New York. The Second Home of Konpa.

Why now

The people who built it are still here.But not forever.

The musicians, promoters and broadcasters who carried this music out of Haiti and built its second home are in their seventies and eighties. Several have died in the past two years. The institutional moment and the last generation of witnesses have arrived at the same time, and that overlap will not last.

0Years of konpa performed, promoted and recorded in New York

0Voices identified for the film in first research

0Countries in the interview and archive search

Never before told at feature lengthOne of Haitian music's most consequential chapters

The voices

Who carries the film

The founding generation who made the crossing and played the first rooms, and every player who followed them onto New York stages for fifty years.

The people who rented the halls, booked the bands, printed the flyers and took the risk, week after week, for decades.

The voices that told a scattered community where to be on Saturday night, and decided which records became hits in this city.

The pressing plants, the shop counters and the paper trail. The industry side of the story that has never been assembled.

The couples and families for whom this was never a career. It was where they met, married, grieved and celebrated.

The artists and audiences carrying the rhythm now, into rooms their predecessors could not have imagined.

More than sixty voices have been identified for the film so far, across New York, Florida, Montreal and Haiti. Casting is open.Names are being confirmed with each participant before announcement.

1965

The Arrival

1960s to 1970s

Musicians and audiences move between Haiti and New York. Dance halls, records and community networks take root in a city that has never heard this music before.

The Sound

1980s to 2000s

The scene becomes an economy. Promoters, radio, labels, record stores and rival stages turn the city into a creative and commercial centre in its own right.

The Inheritance

2010s to now

Digital audiences, arena shows, reunions and official recognition reshape how a new generation receives a history it did not live through.

World premiere

23 July 2027

New York City

Opening the Konpa Day weekend, and premiering ahead of the city's official celebration of this music on 26 July.

000Days

00Hours

00Minutes

00Seconds

Director portrait
Carel Pedre

A film by

Carel Pedre

For three decades, Carel Pedre has documented Haitian music from inside the culture, interviewing generations of artists across Haiti and the diaspora.

The Second Home of Konpa brings that access to a story that could only be told from within.

Broadcasting since 1996Three decades on air, three generations of artists interviewed

Founder, ChokarellaA diaspora media network reaching five markets daily

The trusted voiceWhen Haiti became a global story in 2010, the world's press came to him

Inside the momentConvened the New York conversation this film grew out of

Partnership

Help preserve the story.

We are building the definitive visual record of fifty years of konpa in New York. Founding partners join before the cameras roll and shape the campaign that follows.

Become a founding partner

Closing image
A konpa band on a New York stage

Haiti gave it the rhythm.

New York gave ita second home.

The Second Home of KonpaWorld premiere · 23 July 2027 · New York City

Follow the film Partner with us

Chokarella presents · A film by Carel Pedre · “New York. The Second Home of Konpa.” · Feature documentary · English, Kreyòl and Français · Director of photography TBA · Editor TBA · Archive producer TBA · Composer TBA · World premiere 23 July 2027, New York City · konpanyc.com