Arcade Fire - Haiti
Aside from their more recent album, Neon Bible, Arcade Fire albums are at the top of my favorites list. The reason I love them (which is exactly the recent Neon Bible falls short) is the spontaneous, unpolished quality. Its charm is in the deceivingly naive and unsophisticated, pure, raw sound— as if some completely spontaneous hits were created by a gang of anarchist children in some far off place a la Lord of the Flies. I love how they’ve created this ragtag sound, merging orchestral instruments (cello, flute, etc) crudely played with marching band-esque drums and with a choir of raucuous yelling, as if they just took what ever they had and who ever was around, and just made music.
I live on a French speaking island right now, so I really appreciate how they’ve merged French and English— though its really hard for me to make out the French parts in their singing, as it is the English sometimes. The song “Haiti” is their most powerful song for me—especially after learning the backstory. Arcade Fire is rooted in a husband-wife duo (the lead male and female singers), Win Butler and Regine Chassagne who met in Quebec. Régine is originally from Haiti but fled to Quebec during the rule of the oppressive dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier dictatorship (1971-86), known as Baby Doc, in which tens of thousands were murdered and tortured. After reading Tracy Kidders, Mountains beyond Mountains, they became involved with the now famous humanitarian Dr. Paul Farmer and the Partners in Health Organization to bring health care to Haitian people. The PIH cause is a big part of the band’s message during tours and on their website.
(In parathesis I translated the French lyrics)
Haïti, mon pays, (my country)
wounded mother I’ll never see.
Ma famille (my family) set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.
Mes cousins jamais nés (my cousins never born)
hantent les nuits de Duvalier. (they haunt the nights of Duvalier)
Rien n’arrete nos esprits. (nothing stops our spirits)
Guns can’t kill what soldiers can’t see.
In the forest we lie hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldiers angry yelling,
in the river we will go.
Tous les morts-nés forment une armée, (all the still-born form an army)
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.
Haïti, never free,
n’aie pas peur de sonner l’alarme. (I’m not scared? to sound the alarm)
Tes enfants sont partis, (your children left)
In those days their blood was still warm
- ex libris
