song lyrics - Haiti Observer Blog

Haiti's Carnival has a dark side when it comes to music played during its annual celebration . At the festival, revelers respond to messages contained within song lyrics, and what they suggest sometimes makes the government of Haiti (GOH) uneasy. Some songs encourage festival celebrants to act out their resentment at the GOH.

During Carnival '97, the monster hit of music group Koudjay, "Si Yo Vle", urged Haitians to hang amoral politicians then in power. In response, many symbolic hangmen's nooses whirled above the crowd. Although the GOH refrained from commenting on the song, they responded with a direct show of force. Forty SWAT officers were deployed to brandish their semi-automatic rifles at the crowd with gestures that intended serious injury.

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The poignant song by Koralen Jean-Claude Martino, arguably most famously sung by Manno Charlemagne, speaks to the melancholy horrors of Haitians' second instance of being sold into slavery, by the United States during their first occupation of the country, between 1914 and 1934.

Strung together by notes of a minor influence, with lyrics that invoke the despondency of those experiencing life as the Vyewo, sold to work on sugar plantations in neighboring countries, the mainly somber melody is interspersed with contrastingly allegro moments, creating an empathetic understanding, even in those who do not understand the language sung.

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