ZENGLEN

It was the 80’s, a quiet suburb of Port-au-Prince, where thr… Read Full Bio ↴ZENGLEN

It was the 80’s, a quiet suburb of Port-au-Prince, where three friends who were destined to make history in Haitian music met. Every afternoon, a young Brutus would sit on his front porch and play the guitar. Garry Didier Perez, and his friend Patrick Martineau, often noticed him and one day invited him to come over Patrick’s house. They would meet every afternoon to listen to all genres of music and interpret their favorites. During one of their rehearsals, some beer bottles fell off an amplifier that was vibrating and shattered into a million pieces. The guys laughed at the fact that Patrick would have a hard time cleaning up the many tiny pieces off the granulated floor. They all exclaimed ZENGLEN (which means tiny pieces of broken glass) and from that day on this was their band's name.

In 1989, the trio recorded "Koule Tan" (the color of time). Once completed, they took some tapes to several radio stations where hosts and listeners would become fans and fall in love.

Zenglen became one of the wonders of the early 1990’s as they released the hit song "Fidel" off of the album "An Nou Alèz." In the song the band said that “change” is never easy and always faces obstacles, and resistance, but that they pledge to remain faithful (Fidel) to their mission which is to improve and modernize the Konpa rhythm.

The Konpa world was introduced to their new found stars like the guitarist and singer Brutus Derissaint and the lead singer Gary Didier Perez among others. In the song "Fidel" the band said: "Sé konsa se konsa se konsa la vi ya ye lè ou vle met chanjman reziztans tèt chaje." Unfortunately after a U.S tour most of the band’s members abandoned ship and the band broke up into pieces like a real Zenglen.

In Miami Brutus never stop caressing the dream of keeping some of the pieces alive and had moved on with some attempts like the Zenglen Plus and a few solo albums in the 1990’s. Many musicians tried to help him to collect the pieces, but they often moved with their own projects like the creation of the band D-Zine. Nevertheless Brutus never lost faith and still remained fidèl (Faithful) to his mission by hiring more talented musicians each and every time. At the end of the century the acquisition of the drummer Richard Herard (Richie) and then singer Gracia Delva took Zenglen to the level of a very competitive Konpa band in the demanding market as they released the album "Easy Konpa" with nothing but major hits song that were going to move the band to the front burner of the industry. Ever since that time Zenglen hasn’t looked back despite the so many changes of personnel that occurred.

The album "Easy Konpa" was introduced to the public with the release of the video of the hit song "5 Dwèt" which boosted Zenglen to the top of the konpa scene. The song "B.S Productions" got the attention of the public as the song talk about unqualified show producers damaging the reputation of the bands. On that same album the band touched some subjects until then taboo as they talked about lesbians in the society in the song "Flannè Femèl" and drug used in the song "Ti Poud."

In the following years Zenglen continued to amaze the Konpa fans all over the world with the releases of the albums "Let It Groove," "Do It Right," "5 Etwal." The latest album, "5eme Vites," sung by current lead vocalist Kenny Desmangles, touches subjects on society, relationships with top notch konpa, and proved again why critics have praised them as the Konpa University.

Over the years the Konpa observers have seen broken pieces that continued to break in even more pieces, but the band remains solid and true to their mission: Zenglen doesn’t change…Zenglen improve. Like they often say in their songs “Sé pa changé nou changé, se pi bon’n vin’n pi bon.”

5Dwet
Zenglen Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

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Wouch 5 dwèt la

Les Antilles nou rive nou lage 5 dwèt la moun yo rele
Whoa nou lage 5 dwèt la moun yo rele
Haiti nou rive nou lage 5 dwet la moun yo balanse
Whoa nou lage 5 dwet la moun yo rele

Tout sa pat konnen bagay sa se on gro nouvel
Les doigts de la main se on kabinet ministerièl
Sak interese proche pi prè pou n tande
Nou pral expliquer

Whoa a Paris nou rive nou lage 5 dwèt la tout moun balanse
Whoa nou lage 5 dwèt la moun yo rele
Miami lakay nou nou lage 5 dwèt la yo panike
Woa nou lage 5 dwet la moun yo rele

Rale kow bay Djaz serie pase
Woush 5 dwet la
Men landemil lan
Miami men kompa

5 dwet yo rive tout moun di min danger
Kabinet ya monte tout moun panike
Sak ta vle konnin ki role 5 dwet yo joue
Avanse, avanse dim si nou pare

Ti mesie eske nou pare - nou pare pou lobey la
Ti medam eske nou branche - nou pare pou 5 dwet la

Kounie a nou pral bay role chaque dwet yo
Richie depoze

Tanpri souple nou mande pou ordinateur jazz la
Mete kompa sou stabilizateur
Se konsa n fè afè nou toutan paske nou se on moun ki difisil fasil
Tu vois
Eske n pare
Here we go go, here we go, here we go

Nou gen le pouce
Le pouce se department des affairs interieurs
Se le wap di vakabon deyò pa vinn banm problem bo icit (fine)
Nou gin l'index
L'index se department de l'information
Se lè wap di huh se Richie ki vole fanm mwen an (so what)
Gen le mageur - nou pase'l
Nou di gin le mageur wi - nou pase'l
Se on dwet tankou tout dwèt sak pase nou la
Anyway we gotta move on
Nou gen l'annulaire
L'annulaire se department des affairs sociales
Se ladann nou mete bague lew marie e fiance
Finalement nou gin l'oriculaire
L'oriculaire se department de la sante public se avè l' nou fe l'hygienne
Nan nen kou nan zorèy
Maintenant nou gen le mageur
Le mageur se department des affairs interieurs

Lè w tande dwet sa fè travay li tout medam tout medam se
Ay ay ay ay (repeat)
Tell me, tell me more
Se dwet ki pi relax genyen paske li toujou rele lòt vinn ede l
Paske ase souvant li paka fe anyin pou kont li

Lap fè w fou

Gade on dwèt o, dwèt o
Dwèt ooooooo
Gad jan ondwet anraje

Le mageur anrager
Gad jan on dwet dobode o

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Zenglen's song "5 Dwet" on its surface is about the five fingers of the hand, but it is a metaphor for the different departments in Haiti's government. The song talks about the arrival of the five fingers in different countries, such as Antilles, Paris, and Miami, and the reactions they receive. The lyrics take a satirical and critical look at the government of Haiti and how the different departments function.

The song's lyrics are cleverly written to criticize the government by comparing the departments to the fingers of the hand, with the thumb representing the Department of Interior Affairs, the index finger representing the Department of Information, the middle finger representing the Department of Defense, the ring finger representing the Department of Social Affairs, and the little finger representing the Department of Public Health. The song sarcastically suggests that the departments are not functioning appropriately and leaves the listener wondering how they can make a difference.

The song's chorus consists of the repetition of the phrase "woa nou lage 5 dwet la moun yo rele" which can be translated to "Whoa, we put five fingers out, and people call it," representing the government's way of doing things and the citizens' reactions. The song ends by encouraging the nation to come together and progress towards making a change by saying, "Anyway we gotta move on."

Line by Line Meaning

Wouch 5 dwèt la
Whoa, we have arrived and put down our 5 fingers

Les Antilles nou rive nou lage 5 dwèt la moun yo rele
We have arrived in the West Indies and put down our 5 fingers, the locals call it

Whoa nou lage 5 dwèt la moun yo rele
Whoa, we have put down our 5 fingers and the locals call it

Haiti nou rive nou lage 5 dwet la moun yo balanse
We have arrived in Haiti and put down our 5 fingers, the locals are swaying

Tout sa pat konnen bagay sa se on gro nouvel
Everything that didn't know, this is big news

Les doigts de la main se on kabinet ministerièl
The fingers of the hand are like a cabinet ministry

Sak interese proche pi prè pou n tande
What interests us the most, to hear closely

Nou pral expliquer
We will explain

Whoa a Paris nou rive nou lage 5 dwèt la tout moun balanse
Whoa in Paris, we have arrived and put down our 5 fingers, everyone is swaying

Miami lakay nou nou lage 5 dwèt la yo panike
In Miami, our home, we put down our 5 fingers, they panic

Woa nou lage 5 dwèt la moun yo rele
Whoa we have put down our 5 fingers and the locals call it

Rale kow bay Djaz serie pase
Pull up, give Jazz a chance

Men landemil lan
Here is the rhythm

Miami men kompa
Miami has the Kompa

5 dwet yo rive tout moun di min danger
The 5 fingers have arrived, everyone says it's a danger

Kabinet ya monte tout moun panike
The cabinet is rising, everyone is panicking

Sak ta vle konnin ki role 5 dwet yo joue
What do you want to know about the role of the 5 fingers?

Avanse, avanse dim si nou pare
Move forward, move forward, let's say we are ready

Ti mesie eske nou pare - nou pare pou lobey la
Gentleman, are we ready? We are ready for the lobby

Ti medam eske nou branche - nou pare pou 5 dwet la
Ladies, are we on board? We are ready for the 5 fingers

Kounie a nou pral bay role chaque dwet yo
Now we will give each finger a role

Richie depoze
Richie is in charge

Tanpri souple nou mande pou ordinateur jazz la
Please, we kindly request the Jazz computer

Mete kompa sou stabilizateur
Put the Kompa on the stabilizer

Se konsa n fè afè nou toutan paske nou se on moun ki difisil fasil
That's how we do our business because we are difficult people to please

Tu vois
You see

Eske n pare
Are we ready?

Here we go go, here we go, here we go
Here we go, here we go, here we go

Nou gen le pouce
We have the thumb

Le pouce se department des affairs interieurs
The thumb is the department of internal affairs

Se le wap di vakabon deyò pa vinn banm problem bo icit (fine)
When you say that rascals outside should not come in and cause problems here

Nou gin l'index
We have the index finger

L'index se department de l'information
The index is the department of information

Se lè wap di huh se Richie ki vole fanm mwen an (so what)
When you say 'huh', it's Richie who stole my woman (so what)

Gen le mageur - nou pase'l
We have the middle finger - we pass it

Nou di gin le mageur wi - nou pase'l
We say we have the middle finger - we pass it

Se on dwet tankou tout dwèt sak pase nou la
It's a finger like any other that has passed us by

Anyway we gotta move on
Anyway, we have to move on

Nou gen l'annulaire
We have the ring finger

L'annulaire se department des affairs sociales
The ring finger is the department of social affairs

Se ladann nou mete bague lew marie e fiance
It's where we put the rings when you're married or engaged

Finalement nou gin l'oriculaire
Finally, we have the pinky finger

L'oriculaire se department de la sante public se avè l' nou fe l'hygienne
The pinky finger is the department of public health, with it we practice hygiene

Nan nen kou nan zorèy
In the nose and in the ear

Maintenant nou gen le mageur
Now we have the middle finger

Le mageur se department des affairs interieurs
The middle finger is the department of internal affairs

Lè w tande dwet sa fè travay li tout medam tout medam se
When you hear this finger, it does its job on every woman, every woman (Ay ay ay ay)

Tell me, tell me more
Tell me, tell me more

Se dwet ki pi relax genyen paske li toujou rele lòt vinn ede l
It's the most relaxed finger because it's always calling on other fingers to help it

Paske ase souvant li paka fe anyin pou kont li
Because often it can't do anything on its own

Lap fè w fou
It will drive you crazy

Gade on dwèt o, dwèt o
Look at a finger, a finger

Dwèt ooooooo
Finger ooooooo

Gad jan ondwet anraje
See how a finger gets angry

Le mageur anrager
The middle finger is angry