7933: Meringue: Soukous derived from Konpa??? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>

Allow me to rephrase my question and to refine it. At which point does
meringue/merenge diverge? Which came first? The break from meringue into
konpa occurs with both Jean-Baptiste and Sicot? What is the impact of
Cuban musical genres into Haitian dance music (before Issa Al-Saieh?) I
have musicologists friends in Santiago de Cuba who argue that Cuban son
originates from Haiti in the late 1790s and are writing books about this.
(I can feel a scandal brewing in Cuba). In 1964 a dear Martinican friend
of mine gave me a birthday present of a Nemours LP dedicated, "un artiste
de chez nous." I had to desillusion her: the pochette did say "Nemours
Jean-Baptiste!"