Although it has no running narrative, August 1791 is a concept album of sorts, reflecting on the early history of Haiti. But you need not know anything about that subject, or even that the title refers to the beginning of Haiti’s slave uprising against the French, to appreciate the music. New York-reared Richard Morse absorbed all the strains of funk heard on that city’s streets in the ’70s and ’80s before establishing RAM in Port-au-Prince. He calls the band “a laboratory for traditional music experimentation.” High energy and furiously percussive, the songs on August 1791 pull from the call and response of West Africa and the Vodou traditions born in the New World—but in an entirely contemporary context.
