In many important respects, Port-au-Prince native Paul Beaubrun is very much OF Haiti, where his family's roots in music and the performing arts run deep.
Beaubrun is the son of Theodore “Lolo” and Mimerose “Manze” Beaubrun, both founding members of the internationally celebrated mizik rasin (Haitian roots music) band Boukman Eksperyans. His grandfather, who was best known by the stage name Languichatte Debordus, was Haiti’s most successful comedian.
Like his parents, whose music has always been politically charged, Beaubrun is outspoken in his advocacy for his home and its working people. In song and speech alike, he pulls no punches in his assessment of the role U.S. imperialism has played in creating and exacerbating problems in Haiti.
Beaubrun’s music is grounded in Haitian tradition as well, though not to the same extent as his parents' music has been.
Beaubrun calls his style roots/blues. He sings in Haitian Creole, French, and English. And he draws musical influence from across the Caribbean, the United States, and throughout the African diaspora. And his virtuosic guitar playing — as anyone who has seen him on stage, whether fronting his own band or in his role as a touring member of Arcade Fire, can surely attest — recalls both Ali Farka Touré and Jimi Hendrix. A masterful live performer with a magnetic stage presence, Beaubrun wins new fans every time he takes the stage and leaves every audience wanting more.
Paul Beaubrun is a part of the Fine Arts Center's Codemakers series.