Malaika: Kenyan Love Song

Supposedly composed by Kenyan musician Fadhili William, "Malaika" (angel in Swahili) was first recorded by William in 1963. But I first heard of it through Harry Belafonte and South African singer Miriam Makeba. It has been covered countless times by everyone.

http://grooveshark.com/s/Fadhili+William+Malaika/38AqmZ?src=5 Fadhili William version

Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vQgB6wLksY&feature=player_embedded#at=76 Another Miriam Makeba 

Choucoune: Again with the Haitian Folk Music

The Haitian folk song "Choucoune" (also known as "Yellow Bird") is based on a poem written by a Haitian writer Oswald Durand at the end of the 19th century. It was composed in honor of a beautiful Haitian marabou woman (marabou refers to a dark-skinned Haitian with less 'negroid' features). Apparently this woman was named Marie Noel Belizaire and she ran a restaurant in Cap Haitien in the last few decades of the nineteenth century.

http://webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti-archive/msg01015.html Check this for a more detailed history

The poem was set to music by Haitian composer Michel Mauleart Monton in the 1890s and it became very popular. It was arranged as a slow mereng and eventually found an international audience by the 1940s or 1950s. Harry Belafonte, the Jamaican-American singer who helped popularize calypso and other forms of Caribbean music, recorded the song as well. Many assumed it was of Jamaican origin since they believed it to be a calypso number, but that is only because the title of the song was changed when first translated into English.

Here's Belafonte's version of the song, which only retained the melody. "Don't Ever Love Me."

Here is an Arab-Haitian's jazz/meringue rendition of the Haitian classic. Issa El Saieh was also famous for supporting Haitian art

Haitian woman singing the song

American vocal group singing "Yellow Bird"

http://www.folkways.si.edu/listen2.aspx?type=preview&trackid=21590 Version of the song by Lolita Cuevas and Frantz Casseus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAGKfaTZakQ&feature=player_embedded#at=36

Arthur Lyman's Hawaiian-inflected version of the tune

Celia Cruz and Haitian-Cuban singer's version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4qFwTs0rwQ&feature=related

Angelique-O: Another Haitian Folk Song

"Angelique-O" is a Haitian folk dating back to the American occupation (1915-1934). Apparently it refers to the wife of the American commander during the Occupation who was sent back to the United States. The song had multiple meanings though. To Haitians of both the bourgeoisie and the popular classes, it was a nationalist song demanding Americans leave the country. It's message of freedom is still heard 'round the world today.

I was first exposed to the song through Harry Belafonte's Caribbean music LPs. I initially believed it to be a calypso or Jamaican folk song but something told me it might have a Haitian origin. The name Angelique is French, which would be odd in Jamaica or another anglophone Caribbean island. I eventually found a Haitian rendition of the song (with original Creole lyrics) sung by Puerto-Rican singer Lolita Cuevas and Haitian guitarist Frantz Casseus. This arrangement is Casseus's and all the songs on this LP of Haitian folk songs are arranged as slow meringues and lullabies. I unfortunately could not provide the entire song...
http://www.folkways.si.edu/listen2.aspx?type=preview&trackid=21594

Here is Harry Belafonte's rendition of the song with English lyrics that introduced the song to me. The lyrics here are less explicitly anti-colonial but rather refer to a woman who can't cook and doesn't know how to run a household so she is sent back to live with her mother.

Here is another version of the song with English lyrics by an American group

Meringues and Folk Ballads of Haiti - Meringues and Folk Ballads of Haiti (Various Artists)
check this for a more folksy version of this Haitian standard

Here is Issa El Saieh's jazz-influenced band's interpretation of this song http://www.belmizik.net/Music-Library/I/Issa-El-Saieh/La-Belle-Epoque-Volume-2/Angelique-O.html

EDIT (6/15/2013): My previous interpretation of the song as referring to an American army officer and a local Haitian woman is not what this song is about. I don't recall where exactly that idea entered my head, perhaps Harry Belafonte, but it's not what the song is about.

Haitian Folk Song: Mesi Bon Dieu

One of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard is Mesi Bon Dieu (Thank You God). It's a Haitian folks song composed by the underrated Haitian classical guitarist, Frantz Casseus. The haunting beauty of the song and the religious lyrics led me to believe it was a Haitian vodou chant, but I currently believe Casseus wrote the song under the influence of Haitian religious music. I include here the first recording I could find (Frantz Casseus accompanies Puerto-Rican vocalist Lolita Cuevas), a jazz interpretation by Charlie Rouse which has the same ominous feel as the original, and Harry Belafonte's wondrous interpretation (his kreyol doesn't sound too bad either).

Frantz Casseus and Lolita Cuevas present the tune in the simplest way. Just acoustic guitar and voice. I find Lolita's voice a little weak here since I don't 'feel' the spirituality of the song from her.

Charlie Rouse's jazz-inspired take features Rouse on sax, electric and acoustic guitar, and 3 percussionists (drummer, congas, shekere). Rouse takes this song in an interesting direction during his solo, almost suggesting the Middle Eastern or Africa. The extra percussion is also interesting to me since I find it rather reminiscent of Andean and other South American musical traditions even though it does follow a Haitian rhythm. I suppose South American rhythms often share the same African antecedents as Haitian music so I shouldn't be surprised by the similarities.

Harry Belafonte's version features a marimba (or is that a steel drum?) that doesn't really go with the atmosphere of this haunting song, but his vocals are perfect.

http://www.belmizik.net/Music-Library/I/Issa-El-Saieh/La-Belle-Epoque-Volume-1.html Check this site to listen to Issa El Saieh's jazzier version of the song. More brass and influences from Cuban and American jazz

Here is another interesting take on the song with an electric keyboard and a heavy jazz influence. I believe the musician is a jazz pianist/keyboardist from Martinique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIqgoOEZ_vU