Oswald
kompa
Oswald Clerveus, often presented as Oswald Sxm, comes from Saint Martin but has become one of the major voices in digital kompa/gouyad for Haitian and Caribbean audiences. Haitian Music Archive traces a path that begins with singing from childhood, writing as a way to process personal loss after becoming an orphan at 13, and a 2007 Défi Lycéen win in Guadeloupe against other young Caribbean performers. That same year he released his first maxi-single, 'My Life', recorded at Yard Studio in Saint Martin.
The early successes show how Oswald built a bridge between R&B, soul, zouk, kompa, and the Francophone Caribbean public. Michel Mado invited him onto the album 'Dédicace' in 2008; in 2010, 'Nan Lanmou Laj Pa Ekziste' and 'Ton absence' with Misty Jean carried his name through radio in France, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Haiti, Tahiti, Dakar, Saint Martin, and the United States. 'I Need Your Body' in 2011, followed by the album 'Oswald', placed him among artists who understood how video, radio, and diaspora touring could move a love song across borders.
Oswald's sound is not built only on the force of the traditional big band. He is a Caribbean crooner: soft voice, short phrases, sensual hooks, R&B, zouk, kompa, gouyad, afro-pop, and party songs shaped for playlists as much as dances. After moving into the orbit of 5Lan and Carlo Vieux, and after singles such as 'Ghetto Girl Wine', he kept building a language where desire, distance, jealousy, reconciliation, and fragile male pride become repeatable hooks.
In the collection, 'Solo', 'SUC', 'Pedi Kontwol', 'Ti Doudou', 'Option', 'Oxygen', 'Mawozo', 'Dimension', 'KARMA', and 'Pasyans Ave M' show several stages of his sound. Apple Music places 'Oxygen' as a 2024 album and 'KARMA' as a 2026 single, making the page useful for following an artist still adding new material to the romantic gouyad/kompa lane.
Oswald matters inside Haitian music because he shows that HMI does not stop at national borders. He connects Saint Martin, Paris, Miami, Montreal, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Haiti through the same love-and-gouyad sound. When he collaborates with Steves J. Bryan, Stony, Bamby, Alan Cavé, Roody Delpe, or moves between French, Creole, and English, he makes audible a Caribbean-kompa generation living through YouTube, videos, festivals, and diaspora stages.