Ulrick pierre louis biography
Pierre louis actor.
When the Drum Is Beating
About the Documentary
In Haiti, there is one band that’s seen it all: Septentrional.
Ulrick pierre louis biography
For six decades, this 20-piece band has been making beautiful music – a fusion of Cuban big band and Haitian vodou beats – that turns out thousands of fans each time it plays. At the age of 62, Septentrional has already survived 12 years longer than the expected Haitian lifespan.
Led by 80-year-old “Maestro” Ulrich Pierre Louis, its trumpeters, drummers, sax players, and guitarists have played through dictatorships, natural disasters, coup d’états, and chaos, navigating the ups and downs of Haiti’s history.
The band embodies a particular Haitian trait: the ability to find beauty in places of darkness.
When the Drum Is Beating interweaves the extraordinary story of Septentrional’s six decades of creativity with the history of Haiti.
How did the country go from being the first free black republic with a huge wealth of natural resources to a shattered nation unable to