“Thrilling, thoughtful and, at times, downright spooky… like a Caribbean Patti Smith” – The Guardian
Moonlight Benjamin returns with another thrilling collection of brooding Rock n Roll inspired by voodoo culture and the Arctic Monkeys. Following on from the international success of 2018’s album Siltane, Haitian singer Moonlight Benjamin returns with her new album Simido. Continuing where her previous album left off, Moonlight’s thunderous and rebellious vocals reverberate throughout. The enthralling mix of heavy, guitar-laden blues, owing much to the likes of Black Keys and Alabama Shakes combined with Moonlight’s intense and dominating vocal caught the international limelight back in 2017.
Orphan to Immigrant
Moonlight’s own story is remarkable she was born in 1971 in tragic circumstances in Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti. At the moment she was born into the world, her mother died, invoking panic and fear in the birth party leading to mass prayer. Hours later and under advice, Moonlight’s father arrived with his daughter swathed in cloth, at an orphanage in the west of the country where the Reverend Doucet Alvarez greeted them. “If she stayed alive, there is certainly a reason. I will call her Moonlight. A light which will light the future – I will adopt her as my daughter” the Reverend pronounced.
Later she found a spiritual guide that would help her “become director and actor of my own life”. That lure was voodoo. Moonlight explains her connections to spirituality she continues to practise, “Voodoo rhythms and songs are like the umbilical cord that connect the western part of the island of Haiti to the womb of its people, Africa.” By the late ’80s Moonlight had begun delving deep into Haiti’s ancient roots and culture and whilst doing so, sung and collaborated with a raft of Haitian artists and in 2002 she moved to France where she is now based.
“She has reinvented 1970s blues-rock as a distinctively Haitian sound, with voodoo-inspired rhythms and invocations”
★ ★ ★ ★ Financial Times
