Kompa (konpa, compas direct) — the Haitian dance groove Nemours Jean-Baptiste built in the 1950s from méringue and big-band horns. The percussion signature is a cowbell on every eighth with the drums answering in two-beat units: kick on 1 and 3, a floor-tom "tak" on the "and" of 2 and the "and" of 4, hat on the backbeats — a steady rocking that stays under the band for a whole song.
The guitar plays a picked eighth-note arpeggio that outlines each chord (compare the bachata requinto, but lower and more even); keyboards comp short chords on the off-beats, and the bass plays root on the beat with a pushed fifth on each "and of 2 / and of 4" — the same lift as soca's kick.
Listen for the bell: it is the clock, and everything syncopated is measured against it. Mute the bell and the floor-tom hits sound random; unmute it and they fall exactly between the kicks. Practice: play the bass line against the bell alone, then add the guitar arpeggio and keep it flat and relaxed — kompa is smooth, never busy.