Duo’s Fowler Out Loud concert to draw on Haitian Vodou influences

In Thursday’s musical performance at the UCLA Fowler Museum, the only instruments that Winter Schneider and Yves Figaro will use are a set of Haitian drums.

The Fowler Museum’s concert series Fowler Out Loud will begin its performance season for the new academic year with a mix of song, dance, narration and drumming performed by Schneider, a graduate student in history, and her husband Figaro. Their performance will draw inspiration from Haitian Vodou traditions.

“The structure (of the performance) will loosely follow a Vodou ceremonial procession,” Schneider said. “Otherwise, it will be pretty crazy.”

As in traditional Vodou ceremonies, the drums will play a central part in the performance. Figaro is from Gonaïves, Haiti, where he grew up immersed in local Vodou culture. He began performing drums in different bands from the age of 12 and is currently a member of the Haitian band, Chouk Bwa Libète.

“His whole life has been devoted to Haitian rhythm,” Schneider said.

Schneider has a background in Haitian dance, history and folklore, having spent time in Haiti in early 2008. There, she studied and performed Haitian folk dance and met Figaro at a concert in which she was dancing.

For the performance on Thursday, Schneider said she takes inspiration from her experiences living in rural Haiti and appreciating the multifaceted expressions of Vodou culture. While Schneider does not pursue an artistic career, she researches Haitian history, which is a source for her performance work.

“As a performer, I’m always going back and forth between art and academia,” Schneider said.

Although Schneider’s main experience is in dance, she will also play drums during the performance. She said unlike in a traditional Haitian performance, in which performers are usually either drummers or dancers, she and Figaro will both participate in every aspect of the performance.

“People can look forward to some dancing and cool rhythms and singing,” Schneider said. “Haitian rhythm is really ‘live.'”

Greg Sandoval, curator of public programs at the Fowler Museum, said performances that incorporate nonmusical elements, such as Schneider and Figaro’s, are welcome in the Fowler Out Loud series.

Sandoval said the Fowler Museum has a long history of supporting Haitian art.

“It’s important for people to watch performances like this,” Sandoval said. “They help demystify misconceptions people have about certain cultures.”

Schneider said people often have an impression of Haitian Vodou as a combination of voodoo in New Orleans and the popular imagination of black magic in America.

While the concert will encompass many aspects of traditional Haitian music and performance, it will also incorporate aspects from Schneider’s heritage and American culture. Schneider said the result will represent the kind of cultural mix she and her husband try to achieve in their daily lives.

Because Fowler Out Loud is a concert series mainly dedicated to student performers, it rarely features husband-and-wife collaborations, said Eric Schmidt, a graduate student in ethnomusicology and Fowler Out Loud coordinator.

“I imagine (Figaro and Schneider) have a special understanding of each other on multiple levels that most other students can’t bring,” Schmidt said.

While the pair has had moments of spontaneous collaboration in music before, Schneider said Thursday’s concert will be the first official collaborative performance.

Schneider said she thinks the Vodou religion’s position in history is an important subject for people to study. She hopes Haitian Vodou will come across to the audience as a flexible, all-encompassing religion, lifestyle and artistic form through her and Figaro’s performance.

“Haitian Vodou is really derived from respect and love,” Schneider said. “It’s derived from trying to find a just way in the world.”