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#2958: Musicians mourn slaying of Haitian crooner's son in New York (fwd)
From:nozier@tradewind.net
WIRE:03/22/2000 20:19:00 ET
Musicians mourn slaying of Haitian crooner's son in New
York
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ The police shooting of a Haitian-born man
in New York last week has struck home with the music community in
Haiti: The victim was the son of one of the country's most beloved
singers. New York police officers shot and killed Patrick Dorismond, a
security guard, in a scuffle outside a midtown Manhattan bar
during an undercover drug patrol after midnightday. Dorismond was
unarmed. The incident has outraged Haitian-Americans in New York. In
Haiti, the killing brought condolences from the musicians who knew and
worked with Patrick's father, Andre Dorismond, who was lead singer
with saxophonist Webert Sicot's popular 20-piece dance band in the 1950s
and 1960s. "As a Haitian and a musician, it cuts me to the quick,"
said guitarist and singer Andre (Dadou) Pasquet, whose Magnum Band
has been making Haitians dance for more than 20 years and who
once accompanied the elder Dorismond. Dorismond left an
indelible memory in Haiti after his family left and moved to New York
City, where he still lives and where his sons grew up. One of
them,Charles, is well-known among Haitian-Americans as the reggae
singer Bigga Haitian. The elder Dorismond was out of New York City on
Wednesday and could not be reached for comment, said the office of
civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, who has taken up the
Dorismonds' case."At a recording session this morning, all of us were
upset about the killing. Everybody knows Andre Dorismond," Pasquet
said."We musicians are powerless. All we can do is pray to God."Jean-Max
Mercier, manager of the rap group Brothers Posse, was indignant.It's a
typical case of police abusing their authority.Police are supposed to
serve and protect, not to act like criminals," he said.Though younger
Haitians may not remember him,Andre Dorismond was the voice of the
Webert Sicot dance band, which pioneered modern Haitian music with a
sound marrying jazz, Latin, and traditional Haitian rhythms. The band
toured the country until the 1970s, drawing in big crowds with romantic
tunes.