Meet Asakivle- The Musicians
Before there was Asakivle Buffalo Friends of Haiti, there was Asakivle the Haitian drum and dance ensemble.


Dieuseul Liberis – 'Zaka'


Riscot Cedieu – 'Dimoso'

Yves Figaro – 'Tiayé'

Jean Claude Dorvil – 'Sambaton'

Gomez Henris – 'Djopipi'

Franck Desiré – 'Dambala'

The connection between the two is Franck who is a member of the group. All of the musicians, except Franck who grew up in Port au Prince, come from the area around Soukri. The songs they sing and rhythms they play are rooted there and are called Rasin (rah-seen)– Roots.

Originally this music stems from Ghana, Nigeria, and Kongo. Interestingly, it is Haiti where a lot of these rhythms, songs, and dances have been preserved and contained, while lost, or partially lost in their countries of origin.

Asakivle made it its mission to perform these traditional rhythms, with melody and song being of equal importance and complementing each other perfectly.

Another part of Asakivle's mission now is to promote the work of Asakivle Buffalo Friends of Haiti with 'Project Soukri' being on the fore front. The group performs in and outside of Haiti, has traveled throughout the United States and will be playing in Montreal in July of this year.

During her recent visit to Haiti, Sabine finally met the group. She was already quite familiar with their music, and it was with great joy that she experienced several rehearsals right there in the middle of Soukri and one actual performance in a beach resort, 'Club Indigo' in Montrouis.

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