From Montreal, Elik Tara Group Releases Honoré Vraiment, a Title Track Shared by Five Singers
An Afro-Caribbean Project Led by Elik Tara Brings Zouk, Kompa and Afrobeat Into One Album
Every July since 1987, the Nuits d’Afrique festival has brought music from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America to Montreal. Elik Tara Group works from that city. On 1 June the project released Honoré Vraiment, an Afro-jazz album that draws on both halves of that circuit.
Elik Tara Group’s title track is in the playlist below, and the group’s coverage is collected on the Elik Tara Group profile. Honoré Vraiment came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play first, then read on.
Montreal’s African and Caribbean Scene Sets the Stage for Elik Tara Group and Honoré Vraiment
In fact, the Caribbean side of that story is decades old. Haitians began settling in Quebec in the 1960s, and most chose Montreal because it was the nearest French-speaking city. By 2021 about 48,000 Haitians lived there. That made Montreal the Canadian city with the most Haitian residents, and the third in North America after Miami and New York. Kompa, the dance music Haiti made its own, came with them too.
Elik Tara Group, meanwhile, sits inside that mix. Led by the singer-songwriter and producer Elik Tara, the project releases its music through its own independent label, Eliktaragroup Inc. Its list of styles is long: Afrobeat, kompa, rumba and zouk, with smooth jazz running through them. The project calls the blend Afro-jazz.
Language widens the map further. Elik Tara Group sings in Ewondo, French, Lingala, Yoruba, English and Wolof. Between them, those languages reach from central Cameroon and the two Congos to south-west Nigeria, Benin and Senegal. Then they return to the French and English of Montreal itself.
What Elik Tara Group Put Into Honoré Vraiment, From a Zouk and Kompa Base to Wolof Song Titles
Honoré Vraiment runs to 14 songs and 53 minutes, and its titles move between three of those languages. French gives it Juste un aurevoir and Courage et espoir, while English gives it Chains of freedom and Choose yourself. Wolof also gives it Lu xew ?, and one track is simply called Senegal.
The album opens on Aïe doudou, which the project presents as its bridge between Africa and the Antilles. Its foundation is zouk and kompa. Afrobeat lifts the energy, while shades of rumba sit around the edges and a touch of smooth jazz goes on top.
The title track then follows at number two, and its credits show how wide the project casts its net. Aloys Claude Noah Ayi wrote the words and the music, and Claude Noah is credited as executive producer. The lead vocal is shared by Amadou Sidibé, Mélerine Noubia, Carlos Miguel Esposito, Sow Ousmane Diallo and Mylène Osila. Yves Malory and Sonia Richard join several of them on backing vocals, keyboards and drum machine. Meanwhile Claude Noah, Justin Katanga, Carl KH and Yves Landry-Bedard are among the guitarists.
That is a full room for one song. The project describes its sound as warm, elegant and made as much for dancing as for close listening. Apple Music, for its part, files the album under Afro-pop. Here, guitars, keyboards and a drum machine give that idea a buoyant, danceable frame of just over four minutes.
Kassav’, Manu Dibango and Fela Kuti in the Lineage Behind Honoré Vraiment
The project also names its own lineage, and three of those names shed light on this record. Kassav’ came out of Guadeloupe in 1979 and are credited with pioneering zouk, which grew out of cadence-lypso and compas. Aïe doudou rests on that same zouk and kompa pairing. The Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango fused jazz and funk with the music of home. His Soul Makossa reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973. Afro-jazz, the project’s word for its own sound, therefore owes a lot to that crossing.
Finally, Fela Kuti, the principal innovator of Afrobeat, was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta. Elik Tara Group gave Yoruba country an album of its own in January with Voyage au pays yoruba.
AfroMusic.News’s curator team: “We could play Honoré Vraiment between an Afrobeat set and a kompa set and the floor would not notice the join. That is why the title track now sits in our Afrobeat, Afro-Pop and Amapiano playlist.”
A Catalogue That Runs From a 1989 LP to Honoré Vraiment
The history behind the project goes back further than its recent output suggests. Its catalogue opens with Mbembe Dzam, an LP released in France in 1989 on the Equateur label, with songs such as Chaleur d’Afrique and Ngon Tsinga.
The recent run has been fast. Since July 2025 Elik Tara Group has released nine albums and EPs. Among them are En français s’il vous plaît in November and AYITIS HEART, an album named for Haiti, in December. The four-song Assia EP followed in March, and Honoré Vraiment is the latest of them. Taken together, they trace the same route the album does, from the Antilles to West and Central Africa and back.
That makes Honoré Vraiment a fitting entry point for listeners who move between scenes. Kompa and zouk dancers will find their rhythms here, and so will Afrobeat fans who like a little jazz in their grooves.
Where to Stream and Follow Elik Tara Group
Stream Honoré Vraiment on Apple Music, or play it in the player above. You can also follow Elik Tara Group on Spotify, on its Apple Music artist page, on the YouTube channel, on Instagram and on Facebook. Everything else, from the catalogue to the shop, is on the project’s official website.
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