Michel Martelly

Michel Martelly (born February 12, 1961 in Port-au-Prince, Haïti), 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) — is a Haitian performing and recording artist, composer, and musical sociopolitical activist. In July 2010, he announced that he would be running for the Presidency of Haiti. Martelly is a right-wing Haitian politician.

Music

Michel Martelly has been heralded as a pioneer of a unique brand of kompas music, a style of Haitian dance music sung in Haitian Creole language. Originally, Compas was the creation of Maestro Nemours Jean-Baptiste. Martelly, a keyboardist and the self-proclaimed President of Compas, popularized a nouvelle génération, or "new generation" style, of smaller bands with few members that relied predominantly on synthesizers and electronic instruments to reproduce a fuller sound. Martelly's and Sweet Micky's live performances and recordings are sometimes laced with "burlesque" and humorous sociopolitical commentaries and satires. Outlandish and outspoken,the Sweet Micky Caricature has been known to drink publicly while performing in wigs, costumes, and Scottish kilts, and occasionally remove 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 Haitian communities. After completing his high school at the St Louis de Gonzague School, he tried a career in engineering,but his musical talent and his entertainer's skills took over his professional life as he became a popular recording artist and entertainer.

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 medicine, 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, Florida 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.

Recording career

By 1988, Martelly's musical talent, charismatic persona, and his pattering style of compas had gained tremendous popularity at El Rancho Hotel and Casino and The Florville, another local venue. That year, he recorded his first single, Ooo La La, which became an instant hit, followed by "Konpas Foret des Pins" which was released in 1989, also a number hit from his debut album "Woule Woule". Since then, Martelly, impersonating as 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 rhythms 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, Michel Martelly released an album containing one of his most celebrated hits, Pa Manyen ("Don't Touch"). The song is an interpolation of "Angola" by Cesária Évora, 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.

Sociopolitics

Martelly's friendship with members of Haiti's past governments and with U.S. diplomats has been met with mixed opinions and criticism by music fans and activists alike. Martelly is reportedly a friend of President Rene Preval, and has previously acknowledged such friendships as well as the one with Lt. Col. Michel François, the former Port-au-Prince police chief.

Prior to the coup that overthrew 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 free concert to oppose the return of the ousted Haitian president and any American presence on the troubled island. The 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 participated in "Knowledge is Power", an HIV educational music video with a message about preventing the spread of HIV. His humanitarian work as the President of the Foundation Rose et Blanc, created by his wife Sophia and himself, to help the poor and disenfranchised of the country, was the basis for his choice as the Good Will Haitian Ambassador for the Protection of the Environment by the current Haitian Government. In 2010 he ran for President of Haiti where he challenged the results as to whether he placed second, making the runoff, or third.

Personal life

Martelly currently lives in Haiti, but holds a second home in Palm Beach, Florida. He lives with his wife and manager, Sophia, and their four children. In 2006, Martelly announced his unofficial retirement from recording and performing but two years later announced a return to music with a new single, Magouye, and the video/short film, "Bandi Legal".

Discography

Title	Date	Label
Woule Woule	1989
Anba Rad La	1990
The Sweetest	1992
Men Koze-A	1993
I Don't Care	1994
Pa Manyen	1995
Tout Ce Mately	1996
Aloufa	1997
100.000 Volts	1998
Dènye Okazyon	1999
SiSiSi	2001
Totot	2003
GNB	2005
Bandi Legal	2008

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
• Palm Beach Post, June 12, 2007.
• Sweet Micky article at afiwi.com

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