Carole Demesmin arrives in Haiti for the Ayiti VodouFest festival

Singer Carole Demesmin, a guest of the 2nd edition of the Ayiti VodouFest festival, arrived in Haiti on Thursday, October 29. A festival delegation welcomed her at the Guy Malary terminal of Port-au-Prince airport, according to a post on the festival's Instagram account.

The artist's arrival comes two days before the festival opens. According to Le Nouvelliste, Ayiti VodouFest runs from Saturday, October 31, to Sunday, November 8, centred on Pétion-Ville, under the theme "Rasin nou se fòs nou" (Our roots are our strength). The launch is set for Place Boyer, which the festival's posters announce for October 31 and November 1.

A week of music and crafts

The announced programme includes a craft fair, a traditional music contest, film nights and several music shows. The festival's online ticketing lists a "Sware 2gouden" on Friday, November 6, at the Centre culturel Caraïbes, for 15 dollars, and the closing night, "Sware Bawon Lakwa", on Sunday, November 8, at the El Rancho convention centre, for 40 dollars. The detailed artist line-up has not yet been made public.

The first edition, held from October 31 to November 9, 2025, by Radio Télévision Caraïbes and the Centre culturel Caraïbes on the occasion of the Gede festival, closed at El Rancho with Boukman Eksperyans, Erol Josué and Nanm Vodou. Its organisers presented it as an effort to rehabilitate and promote vodou as Haiti's intangible cultural heritage.

A voice of the roots

Originally from Léogâne, Carole Demesmin emigrated to the United States as a teenager and graduated in 1979 from Berklee College of Music, where she was the second Haitian student. Her first album, "Carole Maroule", made with songwriter Jean-Claude Martineau, came out the same year. Having returned to Haiti in the early 1980s to study vodou, she was initiated there as a priestess, or manbo. Her discography includes "Min Rara", "Lawouze" and "Kongayiti-Afrika".