Compas

Compas Kompa
Stylistic origins	Méringue
Cultural origins	Mid-1950s, Haiti
Typical instruments	Conga, drums, guitars, keyboard, horn section, synthesizers, bass, cowbell
Derivative forms	Cadence rampa, cadence-lypso, zouk, coladeira, kizomba
Fusion genres
Soca, reggaeton, kuduro, champeta
Regional scenes
Haiti,French West Indies, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, France, Panama, Cape Verde, South America, North America, Portugal,Africa,Angola, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic

Music of Haiti
General topics
Related articles
Genres
Cadence Kompa Gospel Hip hop Kontradans Méringue Mini-jazz Mizik rasin Rabòday Rara Rara tech Rock Twoubadou Vodou drumming Zouk
Media and performance
Music awards	Haitian Music Award
Music festivals	Carnival Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem	La Dessalinienne
Regional music
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Compas (Haitian Creole: konpa), or kompa, is a modern méringue musical genre in Haiti with European,Indigenous and African roots. The genre was popularized following the 1955 creation of the band Conjunto International by Nemours Jean-Baptiste. Compas is the main music of many countries such as Dominica and the French Antilles, etc. Whether it is called zouk where French Antilles artists of Martinique and Guadeloupe have taken it or compas in places where Haitian artists have toured, this méringue style is very influential in the Caribbean, Africa, Cape Verde, Portugal, France, part of Canada, South and North America.

Compas is short for compas direct in French. In Creole, it is spelled as konpa dirèk or simply konpa. It is commonly spelled as it is pronounced as kompa.

The word “compás” in Spanish means “beat” or “rhythm,” and one of the most distinctive characteristics of compas is the consistent pulsating beat tanbou, a trait common to many styles of Caribbean music. Compas direct, literally means direct beat.

Nemours Jean-Baptiste presented his “Ensemble Aux Calebasses” in 1955 (named after the club “Aux Calebasses” located at Carrefour, a western neighborhood of Port-au-Prince; Haiti's capital where the band used to perform on weekends). Compas' popularity took off likely due to the genre's ability to improvise and hold the rhythm section steady. Jean-Baptiste incorporated a lot of brass and easily recognized rhythms. Compas is sung in Creole, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc. Nemours' popularity grew in and out of the country. Its clean horn section was remarkable and the band featured méringue tunes that gained instant popularity. For example, in Martinique, several music groups: Ensemble Abricot (bienvenue, festival compas), les djoubap's (Isabelle), combo jazz (electronique compas, pa gadem sou cote), Georges Plonquitte (vini dance compas direct), etc. have all within a year conquered the public with the many tunes or compositions of Nemours. Later Nemours became a favorite of Dominican president, Joaquín Balaguer who often contracted the band. This is why hits like "Ti Carole", "Chagrin d'amour" featured by known Dominican stars Luis Miguel and others are also sung in Spanish.

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Wikipedia