2024 AMS/NYU Lecture

08 March 2024La Maison Française, New York UniversityNew York

Considering Lisette: What can we learn from the 'oldest' song in Haitian Creole?

The 2024 NYU-AMS Lecutre, “Considering Lisette: What can we learn from the ‘oldest’ song in Haitian Creole?” will be held at La Maison Française, New York University on Friday, 8 March 2024 at 6:00pm ET.

In this lecture, Jean Bernard Cerin traces the circuitous history of “Lisette quitté la plaine,” the earliest published song text in Haitian Kreyòl that was arranged several times between c. 1757 and 1942. This lecture delves into the rich history of classical music in colonial Saint Domingue and considers how this song, originally famous in a slave-holding society, shifts in meaning as it finds new interpretations in Black communities in Louisiana and modern Haiti.

Watch Video

19th century print of Haitian landscape — Vintage engraving of a “View in Haiti, 19th Century.”

Participants

Jean Bernard Cerin

Presenter

Jean Bernard Cerin is the founder of the Lisette Project, which studies vocal classical music from Haiti. A multifaceted singer and scholar, he produces and performs in projects ranging from film, recital, oratorio, opera, and folk music. He directed and starred in the documentary Lisette (2022), which made its premier at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in California. His crossover piano-vocal duo, Kuwento Mizik released its freshman album “Lua Nova” in August 2022. Jean Bernard serves as assistant professor and director of the Vocal Program at Cornell University.