Search - Boukman Eksperyans :: Live at Red Rocks

Taking their moniker from the vodu priest at the forefront of the Haitian slave revolution of the early 19th century, Boukman Eksperyans are very much a band for the people, of the people. Blending the deeply controversial traditional religion vodu with Haitian folk forms and modern instrumentation of rock, funk, and jazz, Boukman make music for dancing, praying, trancing out, and in short elevating both the audience and themselves spiritually and politically. This recording, captured during Reggae at Red Rocks in August 1998, is revivalistic in nature: leader Lolo Beaubrun orates between songs, asserting that vodu (and in turn Boukman's offering of praise) comes from the same oneness that was taught by Jesus, Buddha, and Krishna, among others. Shot through with the complex rhythms coaxed from a borrowed Latin drum set, the spicily romantic French Creole tongue, and feisty guitar lines, the set is taken largely from Boukman's acclaimed Revolution album, coming to a head with "Pawol Tafia (The Drunkard's Words)," an ultimately celebratory anthem of freedom. --Paige La Grone