Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville, a look back at the 1970's and 1980's

Arguably one of the most famous mini jazz bands of the 1970's and 1980's, Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville's journey through Haitian music history has been, well, a difficult one. Founded in 1966 by Henry Celestin and Robert Martino, the band took its name from the city and its sound from the streets. Their first album, Ce La Vie was released in the turn of the new decade, and the band experienced a rise in their popularity. At the same time, tensions within the unit began to rise as well.

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Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville - Kenscoff 'Live':

More beautiful songs by Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville

The group, down one member after what was described as a 'small incident' by founding member Robert Martino, found a replacement guitarist named Eddy Wooly and continued to make music. Martino went on to form another band called the Gypsies. From the ashes of the original group, yet more bands, DP Express and Scorpio Universal were formed.

There were instances where the original band, Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville, reunited. The first was in 1976, followed by another in 1984 and one in 1990. Their most recent attempt to revive the old, much-loved sound of Les Difficiles was in 2011. This last attempt was because of the demand for the band in particular and the bands of days gone by generally.

Les Difficiles de Pétion-Ville:

Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville and its most popular hit songs

With a huge catalogue, the band decided not to release a new studio album right out of the gate, though the intent was to release a live album. While they wish to attract a newer audience, the demand for them is with the generation that saw them popular in the first place.

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