About

Dilijans is the lone album released by Ayizan, the brilliant Haitian ensemble founded by guitarist and composer Alix Pascal. Recorded in New York in 1984, Dilijans presents a powerful combination of Black American jazz and rara, a Haitian musical form that is played to accompany processions in street festivals, religious ceremonies, protests, and beyond. Sung in Haitian creole, Pascal’s songs throughout Dilijans comment on complex sociopolitical realities. His lyrics were cloaked in metaphor as a means of avoiding a direct critique of (or confrontation with) the repressive U.S.-backed Haitian government.

Much like jazz, rara is a social music, inextricably linked to the community that produced it. Ayizan exhibited this by putting together a collection of songs that speak to the shared experiences and immediate concerns of Haitians everywhere. The result is an album in which the politics, music, and spirit of the Haitian people coalesce beautifully.  - Bandcamp Daily