Haitian Music Spotlight: “Viejo”, Emeline Michel

Photo: Peter Essick

Nan mitan yon chan kann bò Higue
An Dominikani
De ayisyen nan yon batey
Pye atè
Do touni

In the middle of a sugar cane near Higuey
In the Dominican Republic
Two Haitians in a batey
Barefoot
Shirtless…

They say songwriters are partly storytellers. And with her song “Viejo” , off her Ame et Cordes disc, Emeline Michel definitely tells a story, a rather sad story. An undocumented immigrant is cutting sugar cane under the hot sun of the Dominican Republic’s harsh sugar plantations. Apparently, he’s lost touch with his family. He hasn’t seen his children in years. Perhaps he was afraid that if he crossed the border, he might end his opportunity to make a living in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps he feared he would never be able to return. One day he crosses paths with his cousin, and gives him money to give to his family. And upon his cousin’s return back to the batey, he reports on what’s happening back home:

Manman-w mouri sa fè kèk ane
Gen de mounn di se chagren
Madanm la, li la, la pe kenben
Ti moun yo mal okipe
Premye a grandi, li grandi tankou chwal
Ti denye a pa menm sonje papa-l

Your mother died, it’s been a while
Some people say it’s of a broken heart
Your wife is hanging on
And your children, well…are unkempt
The oldest is all rowdy

She sings: “They spoke, but you could not hear a word/The strength of the wind carried away their voices,” but is that an analogy for the situation of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic? Emeline is pretty slick with inserting subtext in her songs. You have to read between the lines.

In spite of the fact that life is oppressive in the bateys, the sugar cane worker embraces the system, now that he knows that going back home is futile: “Lè wap tounen lakay, menm si ou pa pote anyen, pa kite manchèt ou dèyè.” (when you’re going back home/Don’t leave your machete behind). But then there’s some ambiguity in this. Resignation or determination. Machetes can begin wars too; they’re not used just to cut cane. Talk about lyrical subtext.