Carmin Bichotte grew up in Carrefour, Haiti, near Rue Lacroix and the main road that leads to the cold river. Moreover, it is in this region where in this street that the training sessions of the Fantaisistes de Carrefour were held in 1967 and beyond the 70s in the house where his mother lived.
Son of Raymonde Défaille and Marcel Bichotte from the southern metropolis (9-26-1920 -10-22-1993), Carmin completed his first cycle of studies at the Lycée Toussaint Louverture. He later enrolled at Lycée Antenor Firmin to begin his secondary studies. Throughout this period, he had an aggressive profile; looking a little too zealous and wandered from time to time in the neighborhood with Pépé Veillard, or at the Lycée Firmin with classmates.
He learned the basics of the sax from his father, Marcel, who was clarinetist of the orchestra of the National Palace under the direction of Captain Luc Jean Baptiste, teacher of music theory, clarinet saxophone, saxophonist of several synphonic orchestras and the Jazz Des Jeunes etc. After Carmin had received principles of the saxophone, notions of music theory and rhythms which would facilitate him to produce a smooth and dynamic sound, he made his first attempt with ‘Les Morphés’. A few months later, he became the saxophonist for Diplomates de Pétion-Ville. During his tenure with Les Diplomates, he was applauded in wonderful musical pieces. However, he did not have time to burn any disc with his musician friends from the Diplomates; he remained there with this group until the beginning of 1967. Until after, it was the era of the Fantaisistes De Carrefour.
In 1970, after he had printed two records with Les Fantaisistes ‘Petit Oiseau et Désordre Musical’, Carmin and Les Fantaisistes decided to explore ‘The Antilles’ where they spent a considerable amount of time. Around 1974-1975, Carmin Bichotte reformed Les Fantaisistes with Ferdinand Sidney, Eddy Pozy, Gerard Elie Blain, Tuco Bouzy etc. To our astonishment, a few years later, Carmin gave up his saxophone and the Kompa Direk to devote himself to the music of the Lord while preaching the gospel; he became a Jehovah’s Witness on February 5, 1983. However, he met Tony Moise, in a social function, who encouraged him to take up the sax because he said ‘it is a Gift from God’.
In the year 2000, Carmin covered himself with his costume of ‘Fantaisistes De Carrefour ”and digitized the old compositions of the group so that they became the balm that relieves our pains and the companion of our joys of yesteryear. On a digital audio disc titled Les Fantaisistes D’Haiti, he arranged and imprinted some of the group’s innocence songs. Let us quote, Ti Zwazo, Sinceridad, Baby, Souvenir d’enfance etc
Partial Discography of Carmin Bichotte & Les Fantaisistes
Disc name Label year Reference
Ti Zwazo AMC 1968 LP 1200
Nusical Disorder IBO 1969 LP1011
Baby Celini 1970 LP112
Fantaisistes Roi des Rois Marc Records 1975-1976 LP 262
Fantaisistes On Tour Mini Records Vol I 1999 CD1235 Fantasistes
On Tour Mini Records Vol 2 1999 CD 1236
Les Fantaisistes D’Haiti xxxxxxxxxxxx Year 2000 XXXXXX
Adrien B Berthaud
