With Haitian rhythms, Sylvie Henry makes music a community practice

Sylvie Henry takes the stage with a precise idea: to make music a shared act. Not as a metaphor, but as a practice.

The Haitian concept of Combit inspires his most recent project: a community practice where someone carries the instruments, others till the land and singing accompanies the collective work.

“The treat implies collaboration. In Haiti, my homeland, farm work requires many hands from different families and is always accompanied by music,” he explained in an interview with The Day.

That principle shapes Konbit Voodoo Jazz: Africa on our mindsa concert that will be held today at the Blas Galindo Auditorium of the National Arts Center (Cenart).

Originally from Port-au-Prince, Sylvie Henry trained at the Higher School of Music and has built a project that is based on voodoo as a living origin, not as a mixture. “He voodoo It could be defined as the mother, who comes from the beginning with a close relationship with nature,” he noted.

From that root, it understands the development of different music, a terrain that gives rise to multiple styles. “Jazz is the voodoohe voodoo It’s jazz; “It will never stop being an exploration.”

On stage, that vision is reflected with the musicians who accompany her. “There is a reflection of this experience between us; that complicity, as it is between your compadres who work together,” he added.

The ensemble combines flute, trumpet, saxophone, guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion and drums in a repertoire that includes Congo Africa, Pachanga, Inner Table y Lament Caribbeanwhere the songs and rhythms of voodoo Haitian dialogue with jazz, funk and blues without losing their roots.

The voice occupies a central place in this proposal. “It would have been the first instrument,” said the singer, whose classical training allows her to explore it clearly without overshadowing the natural impulse that guides her interpretation. “The worlds of academic technique and instinctive expression always dialogue in my voice.”

He describes the concert as a meeting that transcends the individual. “It is when two or three people get together and feel… as long as there is a drum, hands that applaud and voices that connect us with our ancestors, the music circulates among everyone and leaves its mark. For some reason, what we did not know survives in our memory.”

When talking about voodoothe artist distances herself from stigmas: it is neither caricature nor spectacle, but a link with the living and a way of organizing collective life, where care, protection and collaboration fit. From that perspective, your project generates memory and belonging.

Konbit Voodoo Jazz: Africa on our minds It will be held today at 7 p.m. at the Blas Galindo Auditorium at Cenart (Río Churubusco 79, Country Club neighborhood). The ticket costs 300 pesos.

The presentation is part of the Women’s Music cycle, a shared territory where Sylvie Henry recognizes parallels between her experience and that of other women. “There are no big differences between a Haitian woman and a Mexican woman,” she reflected, in reference to those who support, accompany and are the economic engine. At that intersection he places his work: “It is my shelter so I don’t get lost.”