Link to download audio:
Click here to download…
To listen to this audio post, click on the PLAY button and follow along :)
Click here to download…
To listen to this audio post, click on the PLAY button and follow along :)
Rigaud is visiting with Charité at her home in the countryside near Aux Cayes....
Conversation starts here:
Hmm! Ala kafe gou!
Yum! What tasty coffee!
Sa a se kafe peyi, wi, w'ap bwè la! Tè Ayiti bay bon kafe!
It is homegrown coffee that you're drinking. Haitian soil yields good coffee.
Wi, sa se vre. Ayiti te toujou gen bon tè. Bon, Charité, mwen te kontan vizite ou jodi a. Mèsi pou bèl akèy la.
Yes, that is true. Haiti always had good soil. Well, Charité, I was happy to visit you today. Thank for the nice reception.
Mwen kontan ou te vini tou. Kilè ou gen pou tounen nan kapital la?
I, too, was happy you came. When must you return to the capital?
Mwen dwe retounen demen sidyevle. Fò m'al travay.
I must go back tomorrow God willing. I must go to work.
Ah wi? Se ki metye ou fè?
Oh yeah? What is your profession?
Mwen anseye matematik ak syans nan yon lekòl. E ou menm Charité, kisa w fè?
I teach math and science at a school. How about you Charité, what do you do?
Mwen menm, mwen se kiltivatè. Mwen plante. Mwen rekolte. Enpi m'al vann tout sa m rekolte yo nan yon mache.
I am a farmer. I plant. I harvest. And then I go to sell what I harvest at a market
Sa se travay pete fyèl! Ou se yon fanm dyanm k'ap nouri peyi a. Chapo ba!
That's hard work! You are a strong woman feeding the country. Hats off!
Mèsi wi. Ou konnen, se konsa. Fòk nou travay pou n manje.
Thanks. You know, that's how it is. We must work in order to feed ourselves.
Eske m mèt mande ou yon lòt bagay?
May I ask you something else?
Wi?
Yes?
Eske ou fè zafè deja?
Are you in a relationship?
Adye Rigaud! Mwen poko non.
Alas Rigaud! Not yet.
O! yon bèl fanm tankou w, sa w'ap tann?
A beautiful woman such as yourself, what are you waiting for?
Enben m'ap tann sa Bondye sere pou mwen an.
Well I'm waiting for what God has put aside for me.
M'espere sa Bondye sere pou ou a pa twò lwen. Se kisa ou fè pou w distrè ou lè w p'ap travay?
I hope that what God has in store for you is not too far. How do distract yourself when you're not working?
Enben Rigaud, lè m p'ap travay, mwen renmen ale nan sinema.
Well Rigaud, when I'm not working I like to go to the movies.
Mwen menm tou. Mwen renmen gade fim komedi. E ki dènye fim ou te wè?
Me too. I love comedy. And what was the last movie you saw?
Sa gen lontan depi m pa ale gade yon fim.
It's been a long time since I have not seen a movie.
O enben tande sa. Gen yon fim ki fèk soti nan sinema bò lakay mwen nan Pòtoprens. Li rele "Les Trois Stooges". Eske ou ta renmen al wè l?
Well listen to this. There's a movie that's just out in the movie theaters near my home in Port-Au-Prince. It's called "Les Trois Stooges" Would you like to go see it?
Men wi! depi se avè w mwen prale, m panse m va byen anmize m.
Of Course! As long as I'm going with you, I think I'll enjoy myself.
Enben machè Charité m'ap envite w, wikenn pwochen, pou vin gade yon fim avèk mwen nan Pòtoprens.
So, my dear Charité, I am inviting you to come see a movie with me in Port-Au-Prince.
Rigaud, mwen asepte envitasyon ou.
Rigaud, I accept your invitation.
Anfòm! Mwen va vin chache ou nan estasyon bis la vandredi.
Great! I will come pick you up at the bus station Friday.
Dakò Rigaud, n'a wè vandredi apremidi.
Okay Rigaud, see you Friday afternoon.
Track: Nonm sa a by Emeline Michel
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
Ala yon bel istwa epi ala yon bel chante! (eske ou ta di fraz sa-a ak mo yon oubyen san li). Mwen renmen tande Emeline Michel anpil anpil. Kisa ou di sou Master Dji. Li te anfom net. Se gwo domaj li pa ak nou toujou.(it's big pity he isn't with us anymore)
ReplyDeleteKijan ou ta di Three Stooges an kreyol?
Ou kapab di fraz la AVÈK oubyen SAN "yon"
DeleteOu ekri fraz la byen :)
Ou pa't bezwen tradui "Se gwo domaj li pa ak nou toujou", paske ou ekri trè byen :)
Master Dji te gen anpil talan. Enpi li te bèl gason tou :) Se domaj! Mwen regrèt fanmi li pèdi l tou jenn konsa.
Stooge (fall guy, puppet)→ tchoul, panten
Btw, what's your favorite Master Dji's song?
ReplyDeleteI would the most artistic one was Tann pou tann
DeleteVery poetic.
This music has depth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OOBvm7Z_jCs
ReplyDeleteI love this one. I have to ask you a favor to write kreyol words of this song, when you find some time, of course...I have found english translation of this song so i would like to compare it and to use it for better understanding of kreyol language as well as for improving my language skills...
Anpasan, what do you know about relation between Sweet Mickey and Master Dji during late 80's and early 90's. Were they friends? They look very different, I mean Mickey was always part of old establishment, in some way. Like some sort of opportunist and conformist, no matter how liberal and "dezod" he was in his public appearance and on stage. I don't know about Master Dji, but his music and his life indicating me that he was very much different from him..
Alright... I'll do that some time later.
DeleteI'm not sure if they were friends, but they must have met in the performing arenas.
Usually Haitian artists are always united. They may poke fun at each other in public, ...it's a dynamic they have to keep ...jus for show maybe :)
I think at one point Martelly and Master Dji's path had crossed at the Olympia in Paris.
In a way I liked Martelly relaxed style. He seems to have a lot of fun when he is out there. And he was able to separate his private life from his public life.
Artists that are able to do that will be very successful in life.
I also love him very much, but i somehow dislike his opportunism he showed, especially in period when FRAPH was in charge of Haiti and when Mickey made public statements against Aristide and against his return to Haiti...And we all know what was going on there when FRAPH and military hunta were in charge...When did you leave Haiti, Manda...was it during period of political instability after Divalye departure or before?
ReplyDeleteFirst, I think he was probably trying to make a name for himself as a political man.
DeleteSecond, although Aristide was loved in Haiti, his second return to power (if you can call it that) was plagued with accusations of drug dealing, participation in gangs, they even said he was the ring leader of the drug dealers. People said he was building big mansions from drug money.
This, too me, was unbelievable. Not because these things things should have been above him, but because I don't think he could have fallen so far into the gutters from his priesthood days.
Aristide looked like a little lamb on TV, but people thought he was really a wolf.
So, it was easy for other politician to build up their reputation by publicly denouncing Aristide.
Politics as usual....
I left Haiti in 1984. And since then I'd taken many trips back. So I was not in the country during the fall of Duvalier and rise of Aristide.
did Master Dji have any children..was he married, there was a rumor that he was homosexual, is this true?..i will be doing a documentary on him soon..i need information about his life...
DeleteYes, it's true what you have said, but Aristide's problems begun when he won his first presidency and when gwo boujwa elites with remnants of old regime and with support from some american agencies orchestrated koudeta against him and expelled him from HAiti. Aristide was humiliated and blackmailed many times (I don't blame him coz i don't have any right to do that, but by accepting their terms for his return to Haiti, he tied his own hands and made a pact with devil). It was absurd that they didn't even allow him to have his first mandate in full term. How they respect him, haiti as independent state and haitians as proud nation they showed when they kidnapped democratically elected president of one sovereign state and sent him to Africa into exile, to the hands of some barely known and obscure dictator.
ReplyDeleteAristide and his policy just didn't have chances to succeed in such political environment. He was giant threat to local gwo boujwa and for americans he resembled Castro and his policy. That's very sad story, almost like same patter as in case of Thomas Sankara, although Thomas Sankara lived in different environment and different times and he was able to endure 4 years and to make some changes in his country, but alas they didn't last long.
Hey, but I am not here to fe politik, I am here to try to learn something new from you, M...
Gwo kout chapo ba pou ou, yon lot fwa anko...Rete dous!!
Yeah ...Ou byen pale.
DeleteNo matter what, Haiti and his people are suffering the consquences. Very sad.
Dakò :)
Pase bon jounen.