Each month here we visit with a member of the community to find out what music they’ve been digging.
Yole Derose is a fabulous female Haitian singer who’s cherished. I’ve been discovering her voice, her smile, her hand movements reaching out to her audience. My favorite songs that stand out are “Koupe Kann (Cutting Sugarcane),” a song warning the Haitians to stay away from crossing the Dominican Republic border, because they will forget their country, and the child who is hungry. With a late spring in the Hudson Valley, I’ve been thankful for resting under my blanket and sliding in my ear buds to be transported to a world when Haiti was adored by a voice as light as a floating petal, but full of substance. This early April night, the day before my birthday, my Haitian uncle, Roodly, and his wife, Mirlande, in Haiti, broke into a duet during our conversation about a love song by Yole, “Merci Pour Tout Ce Grand Amour.” I imagine them reaching for each other like Yole and her husband, Ansy Derose, did in the days when he was alive. Yole is the heart of a rose from Haiti. Other popular voices at the core of “Women of Note” are Souad Massi (Algeria), Francoiz Breut (French avant-garde), Rokia Traore (Mali), Brigitte Fontaine (French avant-garde), and other brilliant female artists.
