Carimi (often styled as CaRiMi) was a popular

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

compas Compas, also known as compas direct or compas direk (; Haitian Creole: ''konpa'', ''kompa'' or ''kompa dirèk''), is a modern méringue dance music genre of Haiti. The genre was popularized following the creation of Ensemble Aux Callebasses in ...

band assembled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2001.

Biography

History

Carlo Vieux, Richard Cavé and Mikael Guirand who had worked together in some area of music, almost simultaneously made the decision to further their education. Acknowledging that the state of their homeland, Haiti, was troubled and unstable, they each decided to leave and set their sights on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Always driven by their passion for music, this small group reunited in New York to touch upon making their current past-time a potential career. They soon found themselves surrounded by sound proof foam mats, extended boom of mics and a mixing board. To their surprise, each had the same desire to pursue their music and created the name for their band by the taking the first two letters of their first names Carlo Vieux, Richard Cavé and Mikael Guirand; atlas, ''Carimi'' was born. Hours and hours at the studio in the hopes of creating a new sound, one that was uncommon in the music industry at the time, the band found themselves putting on paper some profound, socially shared lyrics that encompassed the disorders of their native land. ''Haiti Bang, Bang'', was released in the summer of 2001. Instantly, Carimi became a household name. They are known as one of the first younger generation digital bands to put out music that reflected upon the political pressures and the deteriorating security of Haiti. They had mass appeal to the

Haitian diaspora Haiti has a sizeable diaspora, present primarily in the United States, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Canada, France (including its French Caribbean territories), the Bahamas, Brazil and Chile. They also live in other countries like Belgium, Turks an ...

who fled the country and through their allure lyrically, musically and of course sex appeal for the ladies, Carimi has thrived throughout the years. In 2016 the singer Mickael Guirand decided to quit the band due to personal issues. The rest of the founding members decided to end their long journey and have gone on separate musical expeditions. In 2022 the band return for a 20th anniversary one day tour in Paris where they'll perform for the first time since the break up in 2016.

Members

Current *Carlo Vieux – keyboard, lead vocals *Richard Cavé – keyboard, lead vocals *Mickael Guirand – lead vocals *Glenny Benoit – guitar *Dominick Sylvain – drums *Jean-Marie –

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s *Noldy Cadet – bass *Marc C. Widmack – congas *Alex Thebaud – percussion, vocals *Jeffrey Raymond - bass

International stage

Carimi received accolades from the International music scene, including ''Best Album of the Year''. Carimi has risen to the top of the charts across the billboards in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and parts of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. They became the first Haitian band to come out with a ''kompa'' mobile app.

Discography

*''Bang Bang'' (2001) *''Poze Aki'' (2002) *''Nasty Biznis'' (2004) *''Nasty Biznis: Live in Concert'' (2005) *''Are U Ready?'' (2006) *''Buzz'' (2009) *''Invasion'' (2013) *''Kite m' cho'' (2016)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carimi Haitian-American culture in New York City Musical groups established in 2001 Haitian musical groups