2013. “Surviving Material Poverty by Employing Cultural Wealth: Putting Music in the Service of...

Vol. 452013

2013 YEARBOOK FOR

TRADITIONAL MUSICVolume 45

KLISALA HARRISONGuest Editor

DON NILESGeneral Editor

SYDNEY HUTCHINSONBook Reviews

MICHAEL SILVERSBook Notes (Web)

BYRON DUECKAudio Reviews

LISA URKEVICHFilm/Video Reviews

BARBARA ALGEWebsite Reviews

Published by theinternational council for traditional music

under the auspices of theunited nations educational, scientific and cultural organization

(unesco)

Yearbook for Traditional Music 45 (2013)

surviving material poverty by employing cultural Wealth: putting music in the

service of community in haiti

by rebecca Dirksen

Haiti and its citizens are frequently squeezed between a confusing and uneasy pair of polarizing superlatives: the Caribbean nation is routinely identified as “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere” at the same time that its culture is upheld as one of the richest in the post-colonial Americas. Although these labels can (and probably should) be dismissed as oversimplified and destructive, they do offer a striking dichotomy to contemplate. Can seeming economic poverty be balanced against so-called cultural richness? Can the domains of economy and culture be reconciled as mutually useful? Specifically, can culture be exploited to enhance daily life and improve material existence?

In reality, Haitian citizens grapple with this dichotomy on a daily basis. The Haitian majority navigates extreme financial hardship. By necessity, people cultivate survival tactics to cope with poverty using cultural knowledge. Some individuals even find “workarounds” to their challenging economic situation through creative expression. During the course of my research in Haiti before and after the earthquake of January 2010, I observed a growing number of community groups employing music as an explicit and fundamental tool for addressing complex and distinctly non-musical social issues stemming from poverty and related infrastructural weaknesses.1 Thus, even as economics and culture have conventionally—and fallaciously—been constrained as distinct and unrelated spheres of understanding, productive conversations can be held in observing overlaps and exchanges between the two domains.

In this article, I tackle the reconciliation of the supposed cultural richness of Haiti with its apparent economic poverty. I first examine popular constructions of the nation’s poverty and richès kiltirèl (cultural richness). I then assert that a distinct “consciousness of poverty” has emerged among the Haitian marginalized and middle classes within the past half-century that is traceable through musical texts. Observing that consciousness-raising songs are increasingly being accompanied by non-musical labour, I highlight the community service of one music group before linking group members’ socio-musical engagement to cultural action. I conclude by returning to the relationship between culture and poverty, observing how, in the

1. Standard examples of infrastructural weakness in Haiti—acknowledged and observed by the Haitian government, global institutions including the World Bank and United Nations, and the country’s residents—include the scarcity of consistent, reliable electricity; inadequate, limited access to affordable potable water; insufficient sanitation and waste management systems; poor-quality roads; insufficient health care facilities and professionals; and a limited police force and justice system. Gaps in basic infrastructure affect the entire population, regardless of socio-economic standing.

44 2013 YEarbOOK fOr TraDiTiOnal MusiC

Haitian context, music has flowed into domains where the solutions sought have typically been economic in nature.

Constructions of “rich”/“poor” Haiti

From the Pearl of the Antilles2 to a perpetual “golden opportunity” for investors (to profit from cheap labour by the poor majority),3 narratives of wealth and the lack of it punctuate Haiti’s history. Counter-narratives contesting the nation’s (often-exploited) economic poverty highlight Haiti’s cultural resources—typically located in its arts, religion, and people. The roots of these narratives run deep and are fiercely protected by those they serve. As complex representations, they offer insight on slices of human experience but reflect more profoundly on constructs of power.

The “invention” of poverty and the persistence of poverty narrativesAlmost by fiat, two-thirds of the world’s peoples were transformed into poor subjects in 1948 when the World Bank defined as poor those countries with an annual per capita income below $100.

Arturo Escobar (2012:23–24)

The word “poverty” is, no doubt, a key word of our times, extensively used and abused by everyone … Strangely enough, however, nobody … seems to have a clear, and commonly shared, view of poverty.

Majid Rahnema (1991:4)

Most United States mainstream media, political think tanks, and federal government agencies—including CNN, NPR, fox News, Democracy Now!, the Brookings Institute, and the White House Office of the Press Secretary—reinforce Haiti’s “poorest country in the Western Hemisphere” tagline.4 Indeed, Haiti’s gross domestic product per capita is well below that of other low-performing nations

2. The pre-Haiti colony of Saint-Domingue was at one time “the most profitable colony in the world” (Dubois 2012:19). 3. The USA’s HOPE Acts of 2006 and 2008 granted clothing manufacturers with factories in Haiti duty-free access to US markets and thus encouraged investors to create low-wage jobs that yielded high profit margins for factory owners. Three weeks after the earthquake, US Ambassador Kenneth Merten declared in a Wikileaks-intercepted classified cable to Washington, “THE GOlD RUSH IS ON!,” as Haiti was deemed “open for business” to companies seeking to profit from the new post-disaster market (Herz and Ives 2011). 4. As a US citizen, my attention is inevitably oriented toward US institutions, but this focus on American politics and pronouncements goes beyond my own positioning: Many countries have been interested in Haiti’s “development” from colony to nation, but arguably none so much in recent history as the US. Ascending as a global power, the US implicated itself heavily in Latin American affairs through imperialist interventions and occupations during the early 1900s and followed with the economic hegemony of the 1930s’ “good neighbor” policy in the name of “free trade” (Escobar 2012:27–34). To this, the US government’s leadership in implementing the international aid apparatus could be added (i.e., through its leading role in designing World Bank programmes and through the 1961 establishment of the US Agency for International Development).

DIRKSEN MUSIC IN THE SERvICE Of COMMUNITy IN HAITI 45

in the region (UNDESA 2012:89), and the country ranks lowest in the Western Hemisphere on the Human Development Index, which compiles life expectancy, education, and income indices (UNDP 2011:3). Not least, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, which defines poverty in terms of income, education, health, and standards of living, shows that fifty-six per cent of the population struggles in those areas (UNDP 2011:5).

Poverty narratives aside, the concept of poverty can be seen as a political construction that gained force in the aftermath of World War II. The United States and Western Europe suddenly “discovered” the impoverished masses of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, who, for reasons of maintaining global peace and security, were transformed into a “social problem.” French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the terminology le tiers monde (the Third World), thereby dividing the world into three parts and granting Western nations First World status. The United Nations supplied the statistical justification—for example, the gross national product—for first World intervention in Third World affairs in the name of development. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund were established to carry out this First World–defined project fostering the economic growth of nations. In some ways a throwback to President Woodrow Wilson’s sense of America’s “moral duty” to promote the principles of democracy abroad, the institutionalization of poverty and subsequently of development and the international aid apparatus were central to Cold War–period reorganization of world power (Escobar 2012; McMichael 2012).

Western-defined economic indicators of poverty, though, have largely failed to respect alternate living styles, mores, needs, and values. They generally whitewash the Haitian population as financially homogeneous and fail to recognize that, out of necessity, individuals statistically classified as poor find ways to make the system work for them, whenever and however possible. Local analyses can better elucidate understandings and experiences of poverty. Rather than skewing such classifications exclusively toward access to money (or services and goods that must be purchased), Haitian filmmaker and economist Kendy vérilus defines pòvrete as

deprivation; the absence of certain things. you could be poor in spirit, for example in the sense that you don’t understand that everyone is equal. If you don’t know that everyone—no matter their colour, sexual orientation, religion, or whatever—has the right to exist, to exercise their rights and obligations to life, to health, to respect, that could be poverty.

Poverty refers to an absence of possibility, an absence of means. It’s not about whether someone is living on less than one dollar each day. Instead, it’s the degree of well-being one can achieve with a dollar per day.

In Haiti, how does [poverty] materialize? Through a marginalized population, a group of people living at the threshold of existence. It’s the people who cope without solid infrastructure (without water, roads, electricity). Together, these people organize themselves so they can live, one with another: they bring water into the neighbourhood, they improvise roads, they bring electricity in, without respecting [official] regulations and principles. (Kendy vérilus, Skype interview, 28 November 2012)5

5. All interviews were conducted in Haitian Kreyòl; the translations are my own.


With this more comprehensive and constructive definition, we are better positioned to ask what people lack, what they identify as being critical to their lives, what they do with the resources they have, and how they make their possibilities work for them. Crucially, this definition focuses on well-being, broadly defined, of both individuals and communities and the creative improvisations people make to meet challenges they face.

The “rich culture” defenceHaiti is indeed beset with grave problems. But Haitians’ love of freedom inspires them and nurtures their imaginations. Despite and often because of the challenges they have continued to face, Haitians create powerful artistic expressions in music, painting, crafts, sculpture, and architecture; in religion; and in language. The encounter of the Taino and African cultures, along with that of European colonizers, gave birth to the dynamic Creole culture that defines Haiti today. As a result, Haiti is one of the richest nations in terms of its culture and its people.

2004 Smithsonian folklife festival Haiti Exhibit program team(Benoit et al. 2004:15)

Haiti, tragedy of screaming proportions, with the sparkle of an indecipherably beautiful paradox.Haiti, material poverty. But spiritual richness. With fabulous artistic creativity.

frankétienne, Haitian author and painter (1998:12–13)6

Statements of this kind, widespread in discourse about Haiti, involve the concession that Haiti lacks “x” but compensates in “y.” Whether a tactic to counteract negative stereotypes or a strategy to boost pride and build nationalism, narratives of cultural richness have long been popular. Haiti’s “fabulous artistic creativity” has been touted as a by-product of the clash of cultures7 and religions8 during colonial conquest and slavery (e.g., Cosentino 1995). The nation’s culture has been elevated to mythical proportions, expressly tied to revolutionary history: music reportedly energized the 1791 vodou ceremony that rallied together slaves and marked the beginning of the Haitian Revolution (e.g., Wilcken 1992:18). Artistic expression has been vaunted as the population’s means of regaining balance and retaining hope after serial crises that have befallen the country: after the 2010 earthquake, Haitian author Dany laferrière declared, “When everything falls down, what remains standing is culture. And culture is the only thing that Haiti has produced” (Guy 2010). Today, key dialogues insist on replacing negative stereotypes of the “poorest country” with appreciation for its cultural contributions—demonstrated by the current administration’s unapologetic promotion of tourism, despite openly admitting that certain fundamental challenges (i.e., security, water, electricity) have yet to be met (Alphonse 2013).

6. My translation from French. 7. Among them, Taino, European, fon, Dahomey, and Kongo. 8. Including indigenous Taino practices, Catholicism, Freemasonry, and West African vodun.


A growing consciousness of poverty, relayed through musical texts

A Haitian proverb declares money as rare as hens’ teeth: lajan ra kou dan poul. Just as commentary on persistent financial hardship has entered daily vocabulary through a sophisticated repertoire of proverbs, trends in popular discourse relating to economics are readily traceable through Haitian music. Concerns over unfair labour practices and grievances against an oppressive wealthy class, for example, have been sung since the pre-revolution plantation era (Sainvill 2001:24–31). Such songs of complaint and recrimination can be classed as mizik angaje—literally, “engaged music,” a genre-crossing expressive form that features politically and socially engaged lyrics. Mizik angaje, and its closely related counterpart mizik sosyal (social music), have been among the most important and prominent musical forms throughout Haitian history, extending from the colonial period to the present day.9

yet since the 1960s, engaged music has borne vastly increased articulations of debt, scarcity, hunger, and suffering. Poverty-related themes seldom turned up among hundreds of songs collected during the frenzy of ethnographic activity of the 1920s to 1950s (e.g., Courlander 1960; lomax 2009; victor 2007).10 In contrast, issues of poverty have risen to the forefront of musicians’ concerns over the past five decades, as evidenced by song texts accompanying more recent ethnographies (e.g., Averill 1997; Richman 2005; Smith 2001) and music recordings from the past half-century. Musicians involved in “poverty talk” have ranged the musical spectrum from mizik rasin (roots music) to reggae to rap; numerous artists and ensembles have participated in this discussion, including RAM, Boukman Eksperyans, Azor, Master Dji, Emeline Michel, BIC, Wanito, Jahnesta, Mystik 703, and Izolan.

Among the classic repertoire addressing poverty is “Lan malè m ye” (I’m in misery) by Manno Charlemagne and Rose-Anne “Lody” Auguste:

Pèp ayisyen nou si milyon The Haitian population is six millionsou chak san mil Of every one hundred thousandGen youn ki byen There’s one who is well offsa fè si mil ki gen lajan That makes six thousand who have moneyEske se bondye k vle l konsa? Did God want it like this? (Chalmay 1989:92)

For younger generations involved with hip-hop Kreyòl, rapping about finances today is as much about calling out imbalances in the socio-economic situation as it is about establishing “street cred” and reflecting on normative experiences. To this conversation, Dug G (Jean Hubert valcourt) contributed “10 goud papye” (Ten-gourde bill):

9. Gage Averill (1997) discusses mizik angaje between 1915 and 1995 in depth. Mizik angaje often entails critiques of misbehaving politicians, but it may also be considered to encompass mizik sosyal, which reflects on less overtly political issues. Music of any genre—from classical to vodou—can be described as angaje if created or performed with the intent of engaging politics in society. 10. Two of these collections were published posthumously, hence the recent dates.


M ta vle pran yon aleken I’d love to get a bite to eatMwen gen selman yon di goud papye I’ve only got ten gourdes [c. 25 US cents]Mwen fè yon jounen ap flannen I spend a day in the street wanderingselman nan poch mwen yon di goud papye … With only ten gourdes in my pocket …Pou pwoblem ke mwen genyen For the problems that I havePa ka rezoud ak di goud papye They can’t be resolved with ten gourdes (valcourt 2012)

Some recent rap songs, such as Bo-B (Nelson Laurent)’s “Men sa n bezwen” (Here’s what we need), reflect more deeply on communities’ core struggles with impoverished infrastructure:

M ap viv nan yon ti zòn ki nome Miso I live in a neighbourhood called Musseauli chaje ak pwoblèm, pa janm gen moun It’s got many problems—there’s never pou stope risk yo, no anyone to reduce the risksrev nou se wè nan chak ti zòn yo met Our dream is to see that they build a hospital yon lopital in each zonebay n bon dlo trete, li lè pou nou And give us potable water—it’s time for us sispann bwè dlo ki sal to stop drinking contaminated waterPa gen kouran—se twòp fè nwa ki kòz There isn’t much electricity—too much plis vyolans fèt … darkness permits violence to happen …nou bezwen edikasyon pou lespri n We need education to develop the mind developPa di nou egsije w, men non! se pou sa Don’t tell us we ask too much—But no! a nou te vote w! That’s why we voted for you! (ONU-Habitat 2011)

Growing perceptions and articulations of poverty as part of the Haitian experience may be attributed to a confluence of factors. In addition to aforementioned post–World War II global political shifts, foremost among the local political influences was the heavy-handed Duvalier père governance from 1957 to 1971, which prompted many civilians to re-think what it took to survive in Haiti as personal liberties were withdrawn, the cost of living skyrocketed, and sources of income dried up (Dubois 2012:347). Several transnational social movements also propelled shifting perceptions, including the Négritude movement of the 1920s through 1960s in Haiti and the broader francosphere, which validated African roots, rejected colonial racism, protested US imperialism, and disputed dominant structures that oppressed the majority (Price-Mars 1998). Soon thereafter, the Liberation Theology movement that swept Latin America from the 1950s to 1980s called attention to the plight of the poor (Gutiérrez 1988). Subsequently, Jean Bertrand Aristide’s populist ascension to power in the 1990s as the first democratically elected Haitian president similarly shifted focus to the underclass existence (Dupuy 2007).11 These events taken together have catalysed the Haitian public’s “conscientization” toward conditions of poverty and the dehumanized existence of the poor—a process that Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire postulated as necessary for “critical intervention” (2000:81, 109).

11. Aristide’s early political platform was informed by the “preferential option for the poor” tenet of Liberation Theology.


Community music and cultural action: In the service of the poor

Traditionally, mizik angaje and mizik sosyal are evaluated at the level of words, melody, and rhythm. However, conscientization is a precursor to action, and some music groups and music-driven cultural organizations presently envision their engagement with society on the basis of their non-musical activities as well. For example, a classical music school in a notorious zone offers students music lessons and the chance to join a symphonic band as an alternative to gang involvement and drug use. Along with musical instruction, participating youth are expected to follow a weekly citizenship class as part of an initiative to “change the lives of 100,000 poor between now and 2026” (Jean Enock Joseph, interview, 18 february 2011). A hip-hop collective has assisted US deportees, stigmatized by their status and shunned upon arrival in the country, with integration into Haitian society through Kreyòl language instruction and Haiti-specific vocational training. The collective provides a supportive community built around a shared love of rap music for these newcomers—who, without hard-to-find intervention, frequently end up homeless or imprisoned. A non-profit cultural organization uses traditional fòlklò (folkloric) drumming and dancing as a means to emphasize cultural parallels between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and thus build solidarity and understanding. This project addresses historically tense relations between the two nations that currently revolve around economic migration: Dominicans resent Haitian wage labourers’ utilization of public assistance in the Dominican Republic, while Haitians resent the harsh work, marginal wages, and prejudice they encounter in the neighbouring country.

Each of these musical initiatives exists because of situations associated on the most fundamental level with poverty: poorly policed violence and drug activity; an absence of basic social services for vulnerable populations like deportees; and no apparent solutions for high unemployment, which has pushed many labourers to seek work across the border, consequently straining Dominican infrastructure. These music groups, and others like them, have identified specific local needs and found means to address them, making community-led development a primary function of their existence.

Case study: “Trash-talking” musicians who raised shovels

Trash is one of the most visible and hazardous problems in Port-au-Prince today. Streets and gutters are cluttered with everything from plastic water bags and soda bottles to food waste and scrap metal. The Haitian government’s primary waste management authority, the Service Métropolitain de Collecte des Résidus Solides (SMCRS), struggles to manage the refuse-disposal needs of the population. A 2010 study conducted by the Solid Waste Association of North America, for example, states that since the earthquake of January 2010, SMCRS “has been operating 24 hours per day, servicing 8 routes every 12 hours” throughout the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, but routinely manages to collect only twenty per cent of the 1,500 metric tons of solid waste produced daily in the capital (SWANA Haiti


Response Team 2010:4). The trash situation has ameliorated somewhat since the end of 2011, but still remains of considerable concern, especially to those living in marginalized neighbourhoods.

Tired of coping with the physical and psychological stresses of living in trash, one group of teenage boys from the zone Bel Air tasked themselves with addressing the garbage collection needs of their marginalized Port-au-Prince neighbourhood. The youth, whom I followed closely between August 2009 and August 2011, are all aspiring rap artists. They call themselves Wucamp—the W and U stand for “Witness Utmost” (see figure 1)12—and their job, as they described it, was to educate the public through music and community service. Twice a day for thirteen months until January 2010, five or six group members descended Rue Sans Fil armed with a wheelbarrow and shovels, scooping up fatra (trash) clogging the gutters and dumping out five-gallon plastic buckets designated as rubbish receptacles (figure 2). They carted everything to a dumpster some distance away, where it was supposed to be collected by the waste management authority.

Wucamp’s volunteer-based initiative received no financial backing from any external organization, although the father of one of the young men contributed roughly USD 100 for the wheelbarrow, shovels, brooms, and plastic buckets. Concurrently, Wucamp found a recording studio willing to subsidize production costs for a music single, which was then played on local radio stations. The song, “Pwoje anviwonman” (Project environment), was aimed at educating Wucamp’s neighbours about Haiti’s environmental demise and the importance of keeping

12. On the ICTM website (http://ictmusic.org/ytm2013) can be found: colour versions of figures 1 and 2, additional colour photos, an audio clip of “Pwoje anviwonman,” and a link to a short film featuring Wucamp on youTube (http://youtu.be/vwlnx8mSlQs).

Figure 1. The members of Wucamp with the group’s “President” (Theodore Jean Michel, second from the right) and me, showing off the group’s music single “Pwoje anviwonman”

(photo: Kendy vérilus, 2009).


fatra off the streets. In August 2009, Richie, with backing from other members of Wucamp, assessed the group’s music and commitment to their community in the following way:

In Haiti, as soon as you say you do rap, older people don’t want to collaborate with you. They always judge you poorly. To defend ourselves, we give you an example: we don’t only do rap, we take our message into the social domain, too. We clean the streets—we sweep morning, noon, and night; we educate youth, too. (Wucamp, interview, 25 August 2009)

The (excerpted) lyrics of “Pwoje anviwonman” likewise reflect Wucamp’s educational mission:

Yeah, mesaj la lanse a tout ayisyen yeah, the word has gone out to all serious konsekan Haitiansnou pa dwe ret ap ranse, paske yo We can’t keep deluding ourselves, because anonse move tan … bad times have been declared …nou ret tan pou n pran konsyans de We’re waiting for everyone to become eta n worried about our situationPaske n tre kritik avni peyi n menase, Because we’re concerned that our little fò n pa ret ap fè politik country is menaced, we can’t wait to “do politics”fò k nou met men nan pat la, pè l ak We’ve got to get involved, grab a shovel and pikwa pou nou plante bwa pickaxe to plant treesPendan n ap pote kole, nan tout kwen While we’re working together, gather trash ranmase fatra … from all corners …se devwa nou, kenbe peyi a pwòp It’s our obligation to keep the country clean

Figure 2. Wucamp in action, working alongside a woman from the community

to clean up trash in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Bel Air

(photo: Rebecca Dirksen, 2009).


lari a se lakay pa nou, fatra nan je The streets are our home; we see that trash nou se twòp piles up too muchMen devwe n pou anviwonman n chanje, Let’s devote ourselves to changing the pou l pa kraze … environment so that it isn’t destroyed …ayisyen, fò n konekte pou n ka fè ayiti Haitians, we must collaborate to change chanje Haitilè sa drapo n a pi wò, lemond antye va When that happens, our flag [i.e., pride] will respekte ayisyen rise, and the world will respect Haitians (Wucamp 2009)

The earthquake of 12 January 2010 put an abrupt halt to the programme Wucamp had developed for their neighbourhood. The loss of loved ones, the destruction of “baz Wucamp”—Wucamp’s base, where several group members lived—and the sudden imperative to find jobs meant that the constant battle for basic survival interfered with the best of plans, and the group has not yet regained momentum. Still, these youths have individually, if not collectively, carried on. Remaining group members came to identify water rights as their community’s most pressing issue and submitted a project proposal to a local NGO to bring potable water into the neighbourhood, but received no response. Wucamp has, however, made advances on the music front: having established an improvised recording studio, they have amassed, through donations and discards, equipment to produce CDs and release socially engaged singles.

While Project Environment was figuratively buried under the rubble, Wucamp modelled a self-evident but often overlooked lesson: they publicly critiqued the bad situation in which they found themselves, and then powerfully put their actions where their words were. Despite the modest scope of their project, these musicians—most of whom were teenagers at the time—made a comparatively long-term commitment that demonstrated responsibility and agency. Wucamp made no money from the project, and did not improve the financial experience of their families and neighbours. However, in developing a makeshift infrastructure where one did not exist to address their local trash problem, they improved the well-being of everyone in their immediate community.

Cultural action and musical konbit

With their creative responses to complex non-musical issues, Wucamp and other similarly oriented music groups employ cultural action to address on a small scale the needs of the population that elsewhere might be met by the state. Cultural action can be understood in the context of this study as the process of putting culture in the service of the community, especially in the advancement of certain community-defined goals. A notion promulgated by Paulo freire (2000:125–83)—who viewed culturally informed conscientization as necessary for creating actors capable of intervening against dominant forces of oppression in their lives—cultural action is linked both to cultural energy and the expediency of culture.

Cultural energy is a social force generated through cultural expression that “inspires people to confront problems, identify solutions, and participate in carrying


them out” (Kleymeyer 1994:4).13 The expediency of culture, in turn, similarly recognizes that culture can be used as a resource “for both sociopolitical and economic amelioration,” including in times of crisis (yúdice 2003:9). To Maestro José Antonio Abreu, mastermind behind the El Sistema classical music program in venezuela that expressly combats poverty and violence, the commitment to cultural action, cultural energy, and the expediency of culture by implication comes down to

no longer putting society at the service of art, and much less at the service of monopolies of the elite, but instead art at the service of society, at the service of the weakest, at the service of the children, at the service of the sick, at the service of the vulnerable, and at the service of all those who cry for the vindication through the spirit of their human condition and the raising up of their dignity. (Abreu 2009)14

Similar ideas resound across a global literature concerning community empowerment through the arts, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean (e.g., Araújo et al. 2006; Fernandes 2006; Ramos and Ochoa 2009). Over the course of many interviews, I have found that aksyon kiltirèl—my translation of “cultural action”—resonates with many Haitian artists, including ragganga (roots-reggae-jazz-rock fusion) singer-songwriter BélO (Jean Bélony Murat), who explained: “Cultural action is about using culture to find positive, favourable results in regard to developing the country” (interview, 27 July 2011).

Cultural action employing music also fits into a broader framework of musical labour. The concept of putting music to work is nothing new. for example, Haitian rara, at the same time that it is critical play as a Lenten-season rural carnival celebration, is heavily implicated in spiritual work (McAlister 2002:85–111). More closely relevant to this study, the konbit, traditionally defined as an agricultural work party, is customarily accompanied by drumming and singing. The rhythms of the drums set the rhythm of the work (Herskovits 1971:71–73), and songs of critique and jest help to chofe, or “heat up,” participants’ enthusiasm (Smith 2001:52–55). Similarly, Wucamp and other groups reinforce their physical labour with music, which figuratively sets the rhythm and tone of their work, and which “heats up” audiences to their cause. More than this, konbit has come to symbolize the collective act of mete tèt ansanm (putting heads together) or youn ede lòt (one helping another)—common phrases frequently appropriated by cultural sector workers, including musicians. In providing basic services to their communities (e.g., trash collection), many of today’s engaged musicians live by the principles of mete tèt ansanm.

Through musical konbit, musically and physically labouring Haitian musicians both elevate their status in their communities as leaders and artists, and ply their

13. Kleymeyer elaborates, “Cultural energy not only provides the collective force necessary to begin and sustain group action, it is also the force that enables a culture to renew itself” (1994:32). 14. founded by Abreu in 1975, El Sistema is a state-financed music-education programme now involving more than one hundred youth orchestras throughout venezuela. The programme has inspired similar initiatives around the world.


craft to resolve issues ordinarily addressed by governments, non-governmental organizations, and private-sector enterprises, usually with heavy cash investment. In this case, the investments are largely time and commitment, as these musicians minimize monetary exchange in their management of local problems. Gains come in terms of education and infrastructure, besides in boosting the community’s dignity and self-sufficiency: socio-musical activities place greater control of unsatisfactory situations in the population’s hands and encourage agency among people who could readily become victims. Accordingly, the cultural action approach has potential as a low-cost, high-impact, locally defined economic model to development, providing a pathway for the slow climb out of poverty.

Conclusion

Given certain contexts, musicians can be important front-line actors labouring both musically and manually against poverty through cultural action. Wucamp and similar groups are responding—and contributing—to a growing consciousness of the plight of the impoverished in Haiti. Their work extends beyond a traditional model of music-making central to Haitian expression encapsulated in mizik angaje, which they are reimagining and rendering practical in ways appropriate for current realities. for their efforts, they are defining themselves as productive citizens eager to engage in civic dialogues from which they ordinarily would be excluded. None of these cultural projects will change the order of society or remove embedded structural inequalities, but they do enable positive discourse and provide clear direction, as well as musical enjoyment. The solutions such groups provide are elegant in their simplicity—no world leaders, highly trained specialists, or politicians necessary.

Without minimizing the experience of hardship and without denying that extensive poverty exists, it is important to change standard narratives to reflect that in reality, many Haitian citizens are engaged, entrepreneurial, and dedicated to finding creative solutions to everyday problems with limited access to money. At the same time, however, narratives about cultural richness can be partially substantiated: musical activity can be employed to create value where there supposedly is none. If poverty is an absence of means, then culture can sometimes open the doors of possibility.

Acknowledgements

I thank Wucamp, BélO, Kendy vérilus, and numerous musicians involved in similar music+action projects for granting interviews, besides Georges Brunet for his comments on the intersections of Haitian culture and economy. Chelsey Kivland graciously introduced me to the Wucamp rappers. CedarBough Saeji, Brigita Sebald, Klisala Harrison, Patricia Tang, and two anonymous referees read article drafts and provided insightful suggestions for revisions, while Don Niles expertly assisted with final revision details and Patrick Sylvain kindly translated my


article abstract into academic Kreyòl. The ideas presented here germinated in my PhD dissertation and benefited immeasurably from the feedback of my committee: Anthony Seeger, Helen Rees, Timothy Rice, Christopher Waterman, and Robin Derby. Finally, I greatly appreciate the generous support that has made research and writing possible: a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a dissertation research fellowship from the Inter-American foundation, and funding from the Elaine Krown Klein fine Arts Scholarship fund and from UClA’s Graduate Division, International Institute, and Herb Alpert School of Music.

references cited

Abreu, Jose Antonio 2009 “TED Prize Wish: Jose Abreu on Kids Transformed by Music.” TED Talks,

february. http://www.ted.com/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music.html (accessed 6 December 2012).

Alphonse, Roberson 2013 “ ‘Haïti est une destination sûre,’ objecte le gouvernement.” le nouvelliste (7

January). http://www.lenouvelliste.com/article4.php?newsid=112257 (accessed 17 February 2013).

Araújo, Samuel, and Members of the Grupo Musicultura 2006 “Conflict and violence as Theoretical Tools in Present-day Ethnomusicology:

Notes on a Dialogic Ethnography of Sound Practices in Rio de Janeiro.” Ethnomusicology 50/2: 287–313.

Averill, Gage 1997 a Day for the Hunter, a Day for the Prey: Popular Music and Power in Haiti.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Benoit, Geri, Monique Clesca, Patrick Delatour, Olsen Jean Julien, Diana Baird N’Diaye,

and Patrick vilaire 2004 “Haiti: freedom and Creativity from the Mountains to the Sea.” smithsonian

folklife festival (catalogue). Washington, DC: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution.

Chalmay, Manno (Manno Charlemagne) 1989 le poukwa kòman? [The why and the how]. Port-au-Prince: Koral Konbit

Kalfou.Cosentino, Donald J. 1995 Ed. sacred arts of Haitian Vodou. Los Angeles: Regents of the University of

California.Courlander, Harold 1960 The Drum and the Hoe: life and lore of the Haitian People. Berkeley:

University of California Press.Dubois, Laurent 2012 Haiti: The aftershocks of History. New york: Metropolitan Books.Dupuy, Alex 2007 The Prophet and the Power: Jean-bertrand aristide, the international

Community, and Haiti. lanham, MD: Rowman and littlefield.Escobar, Arturo 2012 Encountering Development: The Making and unmaking of the Third World.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Orig. pub. 1995)


Fernandes, Sujatha 2006 Cuba represent! Cuban arts, state Power, and the Making of new revolutionary

Cultures. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Frankétienne 1998 “Dans l’urgence de la parole active.” In Droits de l’homme: Utopie défi réalités,

ed. Bernard Hadjadj, 9–13. Port-au-Prince: UNESCO en Haïti.Freire, Paulo 2000 Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th anniversary edition. Trans. Myra Bergman

Ramos. New york: Continuum. (Orig. pub. 1970)Gutiérrez, Gustavo 1988 a Theology of liberation: History, Politics, and salvation. Maryknoll, Ny: Orbis.

(Orig. pub. 1971)Guy, Chantal 2010 “Le message de Dany Laferrière.” la Presse (14 January). http://www.

cyberpresse.ca/international/dossiers/seisme-en-haiti/201001/13/01-938869-le-message-de-dany-laferriere.php (accessed 6 December 2012).

Herskovits, Melville 1971 life in a Haitian Valley. New york: A. A. Knopf. (Orig. pub. 1937)Herz, Ansel, and Kim Ives 2011 “Wikileaked Cables Reveal: After Quake, a ‘Gold Rush’ for Haiti Contracts.”

Haïti liberté (21 June). http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4-48/After%20Quake.asp (accessed 6 December 2012).

Kleymeyer, Charles David 1994 Ed. Cultural Expression and Grassroots Development: Cases from latin america

and the Caribbean. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Lomax, Alan 2009 alan lomax in Haiti, 1936–1937. Prepared and annotated by Gage Averill. San

francisco: Harte Recordings. HR 103. 10 compact discs, lomax field journals, complete liner notes.

McAlister, Elizabeth A. 2002 rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora. Berkeley:

University of California Press.McMichael, Philip 2012 Development and social Change: a Global Perspective. Los Angeles: Sage.ONU-Habitat 2011 Katye pa m. Port-au-Prince: ONU-Habitat. Compact disc.Price-Mars, Jean 1998 ainsi parla l’oncle. Port-au-Prince: Imprimeur II. (Orig. pub. 1928)Rahnema, Majid 1991 “Global Poverty: A Pauperizing Myth.” interculture 24/2: 4–51.Ramos, Silvia, and Ana María Ochoa 2009 “Music and Human Rights: The AfroReggae Cultural Group and the youth from

the favelas as Responses to violence in Brazil.” In Music and Cultural rights, ed. Andrew N. Weintraub and Bell yung, 219–40. Urbana: University of Illinois.

Richman, Karen 2005 Migration and Vodou. Tallahassee: University Press of Florida.Sainvill, Ed Rainer 2001 Tambours frappés, Haitiens campés: la fabuleuse histoire de la musique

haitienne. Rev. and enlarged ed. Port-au-Prince: Heritage.


Smith, Jennie M. 2001 When the Hands are Many: Community Organization and social Change in

rural Haiti. New york: Cornell University Press.SWANA Haiti Response Team 2010 “Municipal Solid Waste Collection Needs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.” Silver

Spring, MD: Solid Waste Association of North America.UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) 2012 World statistics Pocketbook 2011. Series 5, no. 36. New york: UN Department of

Economic and Social Affairs. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/pocketbook/ (accessed 6 December 2012).

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) 2011 “Explanatory Note on 2011 HDR Composite Indices.” sustainability and

Equity: a better future for all. Human Development Report 2011. New york: UN Human Development Report Office. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/HTI.html (accessed 6 December 2012).

valcourt, Jean Hubert (Dug G) 2012 “10 GD Papye (Streetmix) feat. DRZ, Abojah, K-libr.” Duggonline. http://

duggonline.com/albums/10-gd-papye-streetmix-feat-drzabojahk-libr/ (accessed 6 December 2012).

victor, René 2007 Chansons de la montagne, de la plaine et de la mer. Montréal: Mémoire

d’encrier.Wilcken, Lois 1992 The Drums of Vodou. Phoenix: White Cliffs Media.Wucamp 2009 Pwoje anviwonman [Project environment]. Self-published. Compact disc. Single

track.yúdice, George 2003 The Expediency of Culture: uses of Culture in the Global Era. Durham, NC:

Duke University Press.

Abstract in Kreyòl

Atik sa a demontre kontradiksyon ki egziste nan fason langaj medyatize ki mete etikèt peyi pi pòv pou kategorize Ayiti kontrèman a richès kilitrèl peyi a ki byen selebre; alò, sa mande yon egzaminasyon nan kòman mizikalite kapab chanje reyalite materyèl popilasyon an. Ann Ayiti, gen yon “konsyans sou malsite” e konsyans sa a reflekte nan tèks mizikal ki sòti pandan dènye senkantan yo. Anplis, chante monte-konsyans sa yo sòti nan lòt sektè ki pa vrèman konekte avèk travay mizikal. Pa egzanp, yon gwoup hip-hop ki sòti nan yon zòn defavorize nan Pòtoprens t’ap jere yon pwojè pandan lontan pou retire fatra nan lari; mizisyen yo te ankouraje patisipasyon kominote a atravè pawòl angaje nan mizik yo. Nou kapab gade angajman sosyal-mizikal konsa kòm yon aksyon kiltirèl, epi angajman sa a demontre kòman moun itilize mizik pou reponn a kondisyon pòvrete yo, donk sa rantre nan domèn kote jwenn solisyon pi souvan al tonbe nan kadraj solisyon ekonomik.

(translated by Patrick sylvain)

Date post:	09-Jan-2023
Category:	Documents
Upload:	indiana
View:	0 times
Download:	0 times

2013. “Surviving Material Poverty by Employing Cultural Wealth: Putting Music in the Service of...

Documents