“We spent two months preparing this concert for Nuits d’Afrique, it will be extraordinary!” Rutshelle Guillaume is already excited at the end of the video camera. It will be, she assures us, “a show not to be missed, on all levels: beautiful to see, musically interesting,” adds the singer-songwriter, who is clearly also a good seller. She is not even exaggerating: barely two and a half months after selling out the Rialto Theatre, the greatest voice of kompa is back to close the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival accompanied by a dozen musicians and special guests.
In what is called the Haitian Music IndustryHMI, is nicknamed the queen of kompa. The crown may be disputed, but her trajectory commands respect: in ten years, Rutshelle, her strong and silky voice, her song today influenced by American R&B and the Afrobeats wave and her many successes, has risen to the top of the Caribbean charts, at home as well as in the entire diaspora in France, the United States, Quebec, Montreal “which I love. I was supposed to come and settle in Montreal, but with my daughter, my family still there, I settled in Florida — for now!”
Since kompa music is not particularly broadcast in Quebec, except by community or university radio stations, it is difficult to measure the musician’s influence. Let’s dare to make an analogy: Rutshelle is the Beyoncé of Haiti. A great voice, first, and then a model media figure who makes crowds run, music critics swoon and the magazine industry prosper. people — last February, the cultural media Ticket Mag headlined “Rutshelle Guillaume, the most desirable woman of 2024”.
The musician bursts out laughing: “Actually, at first, I didn’t know what it was like to live with all this attention. Nobody warned me! At first, it was hard to digest all that, what people say, the truth and the lies. But as they say: talk about it, good or bad, but talk about it. We let people talk while keeping the focus on the work, because all that comes with the quality of the work, with the result you deliver.”
Of rhythms and styles
She is also said to be a hard worker. Discovers singing in church, studies philosophy, which she will teach in college, until she follows her passion for music. On her first album, Emotions (2014), is the song that will make her famous, Kite M Kriyea ballad combining pop, soul and kompa: “Musically, I’m more classical; the warm, very rhythmic song is not really my style. My third album [Quoi qu’il advienne (QQA), 2021] is much more in tune with the times, whereas on the first two, I offer songs like Émeline Michel used to do.”
“If I had to sum it up, I would say that I do a mix of rhythms and styles,” she says. “If you like jazz, if you like dancehall, reggae, kompa and zouk, my concerts will take you on a journey,” from her beginnings to the most dynamic RG Xa song celebrating his ten-year career, released at the end of last year.
Three years ago, Rutshelle Guillaume moved to Florida to pursue her career, like so many other Haitian musicians who have been prevented from performing due to the volatile situation. On the other hand, the Haitian diaspora in North America and Europe has the opportunity to welcome their favorite artists more frequently.
“It’s become much harder to work,” Rutshelle admits. “I feel like the music industry is concentrated in the United States now—Florida, New York.” On her fourth album, which she’ll release later this year, the musician will address the crisis facing her fellow citizens. “You know, as a Haitian, it’s unimaginable to think about writing songs without thinking about the situation in Haiti,” she confides. “I’ve lived my whole life in Haiti. Everything I have, this woman that I am, the artist that I am, I owe it all to Haiti. Sometimes, singing about the country hurts when I see everything that’s going on and I think about my family.”
Kompa dancing
With African dance pop music (Afrobeats) on the rise, will modern kompa be able to take advantage of it? “You know,” Rutshelle replies, “Afrobeats and kompa are not very different. Africans make dance music, and so do we. The only difference is that they are much more modern in the way they present the rhythm, while we are more danceable with the rhythm. We dance to kompa music.”
“Last year I went to Kigali [au Rwanda] to participate in the inaugural Trace Awards, a gala created by the (French) Trace TV channel to reward artists for their exceptional contribution to the field of African and African-inspired music. Rutshelle Guillaume won the award for best Caribbean artist, while her compatriot Michaël Brun won the award for best DJ.
“I sang in front of an audience that didn’t know me,” she continues. “I remember a journalist asking me what I hoped people would take away from me or my performance. I told him: from the first note, they will feel that this is a special and talented artist. And that happened, in Kigali. I arrived on stage calmly with my song. Keep it [tirée de Quoi qu’il advienne]which all Haitians know, and it worked.”
Rutshelle Guillaume will be on the main stage of the outdoor site of the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival on Sunday, July 21, at 9:45 p.m.