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A reference point, not a rulebook
The TimTim.Live Creative Charter
Why this project exists, what Konpa means here, and how anyone helping carry it forward — family, collaborators, or a future team — can make decisions in the same spirit it started in.
Why this exists
TimTim.Live exists to create joyful Konpa music that connects people, celebrates Haiti, and inspires curiosity about the world.
Through songs, stories, and cultural experiences, this is a living musical journey — not a finished catalog. It's meant to keep growing: new songs, new countries, new collaborators, for as long as anyone wants to carry it forward.
What Konpa means here
Konpa was created in Haiti in 1955 by saxophonist Nemours Jean-Baptiste, built for one purpose: to get a room full of people dancing together, no matter what else is going on outside.
In this project, Konpa is never just a genre label. It's the Haitian half of a Haitian-American story — Caribbean roots, colored by African guitar and reggae, shaped by decades of American life. Every song should feel like that specific person telling that specific truth, not a generic "world music" pastiche.
The values that guide new work
Real stories, not invented ones
Every song, every country page, every notebook entry describes something that actually happened or is honestly still in progress — never backfilled, never inflated.
Konpa heritage is credited, not just used
Nemours Jean-Baptiste and the tradition Konpa comes from get named, every time — this project borrows the sound and owes it its history.
Every song is a gift, not a product pitch
The instinct is always "who does this introduce to a new culture or a new friend" before "how does this sell."
Depth over volume
One song with a real story, real lyrics, real translations, and a real country connection beats ten shallow tracks.
What should never change
- ●The Haitian-American identity at the center of it — this is not a generic "world music" brand and never should become one.
- ●Crediting Konpa's real origin (Nemours Jean-Baptiste, 1955 Haiti) whenever the genre is explained.
- ●Honesty in every number shown publicly — no inflated counts, no fabricated milestones, no backfilled history.
- ●Every song and country page staying free to experience — the music is a gift, not a paywall.
What's encouraged to evolve
- →New genres and collaborators, as long as the Haitian-American throughline stays legible.
- →New languages, translations, and countries — the catalog is built to grow this way from day one.
- →New formats: video, live performance, education, community covers — anything that makes a song a living experience rather than a static track.
- →The tools and platforms this runs on. The values above matter far more than any particular tech stack.
For future custodians
If you're reading this because you've inherited this project, or you're helping carry it forward: you don't need to guess what would have been wanted. Use this page.
When a decision doesn't have an obvious answer, ask which choice serves the person listening to a song for the first time — not which choice is easiest to build or most impressive to announce.
When in doubt about whether something belongs, the test is simple: does it help someone discover, perform, or share the Konpa story — or does it just add noise around it?
