“Born in Plaisance, Haiti (1939), Manigat went to Canada in 1974, after having worked in Martinique and St. Martin, where he became more and more impressed with the versatility of Caribbean-African musical culture and the new forms that emerge when it is fused with European classical and folk traditions. In Quebec, Manigat experimented with fusions that drew on jazz, funk, and salsa. He played with groups such as Vaccine, Buzz, and The Young Latins before forming his own band, Tchaka.
Tchaka’s distinctive sound fused voodoo rhythms of rara with kompa and incorporated merengue, salsa and Latin jazz into a big-band pop sound. Manigat described it as a whole revolution in music. “Mixing musical styles together is like mixing orange juice and milk,” he said in one interview. “There’s a way to do it, but if you don’t know how, it will turn. Why do it? Because if works, it’s delicious. There’s a taste for it.” His second album, and first CD, Africa+ won a Juno in 1995 for best “Global Recording.” A bandleader and arranger, Manigat has been described as “a consummate musician” and “a Haitian Quincy Jones.”
Manigat toured Canada, the United States, North Africa, and Japan. He returned to his native Haiti in 2006 to open his own music academy. He died in Haiti on August 12, 2008.”
