Project Description
Fanm d’Ayiti (Women of Haiti) is an evening-length work for voice, flute, string quartet and electronics developed by composer/performer Nathalie Joachim. Commissioned by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series, Fanm d’Ayiti is a celebration of some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, as well as an exploration of Joachim’s Haitian heritage. The project features original songs incorporating the recorded voices of Joachim’s grandmother and the girls choir of her family’s home farming village of Dantan; new arrangements of songs by some of the greatest known female voices in Haitian history; and recorded interviews with these artists about their lives fighting for social justice and uplifting the people of Haiti. Developed in a two year Liquid Music Virtual Residency, Fanm d’Ayiti premiered in March 2018 with members of SPCO in St. Paul, MN, and was recorded with Chicago-based ensemble Spektral Quartet. The work, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records as Joachim’s first featured solo album, received a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album.
Featured Press
“Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: Nathalie Joachim On The Haitian Musical Roots Of ‘Fanm d’Ayiti,’ Community Building & Standing In Her Truth.” – GRAMMY.com
“Joachim joins Here & Now’s Tonya Mosley to discuss how her album celebrates her Haitian heritage and some of the country’s unrecognized female artists.” – NPR’s Here & Now
April Peavey interviews Nathalie about Fanm d’Ayiti – Public Radio International’s The World
Nathalie performs a live solo set at the NYC studio of Paste Magazine
“No more joyous chamber-music collection has arrived this year than “Fanm d’Ayiti,” the exuberant, expressive song cycle that Nathalie Joachim recorded with Spektral Quartet, a brilliant Chicago-based string outfit.” – The New Yorker
“…delicately entrancing songs for string quartet, flute, and electronics — led by Joachim’s powerful and unpretentious voice” – The New York Times
“…Joachim offers the listener an intimacy of vocal storytelling and a blossoming sense of familiarity” – I Care If You Listen
“…the full arrival of a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice.” – The Nation
“her singing has a measured, crystalline soulfulness to it, and throughout this spectacular record she effortlessly blends the past and present, the rustic and sophisticated.” – Bandcamp Daily
Blog Posts
> Students visit Virtually with Nathalie Joachim
> Introducing Nathalie Joachim