Erick Charles, a great loss to the Haitian music!

Original text in french ...

By Herve Gilbert for HCN

Erick Charles

It is with great sadness that we learned  the news of the death of Erick Charles last Thursday,  following a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), according to what was reported. The news quickly went viral on Facebook and has thus spread like wildfire early in the morning. We did not want to believe from the first moments since the rumors  about the death of X or Y lately are frequent on the web, which often to be proven false later.

Finally, after confirmation we had to go to the evidence of this unexpected death that somehow had the effect of a bomb. Frankly, we did not expect a sudden death of this young artist so talented and promising. Someone we saw performing on stage not too long ago.

It was a drop of bitterness over the chalice, I would say ...

Unfortunately! Life is full of surprises, the years go by and then suddenly it is the death of someone we love...

The health status of Erick became from serious to critical condition after he experienced severe discomfort the day before his death, according to his brother Jean-Robert, which was a little devastated as  he reported it to the microphone of a reporter from the RC. He passed away last Thursday at the Bernard Mevs Hospital  on the airport road, following a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), confirmed the brother in a sobbing voice ...

Erick Charles, father of four daughters, composer, guitarist, singer of the Group Compas Mizik Mizik for more than 20 years, died at the age of 51.

Let's talk a little bit  about Erik Charles

Erick Charles Year (2000)

I remember having discovered this young  clear voice  in the DP Express album (DP Tounen) in 1991, a record in which he had shown a great vocal potential as lead singer of the musical group. Unfortunately this disc would also be the last of this group disintegrated thereafter.

It is, in fact, that through the group Mizik Mizik he would act out as a singer with a great talent, both vocally and artistically. Indeed, through the song "Blakawout" hit of 2000  which everyone was humming on the lips and loved, a song that he described a little bit the socio-political situation of the time. Banm Fè nwa mwen, Banm Blakawout mwen, Se la poum jete  Bilten mwen ... musical theme that also conveyed a leitmotif.

Let’s listen to this music "Blakawout" with Erick and Mizik Mizik

Since then, within this group and for over twenty years, this exceptional voice of Erick Charles that reminds us a little bit of  "Ti Manno",  has continued to excel throughout other musical hits such as "Ayizan", "Webert", "Plante", "Je vais " etc. Then,  he represented an expression of the voice of the forefront that touches and amuses and had became also one of the superstars of the new generation through his diverse compositions that appealed, charmed, finally he also marked  the great days of Mizik Mizik.

Haiti Twoubadou (Click to enlarge)

However, it should be noted also that this musical  band composed by Fabrice Rouzier, Keke Bélizaire and the late Charles Érick revitalized the "Twoubadou"  style, one of our folk styles ... Through their disk "Haiti Twoubadou" they were therefore somehow  the innovators of this musical style reserved only to the outskirts festival or party. They made everyone better appreciated this style, which has been imitated for some times by other musical groups.

Certainly, the rumor of his death had  previously rocked the Haitian community following his hospitalization in 2013 after he suffered from low blood sugars and heart complications including viral cardiomyopathy. Recently, his younger brother was murdered near his home in the neighborhood of Nazon in Port-au-Prince, which could have  a negative impact on his health status, according to some people. 

Erick Charles was also considered as a true humanist in the social environment; he created his own foundation to help the poor.

It is a great loss for the Mizik Mizik group and  the Haitian music industry. The team of Haiti Connexion Network send out his words of sympathy to relatives and friends of this great Haitian artists.

May his soul rest in peace !


Hervé Gilbert for HCN

Some pictures of Erick Charles Funeral at St. Peter's Church of Petionville (Haiti)

Click here to view these pictures larger

Click here to view these pictures larger

Being Haitian in New York (part 1)

English Translation :Herve Gilbert
Original text in french is available

 Statue of liberty is an iconic 
symbol of the American Dream  

As we know, most Haitians living in the country are fascinated to emigrate elsewhere. In general, the reasons are economic; objectively, Haiti is an extremely poor country and no one among those who belong to this category, would not like to spend their lives in absolute poverty.  In the list of countries in which Haitians dream to emigrate to, the United States always occupies the prominent place. New York is a city in the United States that captures the highest point in which Haitians dream to live in. At the time I was still living in Haiti, there was an area on the outskirts of Port -au- Prince which was given the name of Brooklyn in memory of the famous " borough " of New York. And those residents of this suburb of Port -au- Prince had not yet been to Brooklyn! The Haitian imagination is not comparable !

Régine O. Jackson 

There was a time people considered New York, by the size of its population, as the second city after Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Lately, most has been changed. According to Régine O. Jackson (Geographies of the Haitian Diaspora, Routledge 2011), who teaches American Studies at Emory University, the Haitian population of New York is estimated at 182,000 people compared to Florida which is around 360,000 immigrants. If true, this is a false comparison because it puts a city of (New York) against a state of (Florida), the fact remains that New York City has lost much of its 1970-1980 population, many of whom are either returned to Haiti, or moved to Florida ... just in search of a more hospitable climate

 Brooklyn neighborhoods

However, Haitian neighborhoods in New York continue to reflect the image of the typical Haitian cities such as (Port -au- Prince , Cap-Haitien ... ) ,especially with  variety of activities, where there is almost anything you find in Haiti. Streets such as Church Avenue in the heart of Anglophone Caribbean Brooklyn neighborhoods are full of Haitian commercial outdoor setting all kinds of food consumed in the country: fries , fried bananas , " Griyo " ( fried pork ), " taso " ( fried goat meat ), " diri dyondyon "(rice with mushrooms ), " mayi Moulen " Corn meal " Zaboka " ( Avocado) .

Haitian immigrants have settled in all five "borough" (districts) of the city of New York, but with a preference for the Brooklyn district that has long been the favorite of the large Haitian community area of ​​residence, followed in order by the Manhattan district, then through Queens, the Bronx and finally,Staten Island .

The view looking south from Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan includes the art deco-styled Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. (Click on the picture to enlarge it)

In the beginning of Haitian immigration to New York, it was a pretty clear difference between Haitians living in Brooklyn and those living in Queens. Those living in Queens were seen as part of the "lelit" (elite) with the sense that Haitian Kreyol enunciators identify with this word (connotation colorist, belonging to the upper middle classes, perhaps high level of education ...) while those living in Brooklyn were considered as "common people", with all that this word conveyed in the Haitian mentality.

Brooklyn Museum 

In fact, this configuration corresponds to a typical American sociological reality that buying a home was a sign of social status and security. The Haitian anthropologist Michel S. Laguerre (. American Odyssey Haitians in New York City, Cornell University Press, 1984) reports what he was  told by one of his indicators: "Se vagabon ki lwe kay " (Honest people are not tenants) . In fact, owning a home is one of the marks of the realization of the so-called "American Dream".

Church Avenue ( Brooklyn) 

The Francophone Caribbean sociologist Stéphanie Melyon-Reynette of (Haitians in New York City, L'Harmattan, 2009) reports that "Jamaicans and Guyanese are more often owners than Haitians with the percentage respectively of 36.9% and 46.7%," but "best percentages in terms of habitat are reached by the Italians (64%) and Greece (50%). The emergence of a socio-professional category of younger generations of Haitian immigrants (university professors, doctors, lawyers, engineers ...) has changed the map resulting in a shift of the places of residence of much Haitian immigrants who are now living in areas formerly reserved for the upper class.

Haitian Music is relatively fairly well known in New York and Haitians never miss an opportunity to go and dance. Musical groups such as Tabou Combo or Boukman Experience always move Haitian and non-Haitian crowds when they play, no matter where they play. It was during the years 1970-1980 the Haitian music has built its capital celebrity thanks to the phenomenon of "mini-jazz " of Haiti that have transformed musically and the generation of the popular music of Haiti.

Haitian Konpa is so pleased, it has been emulated. Our cousins ​​Franco-Caribbean Creole created the "zouk" style that exploded in the 1990s, first in the West Indies, then in France and Haiti itself. Without rancor, most Haitians were quick to adopt it since the rhythm and melodies of "zouk" remain very close  to Konpa.

End of Part One - New York, December 2013

Translated  by Herve Gilbert from the Original text in french written by Hugues Saint Fort

Some awesome photos of the city of New York and its suburbs
A picture can be enlarged by clicking on it

This bridge establishes a critical link in the local and regional highway system. Since 1976. The bridge marks the gateway to New York Harbor; all cruise ships and most container ships arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey must pass underneath the bridge and therefore must be built to accommodate the clearance under the bridge

               

Staten Island terminal 

The Verrazano–Narrows Bridge, in the U.S. state of New York, is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows. It has a central span of 4,260 feet (1,298 m) and was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964.

A view of New York and its surroundings in the gloom of Winter

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with Bronx County, it was the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated. Located north of Manhattan and Queens, and south of Westchester County, the Bronx is the only borough that is located primarily on the mainland

The Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River.

Ride the Staten Island Ferry to see the famous skyline and Statue of Liberty from Upper New York Bay. It’s free and runs about every 30 minutes. Ride on the front or back of the ship for the best views.

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with Bronx County, it was the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated. Located north of Manhattan and Queens, and south of WestchesterCounty, the Bronx is the only borough that is located primarily on the mainland

Staten Island terminal