Nemours Jean-Baptiste is the founding figure of modern Haitian popular music — the saxophonist and bandleader who created Konpa Dirèk on July 26, 1955. Where Haitian dance music had followed older méringue and big-band forms, Nemours forged a tighter, horn-driven rhythm built around a steady, infectious pulse, and the new sound quickly became the country’s dominant dance music and a lasting cultural export. His career-long friendly rivalry with Webert Sicot, the saxophonist who answered Konpa with his own Cadence Rampa, shaped the golden age of Haitian music and gave konpa its competitive fire. Across decades of recordings and relentless touring, Nemours carried Konpa Dirèk from Port-au-Prince dance halls to diaspora stages across the Americas and Europe, establishing the rhythmic language that every konpa band since has spoken. Key recordings include “Ti Carole,” “Haiti C’est Terre Chaude,” “Gingolade,” “Cité Soleil,” “Vive Nemours,” and “Rythme Commercial.”