Fit to split

>> Nomadic Massive’s Vox Sambou frees
his voice for his homeland Haiti

FREE TO JUST BE: Vox Sambou

by NARCEL X

Coming out of Limbé, a city in northern Haiti, Robints Paul is not your ordinary microphone fiend. Growing up between his motherland and Winnipeg, Paul moved to Montreal less than a decade ago, looking for a change. In the process, his search became his purpose.

For the last five years, Paul has managed a youth centre in Côte des Neiges, representing for the younger generation’s needs uptown, while making waves in and out of the studio with Montreal’s Nomadic Massive. His proverbial itch became the scratch of his boom-bap, and he unleashes his 17-track solo debut Lakay this week. With song titles like “The Boat,” “My Rhythm,” “C’est déja trop tard” and “Oh Haiti,” the album is an ode of longing for a place called home. “My thought is my homeland,” Paul says, “my ideas are unearthed from the burial grounds of my ancestry.”

Paul has now transformed himself into Vox Sambou. As a Gemini, his split personality comes from his need to escape the mundane trappings of society. “Vox Sambou does not prescribe to society. He is free. He is my escape.”

With home on the horizon, Vox dreams of taking his music back to Haiti and using it to unshackle his people from Aristide Development.

Mirror: What does lakay mean, and what does it signify to you?

Vox Sambou: Lakay means “home” in Creole; it signifies going back home. What I miss of Haiti the most is the culture in everyday life. Although I address politics [on the album], I mostly write about identity, love, nostalgia, discrimination, the many changes that need to be made in the Haitian system. When you live under a dictated rule, you tend to ignore your politics due to fear. This is something we want no more of. I am trying to come in where the voiceless are unheard, and bridge that gap without taking away from them. Vox sambou means “a voice without an end” in Spanish and Creole, a voice that breaks the barriers of society and time. Even through musical barriers, Vox Sambou is the free voice in you that you choose not to use all the time.

M: I also noticed you speak in the third person.

VS: Yeah, Vox Sambou is not Robints Paul, Vox Sambou doesn’t do a nine-to-five. He can do whatever he wants without fearing criticism. Being an artist is being free, which is what Vox Sambou signifies—a place where you are allowed to just be. Vox Sambou does not discriminate.

M: You’re opening up for Wyclef, the same week you are having your album release party. How do you feel now and what do you think will be your next accomplishments?

VS: It’s a great feeling, it’s a blessing. Opening for Wyclef on the eve of my album release party, an album I have been working on for the last two years. Wow. I wasn’t expecting for it all to happen like that, I feel like it’s a reward. When you have determination and a goal, you have to see it through. For the next year, I hope to do the same and take it back home. My music is for Haiti, it’s for my people so I want to give them back what they gave me. Life.

CD launch at MAI on Friday,
Feb. 29, 5 p.m., free