Wyclef set to spice up the spring MCAB announces Wyclef as Midd's spring concert artist

Author: Hans Manzke

Wyclef Jean is an almost incomprehensible conglomeration of pop-culture sponge, businessman, superstar producer, actor and faithful representative of his native Haiti. The man owns 48 cars, is worth many millions of dollars and produces tracks for some of hip-hop's biggest stars. He's slated to play Curtis Mayfield on NBC's nostalgic melodrama "American Dreams." Jean is simultaneously a representative of an overly materialistic American culture and a far more spare, non-Western Haitian world.

Then there's the side of Jean that very few know, the side he displays prominently on his 1997 album "The Carnival" and 2003's full-length "Preacher's Son" - that of his never-abandoned Haitian roots. Singing in the country's native Creole, Wyclef splashes a colorful picture of Haiti with recognizable and regretfully-ubiquitous American reference points. The song "Carnival," from the album of the same name, includes the lyrical equivalent of a wrench shoved into an well-oiled machine. "Kentucky Fried Chicken," "six-piece nugget" and "Burger King" purposefully interrupt the track's fluid, musical Creole. As an artist, Jean is far more than his radio releases.

Jean's music is informed by his own life. Born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti in 1972, his family moved to the Marlborough housing projects in Brooklyn, N.Y. when Jean was 9-years-old, and the to New Jersey when he was 15-years-old. His boyhood interest in jazz, hip-hop, soul, guitar, reggae and just about whatever he could lay his hands on, are present in his music-making as an adult. His full-length albums sprawl to encompass a dizzying variety of influences, which some listeners will inevitably see as a fault. Given his ability to execute so many different musical styles so well, one can only wonder what he'd do if he applied himself wholly to, say, hip-hop or dancehall reggae. All of that aside, it's refreshing to see an artist who refuses to limit himself in today's ultra-specialized and fractured music industry.

For those of you that still aren't sure about seeing Jean this April, consider his social and political views. Unlike so many of the socialite, pointlessly glamorous music stars of our day, Jean is actively involved in a number of social and political endeavors, especially his own effort Yele Haiti. Sean founded Yele Haiti to help Haitian children, whose country is one of the most impoverished in the Western Hemisphere. The first tier of relief will take the form of 134 full scholarships to the Haitian Sports Academy, a place where children can get healthy meals, an education and exercise. The second tier of aid mirrors Jean's own artistic ambition - he has dedicated funds to rebuild 20 schools and provide 3,600 scholarships in the Haitian city of Gonaives. Racked by omnipresent poverty and violence between the supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, police forces and organized gangs, Port au Prince and other Haitian population centers are in desperate need of foreign aid. With Yele Haiti, Jean hopes to be his country's savior, starting with the children.

Jean will bring all of this to Middlebury on April 22 at the annual spring concert. This concert event marks one of the first times the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) and WRMC have collaborated seriously for the spring concert. While MCAB ended up choosing a different artist than those who WRMC wanted, MCAB President Merideth Kernan '05 said, "I think that just having a good discussion about music on campus with leaders of both groups present was a great thing to do. Hopefully in the future more ties will be established, and a co-sponsored concert could happen, which is something I feel the campus would really benefit from." MCAB worked overtime to get an artist like Jean to come to the "Middle of Nowhere," Vt., and MCAB concert chair, J. Brito '06, was integral in organizing the effort to bring Wyclef to Middlebury.

It should be interesting to see what Jean chooses for his set list given that his artistic range is astounding. From his pure hip-hop days of Fugees lore to the Creole excellence of his later work, he will no doubt put on a show well worth seeing. If you're on the fence, download the aforementioned "Carnival" and see just how good Creole can sound. Let it grow on you, and you'll realize that apart from being the perfect song for various Spring Break vacations, it summarizes Jean's experiences as a Haitian-American. In a world of domineering pop-culture and a monolithic music industry, Jean has discovered how to juggle and balance all of the passions and influences he has experienced throughout his life without compromising any of them. No small feat, by any stretch of the imagination.