Overview:
Brooklyn-based Plezi Rara brought Haitian rara music and Carnival traditions to Manhattan’s 53rd annual Village Halloween Parade on Nov. 1. Led by Maestro Peter, the band performed along Sixth Avenue, drawing spectators into the rhythms of Haitian music as giant furry creatures danced alongside the procession.
The sounds of Haitian rara and the energy of Carnival on Haiti’s Champs de Mars traveled from Brooklyn to Manhattan as Plezi Rara took part in New York City’s 53rd annual Village Halloween Parade on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Moving along Sixth Avenue through Greenwich Village, the Brooklyn-based band filled the streets with pounding drums, horns and the driving rhythms of rara. Giant furry creatures joined the procession, swiveling their hips and sidestepping to the music as spectators lined the avenue from Spring Street to 15th Street.
For the musicians, getting to the parade was part of an experience.
Members gathered near Parkside and Ocean avenues in Brooklyn before taking the subway to Canal Street and making their way through the crowded streets to the parade’s starting point, where they joined other players.
Maestro Peter was leading the band. Peter, who grew up in Belair, Haiti’s capital, moved to Brooklyn at 15. He discovered rara in New York through Djarara, a legacy rara band that plays in Prospect Park, and joined soon after.
Plezi Rara musicians performing while walking down Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, during the Halloween parade on November 1, 2026. Photo by Bill Farrington for The Haitian Times
The cultural street band or Rara is known in the Haitian community for its raw energy and minimalist instrumentation to the music. Rara builds its music around powerful drum rhythms, usually starting with ferocious snare drum rolls. But Plezi Rara’s performance at the Halloween parade was about more than keeping the crowd moving. Maestro Peter said the band chooses its music according to the message it wants to convey and the setting in which it performs. For the Halloween parade, that message came through rabòday, a rhythm and musical style that ran throughout the band’s performance along the route and continued as the musicians made their way back toward the subway.
“When we go out and play, we play music,” Peter said. “When we want to send a message,e we only play one song; with that one song, we go around the city with it. We play what goes with the context.”
This year’s parade carried the theme “Body and Soul,” celebrating human connection, movement and physical presence in contrast to an increasingly digital world. Organizers estimated that two million people attended the annual celebration.
For Plezi Rara, the performance offered another opportunity to bring Haitian music and culture to a broad New York audience. Maestro Peter said he hopes the band will return to the parade in the future.
Photographer Bill Farrington captured the energy of the night, from Plezi Rara’s powerful performance to the dancers and costumed partygoers moving to the beat along Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, on November 1, 2026. All photos and videos by Bill Farrington for The Haitian Times
