Songwriter's Corner: Jean Winer Pascal | Part 2

La Vi Yon Flè - Beethova Obas

It seems that each verse deals with a different aspect of Haitian life - from alcoholism to searching for a better life abroad. What exactly is the song about? What does the flower represent? Why did you chose Cibao of all the regions?

Yes, you are absolutely right, each verse deals with a different aspect of my homeland's problem. Haiti is a flower that had been crushed for being one of the most important countries in the world.

Slavery created two types of slaves. The master was a slave, the slave was another slave. Now, the master had been lied to by a hidden force that made him believe that a human being other than him can be his slave. The captured slave was the flower that was created by a dimensional pollen.

When the people of Haiti restored the human conditions on the island, the international forces got very mad. They isolated Haiti, but you just cannot hide a mountain. Actually, the word Haiti, "Ayiti", means mountainous land. Once you are born in Haiti, you inherit a certain way of being that makes you keep your head high just like a mountain, regardless of how bad things seem to look. So the problems that we are confronting in Haiti at the present time are not something new, it is the old that has become new and you have to study the mechanism of how this world works to understand the crushing machine that is grinding the very guts of my native land.

I know that it is an internal problem, as well as an external problem. " Si anndan pa vann, déyò pa ka achté " and " Kabrit gadé jé mèt kay, anvan-l janbé lantouray " but, the invisble hands that set up the nasty situation are still at work today as they were from ancient time. There is nothing new under the sun "

Going back to your question, here is the reflection of the modern master: If I had brought you on the island as my slaves and you somehow found a way to reverse the situation, I will remove the visible shackles and replace them with invisible chains. You would think that you are free, but in reality, you are living in an illusion. So they created other modern and sophisticated ways to colonize.

The flower is the Haitian soul, it is fragile and thirsty, it drowns its pain in songs and booze, it sells itself to cross the border, or to go overseas when there is no life left in the Cibao of its heart.

Remember the Cibao is a beautiful mountain range in the Southeast of Haiti and the Spanish found a lot of gold there. Your heart is your mountain. Your heart is your treasure. So if somehow, they make you leave your treasure, now you can understand that the depopulation program of the Haitian people is real. You just have to locate yourself and find out where you stand in your exile, whether it is a local exile inside your own border or an exile that you are experiencing from living abroad. But your nostalgia and melancholy are the same. Here is what the song is about.


Si - Beethova Obas

To me, this is the song that cemented Beethova as a bonafide star. Tell us the story about how this song came about.

" Si " is a song that will not die or my hope is that it won't be killed, because it is exposing the problem of this world through the Haitian situation.

Haiti had defied the odds and they made Haiti pay for that. The plan for the degradation of the Haitian value has been a long term project for the ones that cannot tolerate freedom.

I wanted to write something that can cross the limit of time and I am very happy that I wrote it in creole which is the language of my heart. Remember that I cannot sing, but I sang my pain through the words, remember that I cannot draw, but I drew our sorrow with the paintbrush of my words.

The period in which the lyrics were written was a very hard moment in our history as a nation. It was in 1986 and I was searching for answers, trying to understand what was in front of me. I identified the problems and I went on to dig deeper and actually found a very simple way to condense a lot of stuff in only six stanzas.

During that epoch, Beethova Obas was not singing his compositions yet. But the guy was always composing. I wrote the lyrics and then he put the melody on it. The melody to the song was made right in front of me. As soon as he was finished, we felt that something really good had been made. Meanwhile, Manno Charlemagne came back from exile and he was the first one the sing the song in a live concert. I need to mention that I really like the " Si " acapella version made by Sarah Jane Rameau / SJ.


You present a very harsh critique of the international community:
"Alòs dé syèk an syèk
jé vèt vinn pi akrèk."
What prompted you to take such a firm stance?

The truth is a very painful thing to deal with, but, it elevates your soul. it is either you say it, or you don't say anything for the rest of your life and that my friend is the real prison cell.

In my case, I knew that I could not go around the truth and these are the moments in your life that define you as someone that is alive. You can be walking around like a zombi or you can decide to decalcify your dreams. The facts are there for everyone to verify if you are willing to go through with it. Go and research it. Those things are not in your regular news, you have to look beyond the box, that giant box. You have to question all that you have learned and peel the layers of lies off the real story of this world, you would be very surprised to find out.

Why you think that there are all those international forces in Haiti? Haiti has masses of gold in the Northern part of the country and Haiti has oil maybe even more than Venezuela. Now, are we rich or poor? I think that we are very rich. The hidden agenda of the international forces is to let the rest of the world know that Haiti is the poorest country in the world and it is strongly publicized on the Mega TV and radio stations around this world.

They kept the Haitians fighting against themselves and they made sure that you never have the time to know the value of your land and the wealth that is underneath.

When you come to understand these things, you have to salute the courage of our Haitian artists such as Manno Charlemagne, Beethova Obas, Emeline Michel and last but, not least Jean Bélony MURAT / BélO that are going around the world singing for that land of ours that is the only treasure that we have left. What they are doing is not easy at all. Take a stance, take a firm one and be what you are meant to be.


Do you feel it absolves us Haitians of our own missteps?

As I said before, " Si anndan pa vann, déyò pa ka achté." And " pòt an bwa pa goumen ak pòt an fè". There is a way to deal with all of that and still have Haiti benefit of its own wealth. Of course, back in time "Rat kay t-ap manjé pay kay" Now, more than ever we can make a difference before it is too late. It is about all of us, it is first about reconciliation, let's recognize that we can be our own enemy and transform ourselves and become true friend of our own nation. Let us wake up from the slumber.


Can you explain this stanzas:

"Ou s-on-w papa lanfè
oun ma drapo lisifè"



If you have a group of people that called themselves civilized people and they are fighting a war against the rest of the global population, tell me who that group is serving. There is a war on the food, there is a war on the drinking water, there is a war on the air quality, there is a war on your health, there is a war on education, information, there is a war that is fought through the means of weather modification, there is a war on the ecosystem, there is a war on the honey bees, there is a war on your DNA, there is a war on your soul.

There is a serious war going on and if you are hypnotized and deeply asleep, you won't even feel that there is a war. Don't say Ti Pascal is crazy, just research it. Now, when you find yourself singing that song, you will understand that the problem from a very tiny village in the world is connected to a bigger worldwide problem. Nothing is hanging out by itself.

So, if that particular group is creating hell on Earth, you can now make your own conclusion.


< Previous Page | Next Page >