Rebirth with Rankont Dout, a music album

I left Haiti with  an album of music in my bags. Called Rankont Dout, the music has now been released worldwide and I am deeply grateful to my fellow musicians, to the dear friends who inspired the poems, to Haiti which gave me to eat and drink and a bed to rest my head.  I invite you to listen, to tell your friends about the music and about Haiti, the island of my rebirth, its coconuts and mangoes striking in their resemblance to the ones I used to flesh and scoop in my native Ceylon. Ou vle vini ave m nan lach noe m? Do you want to come with me on my Noah's ark?

Some Notes on Rankont Dout

It means meeting in August, meeting with doubt, a meeting that takes place with the knowledge of parting, of a residence on earth ending. For this reason, the songs are full of nostalgia, and they are bittersweet. They note the impossibility of permanence. But they are also full of hope. In one song I write of a Noah's Ark and I ask the listener to come with me on my ark. In another I speak to myself, saying you are a Haitian. You write in our language. You love in our language. In another song I talk of the djonjon mushroom, which I came to love in the island. It adds a black ink to rice and a fine taste. So I talk of carrying djonjon in my suitcase (malet)....enough to last until my next return.

I wrote the songs fearing that I would have to say goodbye, that I could not take the island with me,...so ironically I have indeed taken it with me, in this music, these drums of Pawol Tanbou, the haunting piano of Donaldzie Theodore, the voice and guitar of Titi Congo, in the odd sounds such as the "hoo hoo hoo'" of the song 5 Kesyon Kle nan Dezod.( Five Key Questions for the Disorder). I am free. You are free. He is free. We are free. They are free. Why do you make such a ruckus?. Poukisa tout lobay sa a.?

I also write with wonder and irony. , Brezo means bow tie. I say with the money I will make from my book I will buy a new bow tie and take a taxi to the airport and take a flight to my childhood island to ask the elephants there if they still want to know why I left

I fall in love as well, Mo Maji. Magic Words. I say you know the magic words, simple and forceful, that eliminate dark clouds, and allow me to dance once more (danse anko)

There are songs too about the planet as an island, subject to missiles in the form of comets and asteroids....the apocalypse which also forms part of our consciousness along with the dream of paradise.

Here is a link to the music. 

https://apple.co/2Dsw3lL

Cheers