Singer, voudoun priest, Haitian cultural hero releases long-awaited 2nd album, Pèlerinaj
“If humankind could live by the principles of voodoo, of community and tolerance and sharing, we could go so far.”
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So says Erol Josué, singer, dancer, and one of Haiti’s most vital and beloved artists. Josué invokes the spirits known as Iwa to invite healing and tolerance as he explores his country’s uneasy journey – and his own – in his sophomore album, Pèlerinaj (Pilgrimage), available March 24 on Village Hut Records. Produced primarily by New York City-based Charles Czarnacki, its 18 tracks blend sacred chants and traditional rhythms like dogo, noki and fla voudoun with funk, jazz, rock and club-friendly electronic music.
Pèlerinaj – Pilgrimage in Haitian Creole – tells the story of Josué’s own pilgrimage. Ordained at 17 as a priest of voudoun – voodoo, the centuries-old African diasporic religion – Erol soon became part of Haitian diaspora. Over two decades living in Paris, New York and Miami, Josué founded or was integral to a dazzling array of music projects and dance ensembles. The “electro-voudou” sound he developed in the mid-aughts New York club scene with DJ Val Jeanty led to his first album, Régléman, in 2007. A 2009 voodoo documentary, followed the cataclysmic 2010 earthquake, brought Josué back to his native country, completing his pilgrimage.
As Director of Haiti’s National Bureau of Ethnology, a position he has held since 2012, Josué continues to introduce Haitian voodoo culture to universities and institutions across the United States. On Pèlerinaj he sings – in French and Creole – not only of his own spiritual and political journey, but of Haiti’s.
From secret meetings of African slaves and Haiti’s Indigenous Arawak people (“Badji”) to a paean to the resilience of a people who successfully revolted against slavery and colonialism (“Je suis grand nèg”) only to face poverty, human rights violations and natural disasters, Pèlerinaj takes us to the aftermath of the 2010 temblor. “Avelekete” is Josué’s tribute to the earthquake’s victims, calling on those yet to grieve to allow their tears to fall. “Kwi a” reminds Haitians that they are descendants of freedom fighters who should never use their hollow kwi calabashes to beg; ‘Pèlerinaj fla vodou” honors the country’s refusal to continue seeking international aid.
Through the country’s travails wind the forces and fates of voudou. “’Fla’ [“Pèlerinaj fla vodou”] is the moment when everything is flowing in the ceremony,” Says Josué. “Pilgrims sing this song as they climb to reach the feet of their patron saint.”
He sings of his own pilgrimage—his journey and return—on “Kafou”: “The crossroads is an important symbol in voodoo. Which path to take – north or south, Paris or New York – is a decision called ‘kafou’. You put candles, alcohol and food on the crossroads. Then you say thank you, and you go.”
Having opened the album by invoking voudoun goddesses and saints on songs like “Rén Sobo,” “Ati Sole” and “Palave Maria,” he closes it with “Kase Tonèl,” a live recording of a voodoo ceremony and the festivities that follow.
A roster of global musicians helps Josué and producer Czarnacki link together the singular journey of Pèlerinaj. French/Guadeloupean jazzman Jacques Schwarz-Bart plays saxophone and co-arranges three songs. Master percussionist Bauvois Anilus and guitarist Mark Mulholland accompany Josué on his Haitian homecoming on “Kafou.” And French composer Arthur Simonini provides the subtle piano and orchestral arrangements on “Tchèbè Tchèbè,” celebrating slave-turned-revolutionary leader Jean-Jaques Dessalines.
