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Toto Bissainthe

Toto Bissainthe

Toto Bissainthe has been played on NTS over 10 times, featured on 16 episodes and was first played on 27 April 2015.

Marie Clotilde "Toto" Bissainthe (1934, Cap-Haïtien, Haiti - June 4, 1994, Haiti) was a Haïtian actress and singer known for her innovative blend of traditional Vodou and rural themes and music with contemporary lyricism and arrangements. Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1934, she left Haïti at an early age to pursue her studies abroad. Her career started in theatre with the company Griots, of which she was a founding member in 1956. Griots was at the vanguard of négritude-inspired cultural institutions in France, and was the first African theatre company in Paris.

With a groundbreaking performance in 1973 at La vieille grille in Paris, Toto Bissainthe established herself as singer-songwriter-composer, stunning the audience with her soul-stirring renditions of original compositions that paid homage to the lives, struggles, miseries and spirituality of working class and rural Haïtians.

An artist in exile, Toto Bissainthe will be unable to return to the Haïti that so inspired her until the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986. However, the multiple disappointments of the unending democratic transition and political infighting would forever embitter the outspoken artist, who had long dreamed of a return to help rebuild her motherland. Saddened by Haïti's social and political degradation, Toto Bissainthe's health would enter a downward spiral ending with her passing from liver damage on June 4th, 1994.

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Toto Bissainthe

Toto Bissainthe has been played on NTS over 10 times, featured on 16 episodes and was first played on 27 April 2015.

Marie Clotilde "Toto" Bissainthe (1934, Cap-Haïtien, Haiti - June 4, 1994, Haiti) was a Haïtian actress and singer known for her innovative blend of traditional Vodou and rural themes and music with contemporary lyricism and arrangements. Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1934, she left Haïti at an early age to pursue her studies abroad. Her career started in theatre with the company Griots, of which she was a founding member in 1956. Griots was at the vanguard of négritude-inspired cultural institutions in France, and was the first African theatre company in Paris.

With a groundbreaking performance in 1973 at La vieille grille in Paris, Toto Bissainthe established herself as singer-songwriter-composer, stunning the audience with her soul-stirring renditions of original compositions that paid homage to the lives, struggles, miseries and spirituality of working class and rural Haïtians.

An artist in exile, Toto Bissainthe will be unable to return to the Haïti that so inspired her until the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986. However, the multiple disappointments of the unending democratic transition and political infighting would forever embitter the outspoken artist, who had long dreamed of a return to help rebuild her motherland. Saddened by Haïti's social and political degradation, Toto Bissainthe's health would enter a downward spiral ending with her passing from liver damage on June 4th, 1994.

Original source: Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

Lamize Pa Dous
Toto Bissainthe
Arion1977
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Créon Music2006
Papaloko
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Souflé Van
Toto Bissaninthe
Rounder Records1997
Rasanbleman
Toto Bissainthe
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Dey
Toto Bissainthe
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Souflè Van
Toto Bissainthe
Le Chant Du Monde1983
Introduction
Toto Bissainthe
Le Chant Du Monde1983
Papadanmbalah (Papa Danmbalah)
Toto Bissainthe
Arion1982