#158: Re: Music from SRDMH : Conde comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: ALIX CONDE <alico@worldnet.att.net>

 Fabre Duroseau was also a dedicated and competent piano teacher. He taught
at least two generations of Haitian classical pianists. Among other fine
musicians from the Duroseau family were Joseph Duroseau, who recorded  "En
vaccance" with the " Jazz des jeunes" in the 50s, and Jacquie Duroseau who
rececorded a beautiful version of Luc Jean-Baptiste's "Diane"  ( I will try
to get specific information regarding that record). Jacquie Duroseau
received most of his formal training in   music theory and keyboard harmony
from the  Lina Mathon Blanchet, a virtuoso pianist and well learned
musician.  Joseph Duroseau lives in New York, where he is privately teaching
classical piano,  and Jacquie unfortunately died in a car accident in
Port_au-Prince in the early 1970s, at the age of 28. Before his premature
death, Jacquie, a remarkable improviser, was quite successfully 
experimenting with jazz as well as various musical idioms of Latin America,
and had quite a way of mixing them with Haitian classical and popular
musical styles.
Jean Fouchard, in "La meringue", proposes that Haitian piano music was a
casualty of the US occupation of that country. His explanation is that the
introduction of exorbitant taxation on all piano imports made them
unaffordable. Soon after, the phonograph was to  replace live musical
entertainment in the living rooms of the well to do. Does anyone have more
info on the subject?  
Alix Conde