KOMPA! MAGAZINE

[shah]

The Incomparable Georges Loubert Chancy aka Zoie

Written by Jason Accime aka Shah

There is nothing enigmatic about Maestro Georges Loubert Chancy and his saxophone. Georges Loubert Chancy aka Zoie made a name for himself from his teenage years from the “Gars de Sainte Cecile” to Shleu Shleu and finally to Skahshah by simply establishing himself with discipline and hard work.

In order to epitomize the efforts and the unflinching commitment of this legendary saxophonist, one has to go back to the 1960s when a new breed of musicians emerged to create the mini-jazz era and the saxophone was at the core of those musical formations, with Webert Sicot as their biggest influence.

I don’t see the need to compare maestro Loubert Chancy to any other sax man in the business. As we all know, every artist has their own touch and style of playing just like every human being has their own DNA. The important thing is that maestro Chancy, to this day, is still improving and mastering his craft after decades of playing the saxophone.

Most of us came to fall in love with maestro Chancy with the Shleu Shleu of Dada Jakaman:” debut album: “Franky tet chov” after the late maestro Tony Moise and the others left Haiti to immigrate to the US. That first album was maestro Chancy beginning of a long and outstanding career in the business.

Maestro Loubert Chancy proceeded to play for many of us back then at venues like Cabane Choucoune, Le Rond Point, Hotel Riviera etc… and recorded a few albums with Shleu Shleu until the early 1970s when he embarked on an unknown journey to the United States.

In June 1974, SkahShah was born and NYC was never the same. Maestro Chancy has the ability to lead a group of musicians with unlimited egos. Being a leader of a group full of superstars, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Imagine every musician in SkahShah going from Arsene Apollon to Coubano who could potentially be a maestro of a band in their own right. It’s a miracle that this group has lasted as long as they have.

Maestro Chancy, the young and svelte guy with his own ego, has to combine his people skills and savoir faire to lead this bunch of which today every single one of them is a legend. Maestro Chancy and SkahShah have worked very hard in order to spoil us with one hit album after another. Each album Georges Loubert Chancy and his band mates have recorded actually made history from the very first one as SkahShah from 1974:” Guepe Panyol to 2012 “Lague Jazz la”. Let’s not forget the new sound of the saxophone that maestro Chancy introduced to Konpa Direk in 1974 and that was emulated and used by bands like: Super 9, Shoogar Combo and the legendary Djet-X to this day still using that same sound.

Maestro Chancy is by all means a reputable individual and a decent human being who loves music and more precisely Konpa Direk to the extent he went out of his way when he could no longer handle all those egos inside Skahshah by experimenting on his own with different musical formations; from Bazooka to Nu-shah. Unfortunately, none of these groups matured to become established groups like SkahShah. Why? Simply because this group was meant to be together regardless of their differences.

Hence, that’s the reason why after their breakup in the 1980s, maestro Chancy was propelled to regroup and reunite with his band mates SkahShah in 2001 in the spirit of a continuing legacy. Once again, he managed to stay afloat for a while, but as we all know it, his attempt was short lived due to complications with other band members of Skahshah.

Consequently, Maestro Loubert Chancy, as far as I am concerned, if he is not the best, he is one of the best maestros and saxophonists of his era.

Maestro Chancy, there is nothing to be ashamed of for trying so hard to make SkahShah work because you have endured difficulties along the way and managed to be an indisputably legendary musician and a peacemaker whose sole purpose was family and music while making Nemours Jean Baptiste and Webert Sicot very proud.

Maestro Georges Loubert Chancy, I salute and pay tribute to you as a beautiful human being, a father, a husband and a great musician. Your legacy will live on for years to come just like your predecessors.

I am very proud of your relentless pursuit to be the best and more importantly to be able to write this piece on your behalf and to welcome you one day in the hall of fame of konpa Direk when or if one will be erected for all of our legendary musicians like yourself. Thank you and bravo maestro Georges Loubert Chancy.
_________________
SHAH
The less I say the more I do.