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Rara
Haiti's processional street music
Rara is Haitian processional street music, played by walking bands during Lent and especially through Holy Week. Its bamboo vaksin horns, drums and metal percussion move through neighbourhoods rather than stages, and it carries religious and social meaning as much as musical.
Origin & history
Rara is a festival tradition of rural and urban Haiti, tied to the Lenten season and to Haitian Vodou, performed by bands that process on foot through the streets.
Its instruments include the vaksin — single-note bamboo or metal trumpets played in interlocking groups so that the melody exists only between the players, never in any one of them.
Where it lives
Questions & Answers
What is rara?+
Rara is Haitian processional street music, played by walking bands during Lent and especially Holy Week, using bamboo vaksin horns, drums and metal percussion.
How is rara different from konpa?+
Konpa is Haiti's dance-band music, played at parties and on record. Rara is a seasonal street procession with religious roots, played on foot and in the open. Both are Haitian; they belong to different parts of life.
What is a vaksin?+
A vaksin is a single-note bamboo or metal trumpet. Players interlock their individual notes so the melody emerges from the group rather than from any one instrument.
When is rara played?+
Chiefly during Lent, reaching its height over Holy Week.
