Heat WAVE — Though the heat raged unmercifully on July 20th, over 80 people flocked to the doors of Five Myles Gallery for Haiti Cultural Exchange’s second concert of their Mizik Ayiti! Summer Concert Series featuring guitarist Tit Pascal and singer & songwriter Talie Cerin. The soft buzz of the fans scattered throughout the gallery hummed throughout the first hour of the evening. As people trickled through the door, with some waiting for their friends and family to arrive, attendees wandered in and out of the gallery with water bottles and wooden fans in hand, looking for any chance of a breeze. The performances added to the romance of the rainy summer evening.
Talie Cerin began with a powerful number sending her alto voice soaring over her Haitian neo-twoubadou and US blues guitar. Following Talie, Haitian guitar legend Tit Pascal joined us for a brief discussion before his performance. A musician all his life, Tit spoke about his past performing with other groups in Haiti and the U.S. Suddenly, a thunderclap signaled relief from the heat, and in a few minutes, a long-awaited thunderstorm released torrents of rain onto the baked Brooklyn pavement. Tit hugged his guitar as he played heart-wrenching and delicate cords that the audience leaned in to– drinking in every note’s angelic softness and harmony. The serenades seemed to bring the highly anticipated deluge of summer rain, and with it, a coolness that settled into the night. July’s Mizik Ayiti! was an intimate evening showcasing contemporary Haitian guitar that left the audience with a more rounded sense of modern Haitian sound – that of a legend that is Tit Pascal and that of a rising force that is Talie Cerin.
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