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Cadence rampa is a modern Haitian Méringue, popularized by the talented sax player Webert Sicot in the early 60s. When Sicot left Nemours Jean Baptiste Compas band he called his music cadence to differentiate it from Compas, however, either compas or cadence is a modern Haitian Méringue.
History [link]
Raymond had created a new rhythm "Kadans rampa" to counter Kompa, but it was only in a spirit of competition. It was to be danced like a sweeping of the floor with one’s feet or as if one slid the feet back and forth on the floor. The rest of the body swung from side to side exactly the same as for dancing Kompa direk. Soon, the public realized that Kadans Rampa, far from being original, was just an astute rearrangement of Kompa direk and without losing interest in it, did not find it consequential enough to deserve their applause. Besides, the Sicot Brothers were not as prolific as Nemours and did not release enough new albums, notwithstanding the fact that they were consummate musicians.
Sicot must have known that he did not have a winner with Kadans Ranpa since he did not insist on challenging Nemours very long. Even as early as the 1957, he was seen performing in public with Nemours. While the populace thought that they were each other’s enemies, Nemours and Webert were socializing. André Dorismond and Gary French, singers for Sicot’s orchestra were friends with Louis Lahens and Jean-Claude Félix (aka Ti Jean-Claude), singers for Nemours. When Haitians began to emigrate to the US in the early seventies, the fame of Kadans Rampa suddenly dwindled because most of its supporters had left Haiti. Eventually, Webert Sicot traveled to New York and continued to play there, but Kadans Ranpa’s success in Haiti was short-lived.
Cadence in the French Antilles [link]
As early as 1962 the Sicot Brothers from Haiti would frequently tour the French Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe to spread the seed of CADENCE, a Haitian Méringue. There has been one and only one cadence. Haitian cadance bands would often stay for up to six months in these Islands. Prior to their coming Martinique and Guadeloupe were playing mazurka, biguine, quadrille and other foreign styles. In addtition to the Sicot brothers, almost all existing Haitian compas bands have toured in these Islands that have since adopted the music and the dance of the Meringue. Haitian musician and composer Michel Desgrottes had also an influence in developing music in the French Antilles. Exile One, Grammacks, Les Leopards, la Perfecta, Kassav...are all cadence/compas or Méringue bands. Exile One of Dominica promoted the Cadence-lypso that was to be a fusion of calypso and cadence, the two most influential styles of the Caribbean, but most of its hits are cadence.
