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Vox Sambou a Role Model for Haitian Youth

December 14, 2013 7:16 PM

Haitian-Canadian hip-hop artist, Vox Sambou, has issued his second solo CD Dyasporafriken, which means African Diaspora. He is on a quest to reclaim his African roots, and the CD's theme is built around his travels to Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Vox Sambou is also an advocate for restoring dignity to speaking Haiti's native language, Créole. Several tracks on the CD are sung in Créole, along with English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Vox Sambou - Para mi

Créole, a language derived from European French, spread when French forces occupied the island during the 1700s. Créole wasn't accorded status as an official language until recent years. But it is now accepted as a valid language.

VOX SAMBOU - Idantite Music Video

But in Montréal, Haitian youth born and raised there shun their native tongue. And it is Vox Sambou's mission to make them aware Créole is not a substandard language. Sambou, who moved to Montréal when he was 19, founded an after-school program, the Maison des Jeunes Youth Center,ffering several programs in music, athletics, and the arts. He has placed himself in a position to teach Haitian boys and girls to take pride in their ethnic roots, to not be afraid to communicate in their mother tongue.

Vox Sambou - BATO

Dyasporafriken has been nominated for Best World Music CD at GAMIQ Awards and is a compilation of hip-hop, reggae, world beat music, and R&B. Singing or rapping the choruses in several languages is Vox Sambou's way to reach as large an audience as possible, and send a message of positive self-identification out into the world.

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