Review of the 9th Annual Haitian Compas Festival

On Saturday May 19, 2007, Downtown Miami was transformed into Champs-de- Mars,

Port-au-Prince. It was as if you were in Haiti. A number of critics have bluntly criticized the 9^th Annual Haitian Compas Festival, a route that I am reluctant to take; however, I too have some issues with the way it was presented. My assessment is that the festival wasn’t as awful as many claimed. Granted, things could have been better planned for I can assure you that last year’s event was more of a success than this year’s.

Among other critics, there are rumors that the drawing for the Mercedes, the Flat screen TV and the Trip to

Europe was staged. The reason behind it is that nobody came forward to claim any of the prizes and the organizers were quiet, not pushing for the winners to come forward and claim their prizes. This is a valid argument proving that the drawing may have been staged or faked. The argument is that those 3 winning tickets were never sold to anyone. Only the organizers would know the truth to that.

Though there are many critics of this year’s festival, none of them is about performance. The bands came out strong and deliver their best performances. From the new group Back Up, Zin, T-Vice, Skah Shah, Carimi, Mizik Mizik to the untouchable Djakout Mizik among others, the ambiance was very heated; everyone was having a great time.

What I would suggest to the organizers is to remember that we are celebrating our Flag Day. The only thing that reminds us of the flag during the festival is that Haitians did come out with their flags handy. We need to bring in Haitian Poets, Writers, and Historians to educate the crowd about the Haitian Flag. Though most of us know about the history of the flag, it would make a lot more sense to have Haitian personalities to deliver speeches on the history of the flag early on before the performances by the bands. How could we be celebrating the Haitian Flag and not mentioning the Congress of Arcahaie of May 14 through May 18, 1803, especially Catherine Flon? Let’s be serious about it. This is a great annual event and the organizers must focus on ways to bring more essence to it besides music. As such, we feel that the flag is being awfully used to favor others financial well-being.

Pictures from Miami Festival