{{Short description|Haitian music genre}} {{About|the Haitian folk music|the origins of the medieval composer and performer|Troubadour}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Twoubadou | bgcolor = | stylistic_origins = Méringue combined with Cuban guajiro traditions | cultural_origins = Early 20th Century, Haiti | instruments = {{hlist|Guitar|accordion|tanbou|maracas|lamellophone|bass|banza|graj|beatboxing}} | derivatives = | fusiongenres = | regional_scenes = {{hlist|North America (esp. Haiti, French West Indies and Dominica)|France}} }} {{Music of Haiti}}
'''Twoubadou''' ({{IPA|ht|twubadu}}; {{langx|fr|Troubadour}}) music is a popular genre of guitar-based music from Haiti that has a long and important place in Haitian culture. The word comes from ''troubadour'', a medieval poet-musician who wrote and sang songs about courtly love. Like the troubadours of old, the Haitian twoubadou is a singer-composer who accompanies himself on songs that tell about the bitterness and humor of love, often using risqué or suggestive lyrics.<ref name="Masters of Caribbean Music">{{cite web|url=https://www.statetheatrenj.org/media/pdfs/keynotes/keynotes_mastersofcaribbeanmusic.pdf |title=Masters of Caribbean Music |access-date=28 January 2014}}</ref>
==History== Twoubadou was developed in the early 20th century. It combined music derived from the ''guajiro'' traditions of Cuba, (which is related to the ''jibaro'' musical tradition of Puerto Rico) with a Haitian musical style called méringue.<ref name="statetheatrenj.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.statetheatrenj.org/media/pdfs/keynotes/keynotes_mastersofcaribbeanmusic.pdf |title=Masters of Caribbean Music |access-date=20 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="Manuel, Peter with Kenneth Bilby, Michael Largey 2006 156">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_7NIe_I298MC&q=history+of+twoubadou+cuba&pg=PA156 |title=Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae |author=Manuel, Peter with Kenneth Bilby, Michael Largey |page=156 |year=2006 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=9781592134649 |access-date=20 January 2014}}</ref> Twoubadou was brought back by Haitian migrant laborers who went to work as cutters on sugar plantations in Cuba who traveled back and forth to harvest the seasonal crop at the turn of the century. The instruments in the ensemble are portable, since most twoubadou had to carry all of their possessions back and forth between Haiti and the sugarcane fields abroad. It is characterized by the use of the following acoustic instruments such as an acoustic guitar or two, an accordion, and percussion instruments. It also features a pair of maracas or a ''graj'' (scraper), a ''tanbou'' (barrel drum), and a large ''lamellophone'', with three to five keys called ''manibula'', ''maniba'', or ''malimba'', (depending on the geographic region) that provides the sound of a bass guitar. True to the original Spanish troubadours, the music and its lyrics usually conjured up images of true love and lasting relationships.<ref name="statetheatrenj.org"/><ref name="Manuel, Peter with Kenneth Bilby, Michael Largey 2006 156"/>
Haitians have been part of a network of migrant labor since the late eighteenth century, when Haitian workers routinely to Cuba to participate in the sugarcane harvest which was most successful in the Caribbean after the independence of Haiti of 1804 (formerly known as Saint-Domingue) when its production topped the world.<ref name="clrjames">{{cite book |title=The Black Jacobins |last=James |first=C. L. R. |author-link= C. L. R. James|year=1963|orig-year=1938|edition=2nd|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|pages=45, 55|oclc=362702}}</ref> Haitian migrants have also shaped the musical styles in the areas where they worked. Tumba francesa is the Cuban term for Haitian-derived recreational drumming and dancing; the style is still practiced among expatriate Haitian cane cutters.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_7NIe_I298MC&q=history+of+twoubadou+cuba&pg=PA156 |title=Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae |author=Manuel, Peter with Kenneth Bilby, Michael Largey |page=156 |year=2006 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=9781592134649 |access-date=29 January 2014}}</ref>
==Origins== The structure of the twoubadou song is a simple two-part, verse–chorus form. In Haiti, twoubadou is beloved by the people as their national music, but it is nearly unknown in the rest of the world.<ref name="Masters of Caribbean Music"/>
The type of performer designated by the term ''twobadou'' changed over time. Gage Averill has described the singer Auguste de Pradines (1879–1947), widely known by the name Kandjo, as an archetype of the meaning of the term as it evolved in the twentieth century: {{blockquote| Kandjo fashioned a career that mixed bitter social satire ("Pa fe m sa"), patriotism, and tender local themes ("Erzulie") on a musical platform that combined French chanson, Haitian ''mereng'', and Haitian traditional-style melodies. With his knack for capturing popular sentiments, he won for himself a devoted audience that spanned urban and rural environments (he sang at many rural ''fèt chanpèts'') and all social classes. Although the term ''twoubadou'' was used at the time only for itinerant singers and small bands that played for hand outs, it later came to be applied to the type of populist singer of topical ''merengs'' personified by Kandjo... Kandjo largely created this archetype of the Haitian troubadour.<ref name=averill97>{{cite book|last1=Averill|first1=Gage |title=A day for the hunter, a day for the prey: Popular music and power in Haiti |date=1997 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Ill.|isbn=9780226032931|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwEL9mUcVA8C}}</ref>{{rp|50}} }}
==Popular culture== Mizik twoubadou (''troubadour music'') has always had a following in Haiti, especially in small nightclubs where combos of two guitars, maracas, tanbou, and a pair of vocalists serenade dancers with Haitian and Cuban music. Perhaps the most famous contemporary component of the twoubadou style among popular entertainers in the latter twentieth century was Jean-Gesner Henry, better known as Coupé Cloué was renowned for his sexually suggestive lyrics. Recently, commercial artists have embraced the twoubadou sound, releasing several albums in recent years that foreground the guitar and the rhythms of Cuban music. One of the most successful releases is Haitiando, a three-CD series of Cuban music translated into Kreyòl and sung to the music of the two-guitar ensemble. The Haitiando series makes the often forgotten connection between Haitian and Cuban music explicit with their translations of popular Cuban songs in Kreyòl.<ref name="books.google.com"/>
Although more popular during times past, today it is sometimes considered ''passé'' (old-fashion) or only for the old folks. Although more recently, it has begun being eclipsed by more popular forms of rasin and kompa music, it is making a comeback even among groups like Mizik Mizik. The song "Blakawout" from their album of in 1999 has made this a popular form of music among the younger crowds. Troubadours perform in small ensembles and can be found in larger restaurants, playing requests for patrons for small donations, or performing outdoors for celebrations.<ref name="books.google.com"/>
Some renowned compas bands and musicians have incorporated twoubadou into some of their songs. The 56th President of Haiti, Michel Martelly's (known by his stage name ''Sweet Micky'') ''Pa Manyen Fanm Nan'', Alan Cavé's ''Ma Rose'', Mikaben's ''Ou Pati'', and T-Vice's ''Tu Me Touches'', were all hits.
Twoubadou groups can be heard in Haiti at fèt patwonal (patron’s day feasts), during Carnival, at private parties, and in hotels and restaurants frequented by tourists.<ref name="Masters of Caribbean Music"/>
==See also== {{div col}} * Charanga * Danzón * Habanera * Haitian Creole * Haitian Vodou drumming * Mambo * Music of Cuba * Tumba francesa * Salsa music * Son Cubano * Sugar plantations {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005xm30 BBC Radio 3 Audio (45 minutes): Music of Haiti – part 1.] * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005xm33 BBC Radio 3 Audio (45 minutes): Music of Haiti – part 2.] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=_7NIe_I298MC&dq=Twoubadou+history&pg=PA156 Caribbean currents: Caribbean music from rumba to reggae] (p. 156). Manuel, P., Bilby, K. M., & Largey, M. D. (1995). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. * [http://www.mizikpam.com Experience Haitian music on Mizikpam Internet Radio] * [http://www.bluemajik.com Haitian music community]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twoubadou}} Category:20th-century music genres Category:Haitian styles of music