Rough Guide to the Music of Haiti
You couldn't wish for a better musical guide to strife-torn tropical  places than Andy Kershaw, and his new compilationThe Rough Guide to the  Music of Haitihits the bull's-eye. Indeed, one of the nicest tracks comes  not from some other album, but from the recording Kershaw made with his BBC  producer Roger Short--a sweetly down-home number recorded at the house of  pintsizedtwoubadousinger Ti Coca. There might not be authentic voodoo  music on this disc--for that you need a copy ofAngels in the Mirror--and  the late, great Haitian diva Toto Bissainthe is sadly absent, but what you do  find here is marvelous.Compasis the name of Haiti's most characteristic  sound, and it's represented on this album by a variety of different combos,  including the shadowy DP Express. Also featured is the convivial warmth of  Coupé Cloué, the high-pressure rap of Masters of Haiti, and the  Cuban-influenced Haitiando and Orchestre Tropicana. Most interesting are the  plunges into the past with Nemours Jean-Baptiste and Lebanese bandleader Issa el  Saieh. The whole point about this politically blighted but musically blessed  island is that its music comes at you from many angles, not only from Cuba but  from the Congo, Dominica, Brooklyn, and punk U.K., and that it all gets whipped  up into the most exhilarating brew.--Michael Church