In Les Cayes, five young singers turn music into a space to speak about gender

Five young singers presented their own work on Saturday 3 October in Les Cayes at the concert "Des femmes, des voix, des droits" (Women, voices, rights), organised by the Fabrique des Arts at La Cayenne Night-Club. Marie Séphora Altidor, Laura Melissa Beauvais, Flore Jacquet, Wedka Romelus and Samytha Therassant performed original songs and slam pieces on gender issues in Haitian society, according to the Fabrique des Arts and Monnelys TV Network.

The programme also included five covers of Haitian and foreign artists on similar themes, some of them written in French or English and adapted into Creole. Wedka Romelus covered "Refren Doulè", from the album Illuminations by the Bazou company, created by Néhémie Bastien. Samytha Therassant broke down in tears during her slam. "The concert is very pleasant, but the words are hard," one audience member said, as quoted by the Fabrique.

Three months of writing and rehearsals

The concert was the result of a songwriting workshop on gender issues that opened in July at the Fabrique des Arts, led by Michèle Lemoine. Over two weeks, the participants wrote songs drawn from their experiences and their view of the realities women face, the Fabrique announced on 9 July. Some texts became songs, others slam performances, and work then continued in a rehearsal studio with musicians.

The Fabrique des Arts, or Fabrik Atizay, was launched this year by the Knowledge and Freedom Foundation (FOKAL), with funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) under its Tanbou programme, according to Juno7. It was first meant to be based in Port-au-Prince but was moved to Les Cayes for security reasons. The project also brings together the Centre d'Art, BIT-Haïti, Tamise and the Quatre Chemins association.

The Fabrique has not announced any recording of the songs. The audience asked for them to be recorded, according to the organisation.