RAM - August 1791

The Guardian 80

Willibelle

Named after lead singer and founder Richard Auguste Morse, RAM are one of the finest exponents of Haitian mizik rasin, a mix of percussive Vodou music, rock and funk. The son of an American academic and the Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines, Morse played in a Princeton punk band before moving to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, where he managed the historic Hotel Oloffson – the inspiration for Hotel Trianon in Graham Greene’s novel The Comedians. It was here that RAM were formed in the early 1990s, a band with a boldly independent stance who, despite kidnap and death threats, continued to play throughout the violent political upheavals of the decade.

RAM went on to build a following in North America, where they worked with the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Arcade Fire. And they have continued to make great music. The new album is a celebration of the slave revolt of 1791 that would lead to the declaration of independence 13 years later, and it includes rousing reworkings of ancient songs. The African-influenced Danmbala Elouwe is a driving, percussive piece driven on by guitars and chanting vocals, while Negrès Katye Moren is a gloriously funky treatment of a song once performed by Morse’s mother, with keyboard work that echoes Stevie Wonder, and the exuberant Otsya features hand-made horns that date back to the slave era. Elsewhere, there’s a dash of reggae on Dominikani (P’ap Janm Bliye) and more reminders of West Africa, and some fine vocal harmony work, on St Jak (M’ap Viv Avé Yo). It’s a classy, exuberant set.