Caravan Rara

Jazz standard "Caravan" receives the rara treatment in this delectable number from Mozayik. The use of rara rhythms is seamless and commendable. Unfortunately, the rara section only persists for a little over a minute, it shows the potential for Haitian rara/jazz fusion music, particularly as an uncommon form of "Latin" jazz. Perhaps the two share similar stylistic origins in the street music of New Orleans and Haiti?

Ayizan

Ayizan is one of the more interesting Haitian musical groups I never heard of until quite recently. Led by Alix Pascal and other Haitian musicians in New York during the 1980s, Ayizan fused elements of jazz with Haitian rasin elements from rara and folkloric music. Pascal was also one of the forces that pushed for more jazz influences on Ibo Combo, which suggests he was a force for a stronger jazz influence on Haitian music since the 1960s.