Haitian songwriter, singer and guitarist Beethova Obas was born on March 25, 1964. He was the son of painter Charles Obas, who was murdered when he was just five years old. Named Beethova after the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, he learned to play guitar with his father's instrument, and in 1988 won the Prix Découvertes RFI (Radio-France International), which enabled him to record his first album Le Chant de la Liberté (1990). Invited on tour by the Martinican group Malavoi, he shot to fame with his second album Si... (1993), tinged with zouk, ballads, Caribbean rhythms and bossa nova, in a style he calls "cubabra" ("Cuba-Haiti-Brasil"). Beethova Obas, who sings in Haitian Creole, tours as far afield as Japan. In 1996, he covered Serge Gainsbourg's "Couleur café" on the album Pa Prese, followed by Planèt La (1999) and Kè'm Pozé (2003), which included a touch of jazz. In 2005, the artist moved to Brussels and recorded the album Futur (2010), featuring Jocelyne Béroard. Before returning to his native island in December 2020, he will release his seventh album, Bon Bagay, on Aztec Musique, an album honed over several years in the studio.
