Queen of Haitian Music Sounds Note for Homeland Tragedies

By Bernard Perusse

Montreal – It’s sad paradox that Emeline Michel’s latest disc, Rasin Kreyol (Creole Roots) bubbles with joyous, percussive sounds that the Queen of Haitian music is riding a wave of domestic contentment when her country is dealing with floods and political violence.

            When Michel sat down for an interview about the long-awaited album, her eighth, the tragedies dominating her hometown, Gonaives, were clearly on her mind.

            “Nothing will emotionally help you express support or consolation to whoever was part of that tragedy,” Michel said, referring to the September floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne.  “I was born in Gonaives.  I know this town like my palm.  When you know that your town is buried under mud, there’s nothing that can express how you feel.  The only thing I can try to do is change everything I’m doing.”

            Accordingly, the singer is finding both time and money: Proceeds from her concerts are going to the Red Cross for relief, and she said she’s hoping to help build a shelter to help flood victims.

            It doesn’t take a disaster to get Michel to speak passionately for her country, either.  One of Rasin Kreyol’s standout tracks, Lu’m Kanpe (When will I Stand Up), bluntly points a finger at the United States and its treatment of Haitian refugees: “The youth of my homeland are giving up/ Scholars from my homeland/ Are chopping meat at McDonald’s,” she sings.

            “What hurts me the most is the way they perceive Haitians all over the world, like we’re a bum with a little cup in our hand, always asking, always in trouble — which is, in a sense, inevitable, because we’re always going through some catastrophe,” she said.

            Yet the song ends up celebrating freedom and optimism.

            “We’re left to die, and Lu’m Kanpe translates that rage.  We feel pride.   We feel free,” she said.  “Whatever they can take away from us, if we decide one day to change that image of misery together, we can.”

            Nasyon Soley (Sun Nation) lays down that plan over a swaying, samba-like beat.  The song expresses hope that Haiti’s children will ultimately see the country back on its feet and addresses its scattered people with the reminder that “Wherever you go, your flag is yourself.”

            “That message is very important for me,” Michel explained.  “We should not stop living or giving a positive image of Haitians – in Miami, New York or Montreal.  The Haitian you are here is probably what your children are going to become.”

            The child factor has hit home for Michel, whose five-year-old son Julian is the main reason Rasin Kreyol took four years to complete.  “I’ve been so in love with Julian, it was impossible for me to do anything but spend time with him and sing to him.  That’s my work as well – and it’s tricky to balance, but I’m trying,” she said.

            “I ask God to remind me that I’m being used for something that is not for myself, and it’s all about remembering humility.  It will take you farther than blowing your horn,” she said.

THE MONTREAL GAZETTE