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Erol Josué interviews
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Born into vodou tradition in Port-au-Prince in 1970, Erol Josué took on the calling of houngon (vodou priest) at the remarkably young age of seventeen. Despite that this element of his life does not seem to dominate his reative work on a world market, this piece of his biography becomes a key component of how Josué is presented to international music markets. In this interview, Josué touches on his role as a healer, houngan, and a performer worldwide. These roles all impact his status as a musician, though it is often exagggerated when describing the artist's output. He considers himself a "worldbeat" artist who performs electro-vodou music, a difficult style to market on the international scene. While popular Caribbean music like zouk and soca are enjoyed worldwide, popular Haitian music is isolated to smaller markets in the Diasporic community. Artists who do not strictly fall into specific categories like konpa or razin pose a challenge to record labels in how to present the artists to their desired demographics. This creates a void of accurate description that often includes terms that do not convey the artist's overall aesthetic. This void creates new ways to present the artist based on marekt decisions, though the use of vodou in marketing is disproportionate to its discernable influence of his music.