In 1996, Terri Gross invited Elizabeth McAlister to be a guest on Fresh Air to discuss “Rhythms of Rapture,” the album of Haitian religious music that McAlister compiled for Smithsonian Folkways. They talked about life in Haiti in 1993 during the coup d’etat against Jean-Bertrand Aristide, about Vodou music, and about getting to know a culture through its music.

Listen to Professor McAlister’s interview on

NPR : Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

 

Symposium Podcast: Considering Syncretic Practices, Beliefs, and Religions in the Caribbean

This moderated panel discussion took place at the Museum on October 27, 2007. Scholars and artists included Elizabeth McAlister, John Amira, and Marta Vega discussing the ways belief functions in the daily life of Caribbean peoples within the islands and in New York.

 

Music and the Story of Haiti

An episode of Afropop Worldwide

(Produced by public radio’s Afropop Worldwide and Elizabeth McAlister. For more information please see http://www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/120/Elizabeth+McAlister+2007

Abbreviated version (6 minutes):

Complete program (1 hour):

If the embedded players do not work, try clicking these text links for the 6-minute or one-hour versions.

From Vodou to Compas to Racine to Rara and Beyond: Haiti became the first black-ruled republic in the Americas in 1804, and music has mirrored, and at times shaped, the twists and turns of Haiti’s politics and culture ever since. A primary source of Haitian culture is Dahomey, the birthplace of vodou–the most commonly held world view among Haitian people today. We explore how each of Haiti’s rulers has championed his own preferred music. The Duvalier dictators favored compas dance music, and suppressed the most African-identified cultural expressions. When Baby Doc was run out of the country in 1986, African-derived racine, or roots, music exploded. Elizabeth McAlister, professor of religion at Wesleyan University, and several community scholars–and Holly Nicolas–interweave music and history to tell a dynamic, and at times heart-breaking story. Included in the mix we’ll hear the sweet sound of troubadour balladeers, as well as the exuberant tones of rara bands, the call and response of a capela kombit songs of work parties, impassioned choral music of evangelical churches, and the sophisticated, improvisational rhythms used in vodou rituals.

Listen to Prof. McAlister on The Colin McEnroe Show on Connecticut Public Radio September 10, 2009.

http://www.cpbn.org/program/colin-mcenroe-show/episode/cms-hatian-vodou-and-zombies-too