I had a great interview with Fred Paul at Min-On Headquaters www.min-on.or.jp in Tokyo. From the interview I was able to write this little piece about Fred Paul, the twelve city tour in Japan and how he founded Mini Records.
Fred Paul , the founder of Mini Records was one of eight children. Paul was born in Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite in Haiti. His father Frederique Paul was a teacher who decided to join his wife family business in other to support Fred and his seven siblings.
He was a professional soccer player in his early years in Haiti. After moving to the state to attend university 1969, he realized that his passion was in music. But at the time being a soccer player or a musician, even though most Haitians enjoyed dancing and the music it was frowned upon as a profession.
Fred decided to go in the music business, he wanted to introduce Haitian music to the world but at the time there weren't any distribution channels available. He felt that it was a challenging task that he wanted to tackle and he understood that he had to do it the proper way. So he spent the next Ten years working and learning about the music industry.
In 1971 he founded Mini Records and has been in the business for over 35 years. He is one of the most respected executive producer in the business. Judging by Mini Records' Dicography one can understand why. Fred has a gift for identifying and bringing together musical talents.
As a producer and promoter he takes his job seriously, he wants to leave a positive image and feeling about the music and the Haitian people whenever he performs overseas with his band. In his own word "a musician is a sort of Diplomat when you travel abroad to promote Haitian music whether you are on stage as well as off stage".
I have to say that Fred Paul is really a charming guy and really loves what he does. A big thank you also to the Min-on staff for their courtesy.
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