Monday, October 1, 2012

Les Shleu Shleu - Haiti Terre de Soleil




When Compas Direct the band of Nemours Jean Baptiste was in his prime time,
many young men were copying the work of the famous musicians especially the Accordionist Richard Duroseau and the the guitarist Raymond Gaspard. 
Among the followers was a young man living in the neighborhood of Mornes Nelliot by the name of Serge Rosenthal. Serge played the accordion and the guitar trying his best to be the next Richard or the new Raymond.With his friend the drummer Smith Jean Baptiste and other guitarists like Jacques Fabre,Camille Philippe and Kiki Bayard a little neighborhood band was created....
they called themselves LES MANFOUBENS.
Dada Djacaman an Arab-Haitian man with much better financial situation decided to take the dream of the youngsters to another level and on December 22,1965 the band with the addition of some new members was baptized as LES SHLEU SHLEU de Dada Djacaman......showing that the band is the property of the investor.
Contrary to the bands of Nemours and Sicot and the other bands of the time playing with a full horn section, the new band had a reduce format with only one saxophone played by Tony Moise....and there you have it: the first MINI JAZZ was created with J.C pierre Charles (Peddy) and Hans Cherubin (Gro Bébé) on lead vocal.
The band captured the attention of the new generation and before long they were the kings of the airwaves with songs like Alfredo- Pèche A La Ligne-Maille -Devinez -Café Au Lait among others. By the end of the decade the country was floated with Mini Jazz bands from almost every neighborhood copycatting the work of Shleu Shleu. But Shleu Shleu continued to be like a real king among the others and they carry themselves as such too. They continued to write hit songs like Moune Damou- 7 Jours Se La Semaine-Ceremonie Loa and some nice slow songs like Grille Ta Cigarette and Minuit Sonnen....

Les Shleu Shleu


Terre de Soleil




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