Webert Sicot (1930 – February 1985) was a

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 ...

an saxophone player, composer and band leader. He is recognized as one of the creators of ''

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 ...

'' also known as ''compas direct'', a style of Haitian music born in the 1950s that he named

cadence rampa Cadence rampa ( ht, kadans ranpa, ), or simply kadans, is a dance music and modern méringue popularized in the Caribbean by the virtuoso Haitian sax player Webert Sicot in the early 1960s. Cadence rampa was one of the sources of cadence-lypso. G ...

after he left Nemours' band to differentiate himself in 1962 in the spirit of competition.

Career

Sicot was born in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, Haiti, in 1930. He took his first musical lessons from Augustin Bruno. He made his debut as professional with Claudin Toussaint's Jazz Capois. He also worked with the groups Jazz des Jeunes and the Saieh Orchestra, in the second half or the 1950s. He founded with

Nemours Jean-Baptiste Nemours Jean-Baptiste (February 2, 1918 – May 18, 1985) was a Haitian saxophonist, writer, and band leader. He is credited with being the inventor of '' compas'', also known as ''compas direct'', a style of Haitian music. Nemours nicknamed ...

the Conjunto Internacional and took part in the Citadelle orchestra and Casino Internacional Band. With Jean-Baptiste, he created the compas direct, a variation of the Haitian

méringue Méringue (; ht, mereng), also called ''méringue lente'' or ''méringue de salon'' (''slow'' or ''salon'' méringue), is a dance music and national symbol in Haiti. It is a string-based style played on the lute, guitar, horn section, piano, ...

. In 1961 he commenced a solo career and became one of the pioneers of

. He played several instruments as trumpet, bass, piano and drums. Because of his frequent Caribbean tours with his brother Raymond in the Caribbean, cadence became very popular in

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

and the

French Antilles The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloup ...

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 ...

and

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

. Sicot died in February 1985 and is considered as one of the most influentials band leaders in Haitian popular music.

Career

References

See also