Tabou Combo returns to Montreal after 20 years, bringing decades of kompa innovation

Tabou Combo returns to Montreal this Saturday as a guest of the 40th Nuits d'Afrique festival — their first show here in two decades. The legendary Haitian kompa ensemble last performed in the city in 2006.

The group was created in August 1968 in Pétion-Ville, south of Port-au-Prince, by cofounders Albert Chancy Jr. and Herman Nau. Tabou Combo became pioneers of fusion, blending créole rhythms with pop sensibilities at a moment when Western rock — the Beatles, the Rolling Stones — was reshaping how young musicians thought about instrumentation and ensemble size. "We are precursors, we have always been futuristic," said Yves Joseph, a percussionist and principal lyricist who later became vocalist.

In 1974, they scored a European radio hit with "New York City" from their album 8th Sacrement, a kompa track with an explosive rhythm that proved Haitian music could reach international audiences. "We wanted that the foreigners dance also the kompa," Joseph said. "De cette manière, on a lancé le bal, ouvert la voie aux prochaines générations," he added — we launched the ball, opened the way for the next generations.

That legacy now reverberates through newer acts like Joé Dwèt Filé and Naïka, who blend kompa with contemporary pop, R&B, and hip-hop. The innovation continued through Tabou Combo's own evolution: they pioneered the digital kompa sound in the 1980s, fused with rap in the 1990s, and today work with electronic production. "The music changes grâce aux rythmes électroniques — and thanks to Internet, which makes contact with the public easier," Joseph said.