#2958: Musicians mourn slaying of Haitian crooner's son in New York (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

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.