Cubanocast

One of the difficulties about posting music also happens to be one of its more satisfying aspects: As soon as I intend to enrich the internet culture one song at a time, I start finding connections to historical events; ideas; and other songs, stylistically or thematically.

So it was with "Choucone" by Celia Cruz. With its excellent singing and gentle, rangy melody, I've always loved this song ("always" meaning "Choucoune" was on one of the first Cuban cds I bought). I knew the language was French and thought that it was probably a collaboration with a French singer when Cuban music was popular in Europe, during the fifties and before. I never investigated.

By and by, it pops up on random play a couple of days ago before I go to sleep and decide to post it in the morning.

"It'd take a few minutes," I thought.

I wake up and sit down in front of my laptop.

"Ahh, what the heck, let me look it up."

Wikipedia powers activate.

It turns out that "Choucone" is a composition by Michel Mauleart Monton based on a Haitian poem by Oswald Durand's (below).

Celia Cruz' is the only version I have with the original lyrics, in French, based on the poem. It's the podcast.

Azucar!

"Choucoune" is the first Haitian-flavored song with which I've been acquainted. Of the Caribbean countries, Haiti seems to have had the least musical impact: Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and even some of the tiny islands all have internationally recognizable music. Haiti doesn't. I tend to think that this is due to Haiti's isolation from European influence which has added melody and modern instrumentation to African rhythms.

Other versions include the Hawaiian-flavored "Yellow Bird" by Arthur Lyman, The Mills Brothers, and Chris Isaak, most recently; and Harry Belafonte's "Don't Ever Love Me."

The Very Best of Arthur Lyman

"Harry Belafonte - All Time Greatest Hits, Vol. 1"

Baja Sessions

The Mills Brothers: The Anthology (1931-1968)

"Choucone's" theme is a common one in Caribbean music: an undistinguished yet dignified woman and her everyday sorrows and triumphs, the significance of which rarely reach beyond a mile radius of her home, but repeated thousands or millions of times by thousands and millions of women has significant anthropological value: the mundane as social commentary.

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A Colombian example is "La Zenaida" by Armando Hernandez. It's an odd video in that it celebrates the black Colombian yet features obviously non-black dancers, saying, in essence, that black women make a more poignant subject, but white women are the ones we want to see dance.

La Zenaida

Follow up:

1. De`ye` yon gwo touf pengwen [pinguin bush]
Lo`t jou mwen kontre Choukoun
Li souri le` li we` mwen
Mwen di: "Sye`l, ala be`l moun!" (x2)
Li di: "Ou trouve sa che`?"
Chorus: Ti zwezo nan bwa ki t' ape koute (x2)
Kon mwen sonje sa
Mwen genyen lapenn
Ka depi jou-sa
De pye mwen nan chenn

2. Choukoun se yon marabou
Je` li klere kou chande`l
Li genyen tete debou
A si Choukoun te fide`l (x2)
Nou rete koze lontan
Jis zwezo nan bwa te pare`t kontan (x2)
Pito bliye sa
Se two` gran lapenn
Ka depi jou-sa
De pye mwen nan chenn

3. Ti-dan Choukoun blan kou le`t
Bouch-li koule` kayamit
Li pa gwo fanm, li gwose`t
Fanm konsa ple` mwen touswit (x2)
Tan pase pa tan jodi!
Zwezo te tande tout sa li te di (x2)
Si ou sonje sa
Yo dwe nan lapenn
Ka depi jou-sa
De pye mwen na chenn

4. N' ale lakay manman-li
Yon granmoun ki byen one`t
Sito li we` mwen li di:
"A mwen kontan sila-a ne`t" (x2)
Nou bwe` chokola nwa
Eske tout sa fini, ti-zwezo nan bwa (x2)
Pito bliye sa
Se two gran lapenn
Ka depi jou-sa
De pye-mwen nan chenn

5. Yon ti blan vini rive
Ti bab wouj, be`l figi wo`z
Mont sou kote, be`l chive
Male`-mwen, li ki lakÚz (x2)
Li trouve Choukoun joli
Li pale Fwanse, Choukoun renmen li (x2)
Pito bliye sa
Se two gran lapenn
Choukoun kite mwen
De pye-mwen nan chen