Haitian Music Jam: “Pa Gen Manti Nan Sa”, by Emeline Michel

Ou se nesesite-m
Ti kote, pou-m kache-m
Ti kwen solèy leve
Ou se pen kotidyen-m
Ti kafe lè maten
Se ou menm ki tout byen-m

You’re a necessity
My little hiding place
My sunrise
My daily bread
My morning coffee
You’re all I own

The song quoted above is Emeline Michel’s album Tout Mon Temps. Her voice, all throaty, all dusky. It’s impossible not to fall in love with the song, upon the first listen. No lie in that.

At one point, she cooes: “Mwen anvi plante yon kwa/Anwo pik Makaya.

At first listen, one doesn’t know how deep that line is. What is Makaya? Is that a tree? You are clueless. You really don’t have a clue. Until that is, you read Written in Blood by the Heinls and you find out that Makaya was a 18th Century maroon slave in Haiti, who killed a slave owner, and placed his head on a spear. Original, isn’t it; thought a “makaya” was a tree or something.

Gen yon bagay ki di-m ou vini
Nan lavi-m
Pou rete…

Something tells me you’ve come
Into my life
For a permanent stay

She actually has a video for this (see it below!). She’s surrounded by candles. It’s shot in sepia filters, and it’s so sexy you can smell the incense from where you’re sitting. Her hair is all disheveled.

Her arms are bare, her face is downcast; her mind looks like it’s in another world. Love will do those kind of things to you.

Pure loveliness.

The music.

And Emeline.