For over seven years, economic growth has been lacking in almost every sector of Haitian national life.
For more than seven years, economic growth has been lacking in almost all sectors of Haitian national life. Insecurity, which bogs everything down in its path, hasn’t been kind to the music industry either over the past two or three years. Guest on Radio Magik9 on Friday, August 21, 2026, Antoine Augustin, a professor and spokesperson for the Orchestre Tropicana of Haiti, explains how the Haitian security situation has weakened the finances of the group and the entertainment sector in general.Answering journalist Daniel Sénat’s question about a poster that the Tropicana Orchestra is supposed to share with Tabou Combo on Saturday, August 22 at the Karibe Convention Center, former Haitian minister and spokesperson for the group, Antoine Augustin, took the opportunity to paint a rather sad picture of the situation faced by one of Haiti’s flagship musical groups. “The management of Tropicana and many other orchestras are facing a deadlock due to the security crisis not only in the country but also in the music group sector,” the guest hinted right away, emphasizing the losses the orchestra has suffered over the past few years.
The Tropicana Orchestra of Haiti
“Back when the orchestra held a 65% share of the music market in Haiti, Tropicana would perform at around 200 dances a year on average,” explains Professor Antoine Augustin, pointing out that in one of those years, the international Fusée d’Or set a record by performing at 236 dance events.
“Today, due to security issues, the entire South is blocked, Artibonite is blocked, the Central department is blocked,” continued Professor Augustin. As for the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, it has become nearly impossible to organize gala events in the communes of Carrefour, Croix des Bouquets, and others, which host nationally renowned nightclubs due to their capacity, such as Le Lambi, Bamboulinos, Le Méridien, Club International, Distinction Night-Club, and so on.“The inactivity of these venues for festive events has significantly reduced the music market share by 60%. From an average of 200 dances per year, Tropicana went down to between 80 and 90 dances,” the speaker said. These numbers give an idea of the substantial loss the Haitian music industry is experiencing, almost crippled by armed groups controlling several major cities in the country.
The impacts of such a phenomenon on music institutions are numerous. “A group like Tropicana, for example, has a large number of employees and an administration that has to be paid regularly, whether we play or not,” explains Mr. Augustin, who adds that the group is currently on a very successful tour in the South.”However, this success, so far, has not allowed the completion of the great projects of the beloved orchestra of the Far North,” remarked the spokesman, “because he adds, the group lives only from its performances which for the moment are limited to the country evenings of the North and North-East as well as the traditional evenings at the Tropicana Night-Club (birthdays, Pilgrims’ Evening)
On the other hand, says the Magik9 speaker, the birthday galas at the Roseau Plaza, in Mirebalais as well as the big evenings of performances throughout all the municipalities of the Artibonite are no longer held, because of the security context, which is not at all favorable to such initiatives. Not to mention the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince where, every week, Tropicana used to play from Thursday to Sunday. All this is no longer possible nowadays.”Producers and program promoters, for the past few days, in collaboration with airlines, have been working to make Tropicana go on tour in the deep South. Despite the significance of the gesture, the cost of such an operation is becoming exorbitant for these operators. Even in the case of a ball organized last night (Thursday, August 20) in Chantal, where the ticket price was set at 2500 gourdes, the public responded massively to this presentation. This shows, in a way, that the band is still very much in demand. It’s a shame that the Port-au-Prince parties (at Club International and Distinction, etc.) have not been possible for about five or six years.
As for performances abroad, the situation isn’t any better, according to Antoine. “Since 1973, for 53 years, Tropicana has been touring North America (Boston, New York, Florida, Canada). Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, Tropicana hasn’t been able to travel to the U.S.; the previously scheduled balls couldn’t take place because the group wasn’t able to get visas. As for Canada, we did manage to do a tour, and the general public showed up.”It’s the same in the Antilles (Nassau, Bahamas), but at that level, explains Antoine Augustin, these aren’t customary performances—they’re more seasonal, depending on the needs of promoters or event organizers who call on the group. “This is different from the United States, where from 1973 to 2025, Tropicana has had two mandatory tours: one during Easter and another in December. Unfortunately, this year, those appointments weren’t kept,” laments the representative of Tropicana Haiti.
