27-03-2025
Haitian-American musicians to perform Rara music at 3S Artspace on April 4
PORTSMOUTH — For the first time ever, Rara music is coming to the Seacoast. In fact, when more than a dozen Haitian-American musicians arrive at 3S ArtSpace on Friday, April 4, it may be the first time this festival music of Haiti has come north of Massachusetts.
Kandjanwou Rara, a band playing music the Smithsonian Institution describes as both 'fun and profound,' will perform at an event starting 7 p.m., at 3S ArtSpace in Portsmouth to benefit a school in northern Haiti.
'Rara's been in Haiti since before all other types of music came out. It's the roots," Alico Dessalines, band leader.
After a set of Rara, Matt Jenson of the well-known Combo Sabrosa Latin band, will be back as DJ Cklockwize, spinning a set of salsa and reggae dance tunes. Jenson, a New Hampshire native who teaches at Berklee School of Music, knows the soul sounds of Jamaica inside and out and has his fingertips on the hottest in Latin dance tunes. Jenson has performed at fundraisers for the Eben Ezer School in Milot, Haiti, since the first one in 2010.
Profits from the party will pay to bring electricity into classrooms at the Eben Ezer School in Milot. The dance raises from $10,000 to $20,000 a year for a school that educates about 500 students with an annual budget of about $40,000 a year.
The band Kandjanwou traces its origins to an apartment in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston where Haitian-American friends gathered on weekends for music and camaraderie, according to Dessalines. The group encouraged Dessalines to form a Rara band and he was convinced after he met King Bobo of Cambridge, who was among the first to introduce Rara to the United States.
The band name "Kandjanwou," which translates to "get together, unity, or party captured perfectly the spirit of the band, reflecting a belief in communal joy, sharing, and cultural celebration,' Dessalines said.
Officially formed in 2022, Kandjanwou Rara set a mission to perform and spread cultural awareness, paying homage to ancestors and connections to Taino, Aztec Arawak and indigenous influences.
Rara 'is at once a season, a festival, a genre of music, a religious ritual, a form of dance, and sometimes a technique of political protest," according to the Smithsonian Institution.
Rara societies form musical parading bands that attract fans as they go. Musicians play drums, sing, and sound bamboo horns and tin trumpets, creating a distinctive sound of the Rara, according to the Rara festival harkens back to slavery times in Haiti and, before that, to Western and Central Africa. Its songs and melodies have been passed down for generations, according to the Smithsonian.
'For Haitians in the diaspora, playing or dancing in a Rara delivers the special ambiance of Haiti. It is a taste of home,' the institution said.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. They are available at or by going to the website
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Haitian-American musicians coming to the Seacoast
