Words by Ned Sublette, as told to Erin MacLeod
After Michael Martelly’s victory as Haitian president was announced on Monday, news media struggled to understand the konpa-king-turned-head-of-state otherwise known as “Sweet Micky.” Who better to turn to for comment than Ned Sublette. Author of Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, Sublette has argued in lectures and in the New Yorker that the Haitian revolution was not only one of the most significant historical events in the shaping of the Western hemisphere (and the world), but in the creation and development of popular music across the Caribbean and over to North America. Understanding Martelly and his popularity as a musician is the key to grasping the significance of his electoral win. Pop music, and popular Caribbean music in particular, is a force to be reckoned with—word, sound and power, indeed. In a vast sea of stories about Martelly as pop star, LargeUp can thank Ned for providing the essential context.
I don’t know of a parallel in recent history, where a major popular music figure becomes a president. All the talk in those foreign-correspondent reports about Martelly having appeared in diapers or dresses misses the point. These reporters seem to mostly copy each other, so they’ve settled on describing him as a “carnival singer,” which doesn’t begin to capture it, and for that matter ignores the power of the carnivalesque.
Mirlande Manigat stayed in her bulletproof limo, but Martelly went out among the people. What his supporters saw was someone who spoke their language, literally. The guy with an attitude. The guy who’s on top of what the street is saying. The guy who can sense the feeling of the crowd. The guy who knows how Haitian society really works and goes back a long way with people on the ground. The guy who understands radio, which is central to Haitian communications. Plus all the populist-outsider advantages of not having been a professional politician, and seemingly having a different motivation than politicians do.
Konpa is something Haitians can call theirs. It’s open to everyone. Remember that “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon after the earthquake–which didn’t have even two bars of konpa in it? Only two Haitian artists, both singing in English? Well, konpa just asserted itself, which is to say, national sovereignty just asserted itself. Remember how the international press made all that fuss about whether Wyclef Jean would run for president and ignored Martelly’s announcement? Wyclef wound up campaigning for Martelly.
None of this is to say he’ll be a good president. Being a groove scientist doesn’t mean you can bring clean drinking water and open schools. He could be a disaster. I hope not. Many on the left insist he’s a right-wing candidate, though he doesn’t describe himself that way. He campaigned on free public education, and that’s a widely popular concept. There was a landslide for him among those who voted, but turnout was low. Can he build a consensus and make Haiti functional? Can anyone? What posture will he take in international relations, starting with the thorny issue of Haiti’s relations with the Dominican Republic, to say nothing of the US State Department and the International Republican Institute?
One thing’s for sure: he’s not predictable. -Ned Sublette
Read more from Ned Sublette here—especially his theory of postmamboism (“a portable theory that places music at the center of understanding and uses music to interrogate other fields of study”)—and don’t ever miss an opportunity to see him speak.