Amba Rad La in Bloomington, MN

Haitian vocalist
Michel Martelly
fronts an eccentric band on his
Amba Rad La
album from 1990. In addition to
Martelly
's charismatic vocals and his colorful clavier playing,
Alex Tropnas
plays guitar,
Welton Desire
and
Doff Chancy
both play bass,
Ansito Mercier
plays the percussion, and a number of other vocalists supply the background vocals. The result is a lively variation of
Caribbean
music that's just as much influenced by the
Latin
tradition as it is the
Jamaican reggae
tradition. The album only features six songs, but all of them are rather lengthy, particularly the album-closing
"Mickey's Rara,"
which clocks in at nearly 14 minutes. ~ Jason Birchmeier