Boukan Ginen

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Boukan Ginen
Origin	Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Genre(s)	Mizik rasin
Years active	1990–present
Label(s)	Xeno Phile
Members
Eddy François, Lead Singer Vladimir Jean-Félix, Lead Guitar Richard Laguerre, Bass Guitar Bedy Andre Eugene, Guitar Milot Eliassaint, Keyboards Evans Seney, Drummer Myrtho Exavier, Drummer Dieusuel Liberus, Drummer Jude Sanon, Drummer Jean Dorvil, Percussion Manina Paniague, Chorus Carline Ruiz, Chorus Charles Heurtelou, Chorus

Boukan Ginen is a mizik rasin band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haïti. Boukan is the Haitian Kreyòl word for "bonfire" or "fire pit". Ginen is a specific Haitian name for the ancestral home of enslaved Africans.

[edit] History

Boukan Ginen won the prize for best carnival song at the 1991 Carnival in Port-au-Prince, for their performance of "Pale Pale W", a song later released on their debut album, Jou a Rive. The song title means "talk" and included lyrics widely interpreted as supporting the presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The band's music was suppressed by the military authority of the junta led by Raoul Cédras that ruled the country from 1991 to 1994. In 1994, Boukan Ginen became the third Haïtian musical group to receive the Prix Découverte from Radio France International.^[1]