Legendary vocalist Roger M. Eugene (Shoubou) has been one of Compas Direct’s most popular Haitian singer for the past 30 years. He is known for his ability to easily switch gears to generate excitement and electricity. Shoubou loves interacting with audiences. He often imitates dancers in the audience and has been known to give on stage Creole lessons as he invites people to sing along. Shoubou joined Tabou in 1968 when he moved to the village of Petion-Ville from Haiti’s province of Port-de-Paix. Like most great singers, Shoubou’s singing career started in the church. Then later, he played in a local band in Port-De-Paix with his good friend and well-known singer Cubano, currently with Les Skah-Shah. Shoubou said his musical idols are Gerard Dupervil, Ray Charles and Guy Derosier.
EDIT
Born on Tuesday July 15, 1947 in the North West of Haiti, from the cradle, he was undoubtedly ready to confront what life reserved for him for the years to come in order to generate a magical, marvelous epic and a fruitful career. He, like so many other artists in the world, experienced ups and downs, but his resilience and perseverance had allowed him to awaken the positive, unrecognized energy that lay dormant in his inner depths.
His studies began with the Brothers of Christian Instruction in Port-de-Paix where he completed the primary cycle and his apprenticeship as a young chorister. The primary cycle being finished, he was enrolled at Notre Damme College in Lourdes of his hometown to undertake his secondary studies. Son of Mr. Pinchinat Eugène and Mrs. Victoria Cadet, Roger (Shoubou) is the eldest of two children from Victoria Cadet, Frantz (Granpa), the youngest, who is also a singer, had tried several times to erect a small musical group.
During his late adolescence, despite his father’s reluctance, Roger participated with Jean Théagène and Edouard Férrier in the hatching of the Trémolo group whose harmonica was the dominant instrument. Then, La Perle Des Antilles directed by Jean Alcindor and Les Fantaisistes De Port-de-Paix who was honored by the presence of rising stars of the time such as Jean Élie Telfort and Jean Alcindor of the Skah Shah. Born in Port de Paix, Valparaiso Aquino named after Christopher Columbus during his trip to America. Port-de-Paix, in the old days, was an attractive city which produced coffee, banana fig and a whole plethora of jurists, writers or novelists Because Shoubou liked the theater and the letters, he enrolled in a club which taught drama on the direction of the author of ‘Vieux Samuel 1996 ”,’ Sedentary 1998 ‘and’ La Belle Eurydice 2001 ‘; Doctor Cauvin Paul Ph.D. Returned to Port-au-Prince (Pétion Ville) after the death of his father Mr Pinchinat Eugène to reside there with his mother, Madamme Victoria Cadet, Roger M. Eugène got to know Albert Chancy who recruited for ‘Los Incognitos’. Since September 1968, he has been the number 1 singer of the group, which changed its name in 1969. One of the first songs performed with the group was called Rosy; a song never printed on discs but which tracks a beautiful little story. However, oral history reports that this song was dedicated to a girlfriend of Herman Nau who was called Shoubou. On the other hand, the group’s teasers awarded him the nickname ‘Shoubou’ which became his artist name. Two years after the group was formed, life’s circumstances forced Albert Chancy to leave the country for North America. This trip to America has created Tabou’s stumbling block. But before the schism, Tabou had a farewell festival at Ciné Paramount on Saturday August 8, 1970 and a farewell ball on Tuesday 11 at the Hotel Ibo Lélé to say goodbye to his fans. During these melancholy and somber days, the musicians and followers of the group believed it to expire. Albert Chancy went to Canada to study, while Kapi and Jean Claude Jean found themselves in New York and made the decision to reform the group by calling on other musicians. In January 1971, Shoubou landed in New York and occupied his position as a singer, as it once did, within a period of time. The beginnings were not easy but, the group forged assets and succeeded brilliantly. (read Tabou Combo 50 years of presence on stage in the ‘Special Edition’ section@adrienberthaud.com).
Roger (Shoubou) has always had the reputation of a serious and honest man; he honors his debts reported Denis Lefranc of Rapid Offset Printing in an interview. As a key player in Tabou, he was for a few months the manager responsible for the affairs of Tabou Combo and did not play around in the performance of his duties. He had in September 1989 declared in an interview granted to Jean Fragat on the weekly Haiti Observer ‘I detected the weaknesses in the management of the affairs of Tabou Combo and I brought desired solutions to them’. Probably, the ideas that emerged from his evaluation had contributed to the renovation and development of the affairs of the institution that represents the Taboo Combo of Pétion-Ville; now he is celebrating his fiftieth birthday. Shoubou was always ready to defend the interests and the candor of Tabou Combo of Pétion-Ville. During the Tabou festival and farewell ball in 1970, he was the spokesperson for the group. Don’t take my words, the magnetic tapes confirm such an assertion. After a trip to the fold in 1992, he was in breach when certain political groups in the diaspora wanted to politicize Tabou at the times when Marc Louis Bazin was the Prime Minister of Haiti; Taboo was therefore the object of a rather annoying attention. At 801 Second Avenue, an interview was granted to him to defend his cause by pronouncing the values and the role that Tabou Combo plays in Haitian music. Besides, I was the administrator of this interview on 1190 am Moman Kreyol WLIB this Sunday; he was exonerated by the general public. In 1989, Shoubou and Tabou celebrated on stage each Sunday at the Pengouin Night Club with our offspring in a family atmosphere. Shoubou sang, danced with them, instilling in them the artistic sense, the power to smile, the art of getting in touch with oneself in front of an audience; he sang and danced with them in a family atmosphere, full of bliss.
Presented as Mike Jagger of Kompa by Wyclef Jean during a function patronized by Dona Karan, a model designer or model designer from New York, the performance of Shoubou and Tabou had really pleased the guests as well as their attentive hostess. evening there. From then on, Shoubou and Tabou became a reference for these guests. In 1998, Africando invited him to participate in the recording of an audio-digital disc titled “Africando / BALOBA! In this compact disc, he interpreted ‘Katiana’ and La Vie en Rose (Lyric by Edith Piaff and melody by Don Luigi). In September 1999, at the theater at Brooklyn College, he lent his support to Mapou production for the realization of a well-deserved homage to Guy Durosier by singing ‘Si W al an Ayiti’ with the accompaniment of the Orchestra Haiti Chérie by Jean Jean Pierre. In 2005 he was again invited to participate in the recording of another Africando compact disc on which he sang Tiembella and ‘Gwog Mwen’. In addition, a small duty of memory to lighten the spirits. ‘Gwog Mwen’ reports Michel Préssoir, the new patriarch of Haitian song is a composition by the brothers Zenni de Jacmel which was performed by the group Les Gitans de Africana Night Club for the first time in Port-au-Prince in 1963. This is known to Ti Georges Saieh who was the administrator of the group, Michel Préssoir, Serge Simpson, Eddy Claudin and others who were all musicians of the Gypsies.
Shoubou is the favorite singer of Tabou Combo, his voice echoes in all of the group’s recordings. he projects on stage the image of an electric, not to say hyperactive, man who moves the crowd. Towards the years 72-75, he reached his artistic maturity and his name began to rumble in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean when New York City, The Masters, Inflation invaded the radio waves. With Yvon André and Yves Joseph, he composed Tania, Rasamble and Ryel with Yves Joseph, Mabouya in collaboration with Tabou, Et Alors with Adolphe Chancy etc. For more than twenty years, he has lived in Elmont where in 2016 he was the victim of an armed attack. His fanatics were weighed down by a fairly great anxiety. Happily protected by the great architect of the universe, Immaculate Concption and other forces from her hometown, there were no casualties. His fans again experienced fear and fright when news of his emergency hospital swarmed in social media, newspapers and other forms of communication.
Roger M. Eugène, fetish singer of Tabou Combo de Pétion Ville, one of the permanent components of this group has been thinking about his retirement for more than a year, his replacement has been performing with Tabou for a few months. Will he say goodbye to the stage like so many others have done in the past? What will Shoubou be without Taboo? What will Taboo be without Shoubou? Who lives videbit. Who will live will see.
