Dominicans, do they enjoy our (Haitian) Palito de Coco at the expense of the author?

By Herve Gilbert herve.gilbert@gmail.com 
Available in : French Version  and Spanish Version

Roman Dorléan aka Rumai

One of my Haitian friends living in Miami shared with me during a telephone conversation  her great concern about another violation of rights of one of our compatriots living in the Dominican Republic. This fellow is apparently facing what would qualify as an usurpation of his copyright about a song he composed and entitled Palito de Coco . Straight to the point , the friend told me the story of  Palito de coco (Coconut sticks), this song in the Dominican Republic who made ​​headlines and turned "contagious" in the Latin world, was a song composed by a young Haitian with a social status of living under poor conditions in Santo Domingo not long ago , and has been deprived of his musical work.
Without much time, we set out to find this information by analyzing some Spanish and Dominican media sources. So we actually spotted this young Haitian in Dominican Republic where he composed a song like mambo to attract people to his coconut sticks ( Palitos de coco) he sold on the streets. This song with its rhythm - the komba ( a Haitian mambo ) quickly achieved great success in the Dominican Republic, becoming a "hit" in a country where the Dominican media stations broadcasted the song, invented choreography , without the lead author 's acknowledgement , nor drew a dime of profit .
This peddler named Roman Dorléan, aged 32 with a nickname Rumai, was able to capture the attention of the Dominican public with this musical tune that runs through the country on the lips and thus became very popular. This young man of a modest social status, after paying about 70 euros to cross the border , became as Puss in Boots in Dominican Republic or the goose that lays golden eggs , his work undergoing tremendous spread to the point that it inspired other musical groups to interpret the tune.Meanwhile other individuals have reproduced his song's video distributed and posted on Youtube's social network without the acknowledgement of Dorléan that takes either no benefit from all the ads from Youtube.
The video of the song is already seen by over 750,000 viewers worldwide! These famous sticks or lollipops made from grated coconut also experienced a huge advertising and are widespread throughout the country.The mambo, thereafter, was plagiarized by a Dominican, Wilmer Manuel's musical group  who immediately featured it with a beautiful choreography derived from the composition of the newly born Haitian artist and new choreographic version which is played everywhere and has become a hit on TV . Other musical groups have stolen it by posting it on Youtube with other musical arrangements regardless of this small street seller's copyright.
The Palito coconut's song  has begun to spread beyond the Dominican border and has transformed into a dance while hundreds of people around the world beginning to take over .

Official version of Palito de coco

 

As a time when the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic has made all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic since 1929 as stateless , using a discriminatory law against them, which law also denies Dominican nationality to thousands of Haitians born in the Dominican land since 1929, now the Dominican citizens seeking to capture the musical work of an itinerant merchant Haitian to benefit it without even thinking about recognizing any copyrights and thus giving him the credit that he deserves. While Roman Dorléan became for hundreds of others a popular star.

Plagiarized  song played  by Wilmer Manuel’s Dominican musical band

 We take here the whistle to attract the attention of our President Michel Martelly to intervene in favor of this fellow, even if only to make available to the fellow citizen a Lawyer to stop this theft of musical and artistic production of which he is a victim . Haiti has the first time a musician president who earned money with music and also knows the importance of musical work . Music as well as sport and art are very profitable wherever you go, but it is also protected by international laws. Nowadays, we can not afford to steal or plagiarize the work and the belongings of someone without paying the consequences.We also invite the Ministry of Culture of our country to address this issue in order to help this fellow to come into full possession of his copyright.

By Herve Gilbert herve.gilbert@gmail.com

Palito de coco mega hit of the moment in the Dominican Republic.