Magnum Band’s story began, in part, with a talented young guitarist, named Andre “Dadou” Pasquet. Born in Haiti in 1953, Andre’s family moved to New York in the early 1960s where he was exposed to the best of Haitian, American and world music. He sprung from a family of performers including the likes of uncle Dodof Legros, an important composer in Haiti’s folklore tradition who authored the famous song “Twa Fey. He mastered his instrument of choice- the guitar – early on and studiously absorbed Haitian and world music. His skill was such that noteworthy musicians like Raymond Sicot, and big band leader Raoul Guilliaume sought his services while he was still in his teens.

By the 1970s, Dadou’s talent landed him the ultimate gig with the band destined to lead all others in representing Haiti on the world market - Tabou Combo. Dadou lasted 5 years with the meteoric band and helped to propel the role and importance of the guitar in Konpa. His astounding rhythmic exploits made classics of Tabou’s early hits. Very few could or would follow his ability to weave melodies out of the least exploited corners of the pentatonic scale.

The other half of the Magnum story lay in the talents of Dadou’s elder brother, drummer Claude “TiCo” Pasquet. Tico made waves of his own among Konpa’s pioneers developing some of the drum techniques that became widely used in Konpa. Dadou’s main competition, guitar prodigy Robert Martino recruited Claude for his band, “Les Gypsies”. Together, Robert and "Tico" also delivered a string of Konpa’s most important early albums. Both Dadou and Tico were major contributors to albums that revolutionized Haitian Konpa. 

However, by June 1976 the brothers left the successful commercial acts they’d been a part of to create Magnum Band.  The name was one thought up by drummer “Tico” and aired the band’s ultimate ambition – to be the best of it’s kind in the industry.  Unfortunately, Magnum’s initial repertoire threw fans for a loop as they delved deep into the sound and message of Haitian folklore as a starting point.  In the heart of Brooklyn’s Haitian community in club Ka Bouki, the young band introduced their material to fans to very little fanfare.

Undeterred, the adventurers made their way to California in hopes of introducing the music to a more receptive and open-minded audience. Unfortunately, the era of Disco had set in and the fiery delivery of bands like Earth, Wind and Fire left little room for American Jazz let alone Haitian roots music. So, Magnum and company made their way to Florida, rehashing their musical strategy along the way to eventually release a first opus – the album “Experience”.

“Experience” was a monumental achievement. The album’s songs introduced new, more challenging ways of arranging Haitian pop and a minimalist yet punctuated approach to Haitian drumming. The album’s songs paired Jazz vocal techniques with those of the Haitian roots tradition. Magnum injected the intensity of American Jazz/Funk horn arrangements into Konpa with astounding success as evidenced in songs like “I would love you” among others.   A Jazz and Blues oriented reworking of the folk standard “Pese Café” displayed the genius of the band’s talented members. Magnum’s “Experience” ingeniously incorporated everything from Salsa to Blues in an Afro/Haitian environment, setting an unrivaled industry standard.

World-class albums like “Jehovah”, “Adoration”, “Paka Pala”, “Islam”, “Ashadei” and more eventually surpassed the milestones of “Experience”. Over the course of many years, these albums combined really did earn the band the right to its chosen name – “Magnum”. The band remains among the most respected players in the industry.

Steve Desrosiers