| Kalfou Danjere | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Boukman Eksperyans |
| Cover: | Kalfou Danjere.jpg |
| Released: | 1992 |
| Studio: | Audiotek |
| Genre: | Misik rasin[1] |
| Label: | Mango[2] |
| Producer: | Eric Clermontet |
| Prev Title: | Vodou Adjae |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | Libete (Pran Pou'l!) |
| Next Year: | 1995 |
Kalfou Danjere is an album by the Haitian band Boukman Eksperyans, released in 1992.[3] [4] The title track, which translates to "Dangerous Crossroads", was banned in Haiti for its alleged subversive qualities.[5] [6] [7] "Nwel Inosan" was also banned.[8]
The album peaked at No. 1 on Billboards World Albums chart,[9] spending 19 weeks on the chart.[10]
The album was produced by Eric Clermontet. It was recorded at Audiotek Studios, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with some work accomplished at Studio Center in the United States.[7] [11] Founder Lolo Beaubrun and his anthropologist wife traveled around Haiti to study the music of lakous, or hamlets; "Kalfou Danjere" incorporated four different rhythms picked up from lakous.[12]
Entertainment Weekly wrote that the band "weds roots rhythms to fierce electric rock, and whose gentle, metaphorical lyrics have the power to make a dictator sweat bullets."[6] Robert Christgau praised "Zansèt Nou Yo". The New York Times deemed the songs "vigorous pop with an undercurrent of voodoo drumming."[13]
Rolling Stone called the album "rich with traditional Afro-Haitian drumming, cross-stitched with edgy electric guitar and synthesizer patterns and ringing with the voice of defiance."[14] The Chicago Tribune stated: "Drawing on the traditional, percussive, festival music called rara and older vodoun forms, Boukman has fashioned a fresh new sound that celebrates Haiti's rich African rhythmic and cultural roots."[15] The Sun-Sentinel considered the album a "melodically compelling and lyrically rich effort."[16]