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  • My First Blog Entry Ever!

    Current mood:happy

    To My Fans,

    It is so mysterious how music can connect the world. I am Manze Dayila. I want you guys to keep supporting my music because this music is real. The more that I know that I have your support the better I will become. In this spiritual journey we need eachother's support so lets keep it going!

    Ayibobo!!
    Manze Dayila


    11:15 PM

  • * Excellent review of Solé in Worldmusiccentral.org



    Photobucket
    WorldMusicCentral.org just published a great review of Solé.  Check it out HERE or read more below:

    Inspired by Spirits



    Sunday, January 25 2009 @ 07:32 AM EST
    Contributed by: ARomero





    Manze Dayila
    Solé (As Is Entertainment, 2008),
    Haitian singer Manze Dayila intertwines her Haitian musical roots
    with African and pan-African diaspora sounds. Her first CD is titled Solé, which she recorded with her multinational band The Nago Nation. Although many of the songs on Solé
    are based on traditional Haitian songs (traditional chants, compa,
    carnival music, etc.), the overall result is a thrilling modern-day
    mélange of new and old. The musical styles go beyond Haitian music and
    one can find Cuban son, Brazilian samba, hip hop and West African
    (including kora and ballaphon) sounds. The mesmerizing vocals
    throughout the album are in Kreyól and English.



    It's taken Manze Dayila many years and a difficult journey to
    get here. Her biography describes how as a pregnant 19-year-old, Manze
    Dayila drifted in a small boat patched together with tar and burlap,
    accompanied by dozens of other Haitians who dreamed of a better life in
    the USA. Circling sharks, swelling waves, and endless ocean magnified
    the fear of what awaited her. Faced with these challenges, Dayila
    remembers, “I almost lost my sanity on that boat. To this day it’s like a nightmare that won’t go away.” Dayila risked her life on a perilous journey in the hopes of creating a better life for her family.



    Three days into the voyage, the boat reached Cuba and Dayila was very ill. The authorities impounded the vessel. “They saw the boat could not make it. They said if we continued traveling we would probably die,” Dayila recalls. “They decided to keep us there. They saw how pregnant I was and their doctors treated me. They were very concerned.” But after a three-week delay and no repairs to the boat, the Haitian travelers demanded that they be allowed to go on.



    Several harrowing days later, a commotion erupted on Miami Beach when
    the boat ran aground amidst beachgoers, senior citizens, and tourists.
    “People were screaming, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, she’s pregnant!’” Dayila remembers. “All
    of a sudden there were police and news cameras asking us questions. I
    didn’t speak much English, so I couldn’t understand what they were
    saying    .” The refugees were taken to Krome Detention Center, and six days later Manze Dayila gave birth to a baby girl.



    The difficulties continued in Miami. The kindness of a Haitian man who
    had taken in the new family turned to cruelty when he became violent
    and threatened her life with weapons. Suddenly, one night, Dayila saw a
    spirit in a dream: “The
    spirit was a black woman, very dark skinned and very skinny. She said
    ‘What are you doing here? You need to get out. If you stay, you will die    .’”
    The spirit told her to head for New York, though Dayila knew nothing
    about the place. After talking to a few friends, one with relatives who
    could take her in, Dayila continued on her journey. It wasn’t until her
    arrival in New York that she discovered her gift for singing.



    At the urging of musician friends in her newfound home, Dayila began to
    explore her talents and adapted the songs she learned from Vodou
    ceremonies growing up in St. Marc, in northern Haiti. “I came up with new arrangements, singing in a different way,” Dayila explains. “I always find myself singing roots Vodou songs a little bit differently, blending them with some spice.”



    Dayila’s first big break came when she auditioned and was selected to
    be a part of New York City's MTA’s Music Under New York program. Her
    performance stunned one of the judges, producer Jamie Propp, who
    subsequently signed her to his company, As Is Entertainment. “Within one song she transported me through the entire range of emotions. I will never forget that song.”
    She began singing her favorite songs in Kreyól in the subway and
    placing before her a calabash, or kwi, used both for feeding spirits
    and for collecting donations.



    Performing in the subway had its drawbacks (once ornery break dancers
    attacked Dayila’s amplifier in an attempt to overtake her buskering
    spot). But while expanding Dayila’s circle of admirers, it also
    expanded her world, “There were beautiful moments,” Dayila remembers. “People
    danced with me, and shared their dance steps; the Congo dance, the Ibo,
    the Nago, and it really filled me. They told me, ‘I can feel you deep
    down inside. Thank you for having the courage to do your own thing    .’”



    Dayila’s
    performances caused a stir underground; after all, when a vodou lwa
    takes the subway, people stop in their tracks. Dressed to the nines in
    a black suit, face painted half white-half black with a cross on each
    cheek and donning dark sunglasses, Gede, the spirit of life, death, and
    transformation, began to appear every November first, thanks to Dayila.
    Some Haitians were shocked that a woman would take on this role; others
    were deeply moved. “When I reached the subway, people really paid respect, and I felt so big. I felt pride and joy, to see how people received it.” It’s now an annual tradition.



    Manze Dayila designs her own on stage ouftits, such as a striking red
    dress covered in vévés, traditional drawings that represent and beckon
    the lwa (this dress is pictured on the CD). “People
    might put one vévé on a dress, but I envisioned a beautiful red dress
    with all the vévés representing the many positive spirits in the vodou
    culture    ,” Dayila notes. “For me the color red is all about spirituality. I am definitely inspired by spirits.”





    10:45 PM

  • * Solé is number 4 in About.com’s top 10 world music albums of 2008!






    We are psyched that Solé made About.com's top 10 world music albums for 2008! Go HERE for the review!

    Manze Dayilo - 'Sole' (c) As Is Entertainment, 2008

    Manze Dayila broke into the world music scene with an audible boom this year. Most of us had never heard of this Haitian songstress, who first arrived in the States two decades ago on a ramshackle raft from Haiti, 9 months pregnant. Since then, she's been bringing the sounds of Haitian vodou to the New York City subway, but she's come out of the dark and into the sun ("Sole" means "Sun" in Kreyol), and thank goodness she has - she's incredible! Sole includes a nice variety of songs: in "Simbi D'lo" and "Papa Loko," Dayila summons powerful vodou spirits in her husky contralto. "That Feeling" is decidedly urban, and scattered instrumental interludes throughout the album add just a touch of folkiness.


    10:32 PM

  • * Boston Haitian Reporter Review of "Solé" by Steve Desrosiers

    To download the PDF of the December 2008 issue of The Boston Haitian, go to www.bostonhaitian.com


    BY STEVE DESROSIERS
    CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
    It is mysterious that heaven sends its best trea-
    sures wrapped in a cloak of tears and misery. It
    seems the bargain between nature's mystical forces
    are that anyone who stands to positively influence
    humanity's cursed journey must pay a price in long
    suffering. It was so for artists like Bob Marley and
    Louis Armstrong and it is true today for a currently
    little-known Haitian woman who is known in New
    York as the "Empress of Haitian Roots music."
    Manze Dayila is her stage name and she was
    brought to my attention by New York-based actor
    and musician Smith Nazaire (aka Atibon). Smith
    took part in a video starring Manze in an original
    composition named "Change", honoring Barack
    Obama. In the course of watching the video on You-
    Tube, I was struck by the strength of purpose in her
    voice, then by the uninhibited grace of her dancing. I
    listened a few more times to the instrumental work
    that enveloped her vocals and was enchanted by the
    multi-rhythmic interweaving of such a simple line
    up of instruments.
    Dayila was born in Saint-Marc, a province in Haiti.
    She grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds
    of Haitian folklore and often took part in singing at
    family gatherings and ceremonies. By 1988, Dayila
    was 19 years-old, pregnant and Haiti – two years
    after the ouster of Jean Claude Duvalier – was
    yet again the scene of severe political unrest. The
    mother-to-be considered the avenues open to her
    and her child on the island and like many before
    her, decided to risk a voyage by boat in hopes of
    reaching the United States.
    She soon embarked on one of the cheaply con-
    structed dinghies that are legendary for daring the
    trip, being overcrowded and prone to sinking before
    reaching the safety of Miami's shores. Three days
    into the journey the ship ran aground in Cuba. Au-
    thorities impounded the ill-built vessel and detained
    the passengers for three weeks. Eventually, the
    travelers, against the advice of their Cuban peers,
    again set the ship out to sea. The boat managed
    to land amidst sun tanning tourists and senior
    citizens whose alarm at seeing Dayila's condition
    among the other occupants caused such a sensation
    that eventually news cameras, along with medical
    attention, made their way to the scene.
    Dayila, along with the others, was taken to Miami's
    infamous Krome Detention Center, where some
    years ago the grandfather of Haitian writer Edwidge
    Danticat died, allegedly as a result of the center's
    habitual mal-treatment of Haitians. She gave birth
    to a baby girl and for a time made a home for herself
    in Miami with a man who heard her story on televi-
    sion and took her in. The arrangement between the
    two adults soon soured and Dayila took to land this
    time for a fateful journey to New York.
    The young mother eked out a living doing odd jobs
    in the city. She eventually became a sought after
    singer for New York's popular Vodou ceremonies.
    At the encouragement of friends she took her sing-
    ing more seriously and started honing her talent,
    often performing in New York City's subway system
    where she drew crowds for a tradition of celebrating
    "Gede" or Vodou's ceremony for the dead by dressing
    herself elaborately painting her face in black and
    white and sharing Haiti's traditional dances with
    those who cared to partake of the experience.
    Interestingly, Dayila's subway performances led
    to her first big break with a small American inde-
    pendent recording label. In 2001, she was selected
    to perform in New York's Metropolitan Transit
    Authority's "Music Under New York" showcase.
    Dayila remembers of that fateful day that she closed
    her eyes and "did my thing", delivering a gut wrench-
    ing performance of an original composition named
    "Sole", an ode to the sun. The performance caught the
    attention of one of the judges of the event, producer
    Jamie Propp – head of As Is Entertainment – who,
    in short order, contacted the singer and offered to
    produce an album showcasing her talents.
    Dayila's first release, the album, "Sole", is a re-
    freshingly modern and cosmopolitan presentation
    of Haiti's traditional Racine songs. Like the many
    Lwas or Gods of the Vodou religion it is mired in
    duality and complexity. It is happy and sad. Hai-
    tian and American. Simple, yet complex. In new
    arrangements of traditional songs like "Kwi", a
    slice of the popular black musical experience in
    the west is available to the listener. "Kwi" starts
    off with recognizable Haitian drumming, moves
    seamlessly into a laid back roots reggae groove and
    transforms magically into a grainy African dance
    track held together by Dayila's powerful voice. This
    scene is repeated inventively in songs like "Misie
    Rigaud", "Kafe", and "Ibo" where no sooner does
    the song present its Haitian identity then it begins
    to morph rhythmically to show its American, West
    African or Spanish face, all of the ingredients that
    Manze Dayila's suffering, joy evident on debut record
    have composed the dream and nightmare that have
    fed the Haitian experience.
    The album also points to the future of Racine in the
    United States. In "City-fied" versions of songs like
    "Simbi D'lo" and "Ibonodub" we find a taste of the
    kind of musical exchanges that will help to preserve
    and propagate Haitian Racine well into Haitian-
    America's future. Jamie Propp and the fine cast of
    musicians who propel this album's fantastic line up
    on songs have to be commended for weaving such a
    fine listening experience. This work is reminiscent
    of Emeline Michele's astounding AKIKO record
    with the Widmaer brothers. And Haitian Racine
    has truly found its Empress.
    You will hear this voice and be transported back
    to Haiti and the firm grip your grandmother's hands
    as she tapped Africa's rhythms on your back while
    dancing and singing any one of Haiti's fine traditional
    songs of sorrow and joy!
    Discover Manze Dayila and her Nago Nation band
    at the following website: www.manzedayila.com.
    Look her up on iTunes for Christmas!
    8:19 PM

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