Haitian Culture Falls Fresh On Me Like Waters From the Saut

“When you have unity. Nothing is heavy” – dad

It is weird how things come into play. Somebody says, hey try this and you do or you don’t. That’s the way it goes. You might have your own way of doing things and choose your own path. But there are times you think, hey why not and the results are amazing.

So I tried something completely different. I was Ushered into a transformative moment by my folks to write a song about Saut D’Eau (Sodo), which is located about 60 miles north of Port au Prince. Saut D’Eau is also the French word for waterfall, with this area in the Mirabalais province of Haiti being known for the most beautiful and peaceful waterfall you could find in the world.

Every year in July, there is a wonderful feast celebrated on the 16^th of July known as the feast of Mount Carmel where hundreds gather to celebrate this wonderful day together. This is part of my culture. I am Haitian and was raised with knowledge of my background, traditions and the peoples from whom we came. I have been to the feast once while I was in high school and it was such a beautiful celebration. So many people. Such a great gathering of like-minded beautiful people that left me with such an amazing feeling.

I was asked to write a song about this very place. Usually, I am not one who needs direction. I write songs based on what is in my heart and that is it. But when my family asked me to do it, I did. Who knew that going with someone else’s inspiration would let the words and music shed out of me like water weight while on the treadmill at the gym.  A few hours later, the song, Saut D’Eau Song was born. I guess you can say the weight of the mission I was tasked with was not heavy because it was with my folks in mind.

I hope that you’ll check it out. It is mostly in English as my Haitian Kreyol is not the best, though I did add a few words of Kreyol here and there because I am Haitian and this song is about Haiti. Saut D’Eau Song was written and produced by Stephanie Jeannot. All lyrics, music and vocals are by Stephanie Jeannot.

  

Anyway, here is the link to the song: https://soundcloud.com/stephanay-jnote/saut-deau-song 

Thank you so much for checking out my blogpost.