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Arcade Fire opening Haitian restaurant & 'cultural space' in Montreal (with Toronto restaurant duo)

Last August, the Arcade Fire frontman was enjoying food and drinks with the band at Toronto’s Rhum Corner. Butler decided to ask restaurant co-owner Roland Jean if he could play some rara, a type of Haitian Creole festival music. Jean loved it – right until the speakers gave out.

Almost immediately, Butler’s wife and bandmate Régine Chassagne and some Arcade Fire percussionists made up for lost music, keeping the rhythm with glasses and other objects on the tables.

“It was magic,” says Jen Agg, Jean’s spouse and matriarch of a mini-empire of Toronto restaurants that includes Rhum Corner, the Black Hoof and Cocktail Bar.

Bonding quickly that night, the two couples eventually shared their respective dreams of creating a Haitian-influenced space in Montreal. [Globe and Mail]

Agrikol is set to open in Montreal this summer.

The above photo of Win Butler serving Haitian coffee was taken earlier this year at a coffee shop in NYC (photos by P Squared Photography).