Hybrid and mighty With Le Sonneur, Montreal’s Jahnice+ makes some nice noise SONNEZ ENSEMBLE: Joel “Jahnice” Janis

by ERIN MACLEOD When Joel “Jahnice” Janis started writing songs, he looked for someone who might be able to sing them. Thank goodness he couldn’t find anyone and had to start singing tunes himself, or we wouldn’t have the pure, strong, soulful voice that characterizes the music he makes alongside his band, Jahnice+. The man also known as le Sonneur (which is the title of the new Jahnice+ debut album) is big on collaboration. With foundations in the Kalmunity Vibe Collective, Jahnice began working with Patrice Agbokou. This partnership expanded—“We started to bring together other musicians,” Jahnice explains. He and Agbokou began connecting the dots between different genres. With Agbokou’s experience working in alternative rock and hip hop (he’s worked with Islands and Socalled) as well as bringing in musical elements stemming from their own roots in Haiti, Ghana and Togo, the two developed what they call “hybrid soul.” How did this unique mix come to be? For Jahnice, it’s all natural. “It was really an organic process because me and Patrice, when we started to work together, it was straightforward R&B, but after that Patrice went back to Africa, so he took from that. I went back to Haiti for the first time in 2006, so that shifted a lot of things for me. I really wanted to do something that was more personal, coming from different influences, and it really came naturally.” And Haiti is such a rich source of sound. “When you go to Haiti, everything that you see on TV does not really represent Haiti—what it is and the spirit of the people. There is a strong history and people are really proud, and it transposes to the music. There is a big tradition of music in Haiti, of roots music that is really poetic. This is something that I am really working on, with the music and the message and the poetry of the Haitian language.” There’s also a touch of the theatrical in the music, which Jahnice describes as, “Something that we were intent on putting in it. It’s a blend of classical harmonies, rock and African and Caribbean rhythms.” Both the music and the mentality of Jahnice+ is about bringing people and sounds together. “It’s really showing that spirit with the musicians and I think that the people can feel that when they come to a Jahnice+ show, because it’s really a family thing we’re doing.” WITH ZAKAMURA AT CLUB LAMBI TONIGHT, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 8 P.M.