In Haiti, a hit song becomes social commentary
Dénoncer un phénomène social en musique.
Lancée fin 2016 par Marinad 007, un jeune artiste de Cité Soleil dans les bidonvilles de Port-au-Prince, la chanson « Madan Papa » fait un carton dans les clubs les plus huppés comme dans les discothèques des quartiers populaires. A bien écouter les paroles, il fait état d’un phénomène social sordide de plus en plus important en Haïti…
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The catchy song with the frenetic beat airs the dirty secret that everyone knows but no one talks about: “The brother is shacking up with mademoiselle but mademoiselle leaves him and takes an old man.”
2.Born in Haiti’s most notorious slum, the wildly popular hit song “Madan Papa” — loose translation from Creole, sugar baby or daddy’s girl — has set off an uncomfortable debate about a sad reality. This nation’s brutal economic environment is leading young women to enter into sexual relationships with older men in exchange for financial favors as a means of survival.
3.“The only desire of these young women is to find a man to rescue them out of the situation they are living,” said Jean-Philippe Macon, 23,
singer and composer of the song “Madan Papa,” who goes by the stage name Marinad 007. “It’s a case of need. Love doesn’t really exist between the two.”
DESPERATION
4. It’s not a new story, but in Haiti, where strict cultural norms kept such situations hush-hush in the past, the open declaration in a song played by DJs and climbing the charts on radio marks a new level of desperation, said Michel Joseph, a journalist with Radio Television Caraibes, who has been tracking the phenomenon.
5.In a country marked by extreme poverty and inequality, “Madan Papa,” with its driving electronic dance beat, has become a social commentary, a musical reflection on the misery, sexual exploitation and erosion of values caused by years of economic and political instability. “The economic crisis has eroded the dignity of people, put them in a bad position,” said Herold Toussaint, a sociologist and a vice rector at the State University of Haiti.
MEET NEESHA
6.The sugar babies phenomenon, he added, is more urban than rural, and “is an expression, a consequence of the brutal situation of the country’s economy that has hit everyone and every social class,” but affected the poor and women the most. “There are no jobs, no work in the country,” said Toussaint. “So it has become a defense against poverty for the women. … What’s worse is that the women believe they won’t be anything if they don’t subscribe to this logic; they cannot get out of their economic situation if they don’t take this exit door.”
7. Neesha, who didn’t want her last name used, was 19 when she met her “Papa,” a 55-year-old widower who holds a position of privilege as a government official. Three years later, she says proudly, the two are still going strong. “I don’t like to suffer. He doesn’t allow me to ask for anything; he gives me everything,” said the second-year accounting major, who doesn’t know how much her college tuition costs, because “Papa pays for it.”
8.“He’s already assured me that when I finish school, he will give me a job because he’s in power,” she said. “Unlike a brother who won’t give you anything, a Papa never lets you ask twice.” Neesha said she was criticized by her friends for dating a man older than her 40-year-old mother. Her mother also disapproved — at first. “Eventually, she had no choice but to accept him because she couldn’t meet my needs,” Neesha said.
A CRISIS
9. Macon, who takes credit for coining the phrase Madan Papa during an exchange last year with a young woman who had entered into a sexual-financial relationship with an old man, said his neighborhood is the epicenter of Haiti’s misery. In densely populated Cite Soleil, the country’s largest slum, the trash-heaped canals and shacks with corroding tin roofs offer little hope of future prospects.
10.But it was there, in a makeshift studio with little more than a mic and an outdated laptop, that he and his crew of other aspiring musicians mixed the beats that have made “Madan Papa” so popular thanks to its dance-friendly, defiant raboday beats. Raboday is a popular dance music emerging out of Haiti’s slums. “While people are finding pleasure in the music, we also want them to hear the message,” said Macon.