Production manager, composer of over 70 station and commercial jingles, arranger, director, producer, and editor, Joël Widmaier has been passionate about sound for over 20 years. Trained in radio communications and sound engineering in the United States, he began as a self-taught drummer at the age of 13 alongside his brothers. He played with the Mini Brothers and then the Widmaier Brothers in the 1970s before composing in the 1980s. His musical style, blending rock, funk, konpa, and jazz, took shape in 1981 with the creation of the group Zèklè alongside Ralph Boncy, Ti Raoul Denis, and Mushy Widmaier. The group has left a lasting mark on Haitian music with a modern, Caribbean sound. Today, as president of the Haiti Jazz Foundation, he works to promote Kreyol Jazz and has been the artistic director of the Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival since 2007.