11. Kreyol La – Invictus
When Haiti’s Konpa Kreyol broke up in 2005, keyboard maestro David Dupoux started his own band with Micheal Benjamin, Krezi Mizik, and the rest of Konpa Kreyol became Kreyol La. Konpa Kreyol had exploded onto the Konpa scene in 1999 with a sophisticated mellow musical direction and lyrics rooted in comic, romantic but also tragic youthful urban life in Haiti. Kreyol La’s sound was much less sophisticated, with lyrics and musical direction closer to daily street sounds and Port Au Prince street culture. Kreyol La became very popular, but they weren’t Konpa Kreyol. Their newest release, Invictus, Latin for “invincible,” told its fans a completely different story – it was their best yet and even more sophisticated than anything by Konpa Kreyol. Songs like “Before and After” and “Triye” are gems. Invictus is the best Haitian album of 2015 in any genre, and a must listen for anyone interested in modern Kreyol music. —Adolf Alzuphar