Born in 1948, Charlemagne grew up in the sprawling new suburb of Carrefour, to the south of the capital, where he was influenced as much by the songs of the peasants who moved into the area in search of a livelihood, as by his Catholic school choir. Raised by his aunt, he did not know who is father was until he turned 37.
The Jean-Claude Duvalier regime renewed the repression of political and cultural dissent in 1980, and Charlemagne was forced into exile. With the fall of the Duvaliers in 1986, he returned home, and was active in both political organising and the burgeoning roots or racines music scene. He formed a live group, Koral Konbit Kafou, which included drummers from a Voudou temple, and played concerts that provided a soundtrack for the popular mobilisation for political change in the late 1980s. Some of these songs can be heard on "Nou Nan Male ak Oganizasyon Mondyal", Kako Productions, 1988.
His support for the grassroots, popular movement frequently landed him in trouble with the Haitian military, and, after receiving death threats, he spent several years in semi-clandestinity. Charlemagne was a supporter of the Lavalas political movement of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide against whom the military launched a brutal coup d'état in September 1991. Charlemagne took refuge in the Argentine embassy and went into exile once again. During 1991-94, he played concerts in Miami, New York, and Montreal, where he rallied the expatriate Haitian communities in support of Haitian democracy. He released a recording, "La Fimen", Kako Productions, in 1994.
Following the United Nations intervention to restore the constitutional government in September 1994, Charlemagne returned to Haiti. In June 1995 he was elected mayor of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, defeating the incumbent, Evans Paul, but his term of office, which expired in early 1999, was beset with difficulties and controversy, and is not regarded as a success. His administrative responsibilities overshadowed his musical career, and one of his few public performances during that time was with the Haitian-American rap group, The Fugees, in Port-au-Prince in April 1997.
Charlemagne took up guitar and singing at the age of 16 and by 1968 formed a band named Les Remarquables. He later started a twoubadou band named Les Trouvères with Marco Jeanty. In the 1970s, he was part of the kilti libete or freedom culture movement that promoted popular culture, including acoustic, folk music.
As a singer, songwriter and political activist, Manno Charlemagne has been the vocal conscience of Haiti for over 30 years. A soulful yet brazen balladeer, he constantly challenged the status quo and used his acoustic guitar and tender baritone voice as weapons against brutal political regimes and the civilized indifference of the insulated upper-class. Charlemagne's writing drew on the twoubadou tradition, a guitar-based music that can trace its roots back both to the rural songs of the Haitian peasantry and to the Cuban influences brought back to Haiti by returning migrant sugar cane cutters in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The CD Les Inedits de Manno Charlemagne in Creole language is some of his most profound and provocative work. They are songs that for years were only performed in intimate settings, among close friends, and in front of those who were unafraid of how incendiary they could be. For to have performed them in public during the 1970s or 80s would have risked a great deal—arrest, harassment, and beyond.
With their cunning lyrics, they are the songs that the powers that be in Haiti did not want the Haitian people to hear. Intended to stir up resistance and bring about much-needed change in the country, they spoke the truth about corrupt governments and ruthless politicians, gave voice to the peasant class in Haiti, and captured the rawness and injustice of life in this country.
Although they sound like love songs to the non-Creole speaker, they are songs of protest aimed at the tools of oppression. And it is their unique juxtaposition of thorny words poured over gentle melodies that makes them so hauntingly beautiful.
Manno Charlemagne also appears in The Truth About Charlie, a movie by Jonathan Demme, one of his friends.
Le Mal Du Pays
Manno Charlemagne Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
de milliers d'exiles malgre le mal du pays
quand tu reves de la nuit exile de ton iles
entends -tu tous ces cris, les rumeurs de ta ville?
les musiques dans les cours, les jazzeries des commeres les enfants de carrefour et les vagues de la mer.
Toi, tu traines de ta vie et ton mal du pays ami...
le longs de ces hivers tellement loin de la mer
reviendras-tu la bas chanter la liberte?
pour que meurent les rois qui l'avait traffique
pour que chante a nouveau les histoires de ton iles.
In Manno Charlemagne's song, Le Mal Du Pays, he describes the struggle of being an exile and being disconnected from your homeland. The opening line, "quand les princes du port gardent en main le sort de milliers d'exiles", translates to "when the princes of the port hold the fate of thousands of exiles in their hands". This line speaks to the power that those in charge have over those who have been exiled, with the exiles being at the mercy of those who have the ability to assist them or turn them away.
The second line, "malgre le mal du pays", which translates to "despite the homesickness", speaks to the emotional struggle that comes with exile. Even though the exiles are feeling disconnected from their homeland, they still try to find a way to move forward and survive in their new surroundings.
The following lines, "quand tu reves de la nuit exile de ton iles, entends-tu tous ces cris, les rumeurs de ta ville? les musiques dans les cours, les jazzeries des commeres les enfants de carrefour et les vagues de la mer", speak to the longing for home and the things that are missed. He mentions the music, the people, and the sea, all of which evoke strong emotions and memories from his homeland.
The last stanza, "le longs de ces hivers tellement loin de la mer, reviendras-tu la bas chanter la liberte? pour que meurent les rois qui l'avait traffique, pour que chante a nouveau les histoires de ton iles", translates to "along these winters so far from the sea, will you come back there to sing freedom? so that the kings who had trafficked it may die, so that the stories of your island may sing again". This is a powerful cry for justice and freedom, and a desire to see his homeland restored to its former glory.
Overall, Le Mal Du Pays is a powerful song that speaks to the struggles of losing one's homeland and trying to survive in a new place. It is a poignant reflection on exile and the emotional turmoil that comes with it.
Line by Line Meaning
quand les princes du port gardent en main le sort
When the rulers of the port hold the fate of thousands of exiles in their hands
de milliers d'exiles malgre le mal du pays
Of thousands of exiles who still suffer from homesickness
quand tu reves de la nuit exile de ton iles
When you dream of your island from which you were exiled in the darkness of night
entends -tu tous ces cris, les rumeurs de ta ville?
Do you hear all these cries, the rumors of your city?
les musiques dans les cours, les jazzeries des commeres les enfants de carrefour et les vagues de la mer.
The music in the courtyards, the gossip of the women, the children at the crossroads, and the sound of the waves of the sea.
Toi, tu traines de ta vie et ton mal du pays ami...
You, who are carrying on with your life but still have an unshakeable homesickness...
le longs de ces hivers tellement loin de la mer
Through these long winters, so far away from the sea
reviendras-tu la bas chanter la liberte?
Will you go back there to sing of freedom?
pour que meurent les rois qui l'avait traffique
So that the kings who had trafficked it may die
pour que chante a nouveau les histoires de ton iles.
So that the stories of your island can be sung again.
Contributed by Zoe N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.