Sweet Micky
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Michel Martelly, born February 12,1961 in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, is a Caribbean performing and recording artist, composer, and musical sociopolitical activist. Martelly is more popularly and affectionately known as "Sweet Micky," a moniker sometimes used interchangeably to refer to himself as well as his band (with original members, guitar player Alex Tropnas and bass player Welton Desire).
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[edit] Music
Michel Martelly has been heralded as a pioneer of a unique brand of Compas music, a style of Haitian dance music sung in Haitian Creole language. Originally, compas was fusion of Afrolatin jazz and African/Haitian folkoric rhythms, and was traditionally played by large bands comprised of numerous group members and instrument sections. Martelly, a keyboardist and the self-proclaimed "bad boy" President of Compas, popularized a nouvelle generation, or "new generation" style, of smaller bands with few members that relied predominantly on synthesizers and electronic instruments to reproduce a fuller sound. Martelly/Sweet Micky's live performances and recordings are sometimes laced with obscenities and humorous sociopolitical commentary by Martelly. Outlandish and outspoken, Martelly has been known to drink publicly while performing in wigs, costumes, diapers, Scottish kilts, and occasionally removed his own attire while performing. While arguably the most recognized and applauded musician and public personality in Haiti, Martelly's performance style has sometimes ignited controversy throughout the Haitian diaspora.
[edit] Biography
The middle-class son of a petroleum plant supervisor, Martelly taught himself to play the piano by ear. After graduating from high school and unsuccessfully attempting to study engineering, Martelly was briefly enlisted in the Haitian Military Academy before dropping out. He emigrated to the United States with an American wife, where he enrolled at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado and worked in a local grocery store. In 1986, after just one semester, he divorced and returned to Haiti just as Jean-Claude Duvalier, then president-for-life, was heading into exile. He returned stateside with his then-girlfriend, Sophia, and married her in Miami, FL and had his first child, Olivier. Martelly continued to work on a construction site for a year until moving back to Haiti in 1987. Upon their return to Haiti, Martelly began playing keyboard as a fill-in gigger in local venues in Petionville and Kenscoff, suburbs of Port-au-Prince. One of his regular stints was at El Rancho, a casino owned by Joe Namphy, the brother of General Henri Namphy, who served a short stint as president after Duvalier's departure.
[edit] Recording Career
By 1988, Martelly's musical talent, charismatic persona, and his pattering style of compas had gained tremendous popularity at El Rancho and Florville, another local venue. That year, he recorded his first single, Oh La La, which became an instant hit. Since then, Martelly aka Sweet Micky has recorded fourteen studio albums and a number of live CDs over the past twenty years. His music has blended Haitian music with new interpretations of compas, roots, salsa, Caribbean soca and jazz-fusion. In 1997, Martelly's appeal to other musical genres was evident when Wyclef Jean of The Fugees featured him on the title track for Jean's solo effort Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival featuring the Refugee Allstars. As Jean proclaims on The Carnival, "Surprise - it's Sweet Micky, y'all!" That same year, Sweet Micky released an album containing one of Martelly's most celebrated hits, Pa Manyen ("Don't Touch"). The song is an interpolation of "Angola" by Cesaria Evora, the legendary Cape Verdean singer. Pa Manyen went on to be featured in various compilation albums, including the popular Putumayo Presents: French Caribbean in 2003.
[edit] Sociopolitics
Martelly's past and current friendships with members of Haiti's turbulent government and with U.S. diplomats has been met with mixed opinion and criticism by music fans and activists alike. Martelly is a friend of the current president, Rene Preval, and has previously acknowledged such friendships as the one with Lt. Col. Michel François, the former Port-au-Prince police chief who was convicted of drug-related offenses in the U.S. Prior to the coup to overthrow Duvalier, Martelly operated a nightclub called the Garage, often frequented by military and other members of the ruling class. Later, after a second coup had overthrown Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Martelly played a concert for free to oppose the return of the ousted Haitian president and any American presence on the troubled island. The wildly-charismatic Martelly refused to back down from criticism of his affiliations with politicians and government officials. As he once stated to a news reporter, "I don't have to defend myself....It's my right. It's my country. I can fight for whatever I believe in.[1]" In 1997, Michel Martelly showed the world that his musical talent is a continuous means toward a very positive end by donating his time to participate in "Knowledge is Power", an HIV educational music video with a powerful message about preventing the spread of HIV.
[edit] Personal Life
In 2006, Martelly announced his unofficial retirement from recording and performing. Martelly lived quietly with his family in Palm Beach, FL until returning to Port-au-Prince, where he currently lives with his wife and manager, Sophia, and their four children. In 2008, he announced a return to music with a new single, Magouye, and the video/short film, Bandi Legal.
[edit] Discography
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[edit] References
Miami New Times, May 29, 1997. "His Music Rules in Haiti: Sweet Micky's provocative music moves Haitians with an infectious beat and political overtones" [2] Palm Beach Post, June 12, 2007. [3] Sweet Micky article at afiwi.com [4]
