Memories of Childhood:

Boukman Eksperyans - Gran Bwa

Memories of Childhood:

Gina Dupervil - Lanmou Nou Pran Dife

You need to watch this!

Miss Body Plastik was created by the young people from the Cine Institute in Haiti. It’s about Dezilia’s big dreams of winning a beauty pageant in the hopes of cleaning up the streets of Haiti. It’s a lovely story of hope and idealism. Dezilia’s character represents the idea of change in a rigid society.

“Ciné Institute provides Haitian youth with film education and edutainment, technical training, and media related micro enterprise opportunities. We integrate educational film screenings into classrooms of public schools, train aspiring filmmakers in all aspects of production, and develop and produce films of all kinds in partnership with our students and graduates. The Institute also promotes excellence in Haitian cinema domestically and abroad and holds weekly entertainment screenings of films from around the world at its theater.”

I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while. I have seen many people complain and wonder why young Haitians in the diaspora are not more involved in their community. I was a bit confused too. Growing up in Haiti and living in a non-Haitian community in the US most of my life, I’ve always wanted to be as involved as I could. Yet, I know so many young Haitians who would rather get involved in other movements than those concerning the Haitian community. Not to say that as a Haitian you should only care about other Haitians but I believe that one of the responsibilities of calling yourself Haitian is to care about your fellow compatriots. Lately, I’ve been around many Haitian adults of my parents’ age and I was shocked to hear the way they spoke of Haiti and Haitians. I heard many swear off Haiti and consider Haitians a lost cause. I’ve also asked many young Haitians born in the diaspora why they’ve yet to visit Haiti, many answer either that their parents would never let them go or they were too scared to go. And these answers aren’t coming from young people who’ve never traveled, many of them have traveled to other developing countries and have been to neighborhood statistically more violent than most places in Haiti. Having lived in Haiti I know what it has to offer good and bad so I shouldn’t be too judgemental of parents who have recounted their negative experience of Haiti but at the same time, there has to be a balance to the stories told. The more these young people are discouraged the less likely they will get involved in anything relating to Haiti, and the Haitian community, in the diaspora and in Haiti, needs these young people. Yes! Haitians have suffered very much but there are many many other positive aspects to Haiti, to Haitian culture and a possibility of a future. Yes! We’ve all encountered rude and ignorant Haitians in the diaspora but haven’t the majority shown otherwise? How can we balance the negative stories that the closest people to us have recounted?

What can we do to prove that Haiti is not the violent and poverty-stricken country that it has been portrayed to be?

How can we showcase the beauty of the Haitian people, in Haiti and abroad?

What do you think is the reason why young Haitians are not involved in the community?

We were in the Times Square subway station last week and we noticed this Carnegie Hall advert featuring Emeline Michel and well-known Haitian drummer Sergo Decius.

It’s a review of Dug G’s “Men Vibe La” and 3 Elements’ “Bang”. Check it out!

We’ve been discussing this issue with many, many people and we want to hear from you too. Have you thought about moving back to Haiti? Whether you were born there or abroad, would you make that bold move? And if you’ve never visited, what is the reason you’ve yet to go?

We really would like to know. Please comment away!

We’ve known about Tiga for a while now. Having Bonga, one of Haiti’s best drummers, as a father you expect him to be talented. However Tiga has tackled music and made it his own. He is truly an artist, he does not only play Haitian roots music but every kind of Afro-rhythm. He’s mastered the drums, the Haitian Bamboo, the Australian didgeridoo, the Mbira, and he is the lead vocal of his band fittingly named Tchaka.

We got a chance to go see Tiga and his band Tchaka in action at a spot named L’Orange Bleu in Lower Manhattan. When we first walked in, the restaurant was packed with mostly diners. There were quite a few people grouped by the bar who were there mostly for the music. The band was playing a sort of reggae at first which turned into an Afrocentric vibe without being too geographically specific. It was a mix a reggae, Haitian roots and Rara, Southern and Western African sounds. Tiga, in front of the band, excitedly played the drums, sang and played the Mbira almost at the same time. His energy became quite addictive, soon enough tables were being pushed aside, and diners became dancers. Everyone was dancing, EVERYONE, which was a pretty entertaining sight for us. And YES! There was a Conga line, much to our dismay.

Seeing Tiga at work, passionately creating music and vibing with the crowd left us no doubt why at such a young age he’s worked with Haitian music greats such as Thurgot Theodat, his father Bonga, Emeline Michel, Buyu Ambroise and Jean-Paul Bourelly, as well as international entertainers like Grace Jones and John Legend. He’s a force to be reckoned with and definitely the future of Haitian roots music. Just watch him.

Check out his myspace profile for samples of his music.