Lakou Mizik
Haiti (2016)

There are days when we all feel like the sky is falling on us. Or that the earth is shifting around under our feet. And if you’re Haitian, that has been literally happening far too often. Lakou Mizik was formed after the 2010 earthquake. That’s right, where you or I might have just gotten bitter and scribbled manic poetry (or gotten more bitter and scribbled more manic poetry), these guys banded together to throw a bunch of genres in a blender to make a fun music smoothie. And unlike a good portion of the manic poetry out there, their stuff is good.

This is from their album Wa Di Yo. Google Translate initially interpreted that title as Japanese, to which in English it would mean “Wow!” But if I specify Haitian Creole (which I’m only assuming is correct), it translates to “King Tell Them.” I mean…either translation seems to fit with the album, honestly. Don’t let the happy sound of the song fool you…this is from the Bandcamp page with the English lyrics on it so you can get the full effect of what the song is on about:

This song speaks to the frustrations of the Haitian people who often feel that their lives rise and fall at the whims of foreign governments and NGOs who seem to profit during Haiti’s hardest moments. The chorus claims that during hurricanes and instability numbers are always shifting – a 7 turns to a 9, a 4 turns to an 8 – a reference to the perceived financial fraud that happens during these times of crisis. The people most deserving receive the least.

So it’s still poetry but without the bitterness. Got it. Good stuff.