyol) and four b/w photographs of performers. Bibliography (six entries) and discography (eighteen entries). Twenty tracks recorded in the field and studio, plus excerpts from commercial recordings. 57’52.Google Scholar
Robins, Jeremy and Damas, Magali. 2010. The Other Side of the Water: The Journey of a Haitian Rara Band in Brooklyn. Ibis Productions, Inc. DVD. 72 minutes. Color.Google Scholar

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