Adolphe Pierre-Louis remembers the day he picked up Honduran singer-songwriter and politician Aurelio Martinez and his bandmates from the International Sunport before their performance at Albuquerque’s AfroMundo two years ago. Martinez, professionally known as Aurelio, was famous for his Garifuna music, which mixes West African, Indigenous and other cultural influences. The 55-year old was the first Afro-Honduran member of the National Congress of Honduras. Sadly, he died in a plane crash in March.
“They were sitting in my van, and I’m playing Haitian music,” says Pierre-Louis. “The song is in Creole, right? So I picked up those musicians for Honduras. And all of a sudden, while the music is playing, they started rapping on top of the music in their language, singing and dancing. I mean, that shows you music is universal. And that’s the beauty of AfroMundo. All those guys are from Honduras, and I’m from Haiti playing Haitian music, and there’s still a strong connection to the roots of the music – which is Africa.”
Pierre-Louis says we suffered such a huge loss with Aurelio because artists like him and his band keep alive a culture that has been around since the days of slavery. The roots of the music are pretty much the same — Haiti and Honduras share so much in common — and AfroMundo’s artistic mission is to create the same type of experience here in Albuquerque.
Originally from Les Cayes, Haiti, Pierre-Louis is a board and collective member of the AfroMundo Festival, a weeklong multilingual arts and humanities festival celebrating the music, literature, film, visual arts, food and culture of Black and Indigenous people throughout the Americas and around the world. The theme of the 2025 AfroMundo Festival is “Troubled Territories: The Will to Heal” and features artists and presenters from Haiti, Cuba, Palestine and the United States. Performances, panel discussions, film screenings and other presentations will take place at venues throughout Albuquerque April 12 through April 19.
Close to My Culture
Pierre-Louis is a founding member of Racine Kreyol, a dance and drum ensemble that has been moving audiences in Albuquerque and across the globe with their Afro-Haitian Roots music for the last 29 years. The group’s members include Haitian-American percussionists Duke Germain, who also plays guitar and saxophone, and Jacob Decimus, who also sings in the band. Bass player Karl Taylor, guitarist Santana Kujawa, drummer Wayne Johnson and keyboard player Todd Lowery round out the ensemble, blending traditional Haitian rhythms with modern instruments.
“Music has always provided comfort, and it has allowed me to deal with stress and frustration,” he says. “It also allows me to stay close to my culture, to my country.”
Racine Kreyol will join singer, songwriter, author and dancer Riva Nyri Précil on stage to close out the final night of this year’s festival with a performance titled “Spellbound” on April 19 at South Broadway Cultural Center (1025 Broadway Blvd SE.) Précil is known throughout Haiti and the rest of the world for her fusion of Haitian music with African roots music as well as American R&B, soul and jazz. Pierre-Louis says the show will be more than just a musical performance. It will be a “feast for the eyes” including traditional Haitian dances by Précil and local dancer Shirley Sainte.
“It’s just such a privilege to play backup for Riva, because she is this amazing woman, singer, artist, jewelry maker, you name it. And she’s a Haitian to the core,” he says. “By that I mean, although she’s living in Brooklyn, she goes off into Haiti and practices all the wonderful traditions that we have.”
In addition to being a musician, Pierre-Louis is also an accomplished actor and photojournalist who has documented life in the city since joining the Albuquerque Journal in 1990. He retired three years ago, ending his 33-year tenure at the paper. His globally published photography has received honors from the Colorado chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the New Mexico Press Association. Most recently he was given a 2025 Creative Bravos Award for creative excellence from the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts and Culture.
“I believe in the freedom of the press. I believe in the freedom of expression,” he says. “Here in this country right now, a lot of people have to keep quiet just to survive. And that reminds me of what was going on in Haiti back in the ‘60s and ‘70s and early ‘80s under the dictatorship, where people felt that they couldn’t express themselves.”
Pierre-Louis traveled to the United States in 1981, but for 19 years he lived in Haiti under the dictatorship of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, who was in power from 1959 until 1971 and then under the oppressive regime of his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier until he was overthrown in 1986. During that time the Duvaliers lived decadent lifestyles while Haiti suffered from widespread poverty, human rights violations and the murder and exile of tens of thousands of Haitians who resisted them. The dictatorship was largely supported by the U.S. as an alternative to communism.
“In 1976 I was 14 years old and a journalist who lived a block away from my house was killed because he wrote a story that Baby Doc did not like, and that was the trigger that I needed to choose this profession,” Pierre-Louis says. “In life you have to have the courage to show reality.”
A Cultural Education
Pierre-Louis says that, in addition to sharing Black and Indigenous arts and culture with the people of New Mexico, AfroMundo’s goal is to educate people about what’s going on right now in countries like Haiti. AfroMundo will be hosting three documentary screenings and panel discussions with Q+A sessions at the National Hispanic Cultural Center throughout the festival. He says the festival is taking a big risk by showing some of these films, but he believes strongly in their mission.
“We have political issues, we have First Amendment rights issues, we have religious issues, we have race issues, we have immigration issues. Afroundo is bringing all those issues to the forefront and sharing them with New Mexico and making them aware of how the actions of their government — right here in this country — are affecting people’s lives in places like Palestine, like Haiti. I think it’s very important.”
One of the films screening at AfroMundo this year is Ayiti Pap Peri: Ayiti Will Not Perish. Haitian-born director Cassandre Thrasybule says the documentary “features the soul of Haiti” and discusses the human and economic potential of the country. Thrasybule was born and raised in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and moved to the United States in 1998. She produced her first documentary Cassures (Fractures): Families Between Haiti and Abroad in 2015. She says, over the past 15 years, she’s traveled between Haiti and the United States for her various projects. But because of the violence in the country right now, she hasn’t been back in two years. Through her filmmaking, Thrasybule brings attention to what is really happening in marginalized countries and “amplifies marginalized voices.”
“Oftentimes, when people are talking about Haiti, they talk about the poorest country of the hemisphere. They talk about this country where there’s constant gang violence, political instability. [while] forgetting about the real nature of the country,” Thrasybule says. “Haiti was the first Black Republic, a country where Black Americans used to go to escape different types of discrimination and prejudice. That Haiti still exists despite the different problems that we’re encountering today.”
However, Thrasybule says since humanitarian programs like those implemented under Joe Biden’s presidency have been revoked, the United States is sending a message to many people living in this country — including Haitians — that they’re not welcome here. And frequently our immigration system is sending many of them back to countries on the brink of civil unrest. Thrasybule says she believes it’s a journalist’s job to never be silent, and her films raise awareness, telling Americans now is the time to show solidarity with the people of Haiti and to remind them of the strength of this country. She says we have a responsibility to pay attention to authentic stories and join our voices with the people of Haiti to stop what is happening in the country.
“There’s no coincidence as the theme of the festival is ‘Troubled Territories: The Will to Heal.’ And this is something that we need here in the United States and in Haiti,” she says. “The film reminds people about the stress of patience, about the soul of the country, giving them hope and inspiring action. Continue to advocate. Do not stay silent.”
Connecting for Free
All of the events at AfroMundo 2025 are free with registration. Events are scheduled to take place at a number of venues around town, including the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Outpost Performance Space, The South Broadway Cultural Center, Three Sisters Kitchen and the Albuquerque Museum of Art. You can browse a full list of the events, performers, presenters and guests as well as biographies and more at afromundo.org/festival/2025/index.
“Being able to have these [performers and presenters] come here to Albuquerque and perform for AfoMundo and connecting not only on the musical plane, but also on a spiritual plane and historical plane is just remarkable,” Pierre-Louis says.
2025 AfroMundo Festival
April 12 – 19
Spellbound: Riva Nyri Précil with Racin Kreyol
April 19, 7 p.m.
South Broadway Cultural Center
1025 Broadway Blvd. SE
All events are free with registration