Founding Member - Haiti Music Video

Gypsies de Petion Ville was founded in 1972 by two well-known musicians, Robert Martino and Pierrot Al Khal. These two were best known in playing Konpa music due to their unique talents coupled with creativity. In fact, Robert Martino started playing guitar and went public with his music, when he was about 16 years of age. He performed in various bands before creating one of its own bands, Gypsies de Petion Ville. However, he did not stop at that. He created more bands as time went by and as he met other talented persons in the music industry.

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Haiti's Kompa is considered to be the country's national music genre and Alex Abellard plays this style of music. Also called Compas, the music genre that is often accompanied by dance has expanded its reach to the rest of the Caribbean, as well as in the United States, Canada, France, and Africa. It gave birth to numerous singers and bands in Haiti that have gained both national and international fame and have performed all around the world.

The band Zin is one of the new generations of Kompas musicians in Haiti. It was founded in the 1980s by musician Alex Abellard. Other Zin members, past and present, are Alan Cave, Carry Legagneur, Daphne Dary, Eddy Saint-Vil, Gaby Catin, Jack Barbot, Patrick Apollon, Romeo DeVolcy, Virginia Mahotiere, and many others. The group has since released about twenty albums and is known for the songs' "Chokola", "Pa Okipi Li", "Falling", "De la tete aux peids", and "Hasta La Vista".

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