Michel Mauléart Monton

Michel Mauléart Monton (1855–1898),[1] was a Haitian musician, pianist and composer. He became famous for composing the music for the méringue classic, choucoune (known as Yellow Bird in the English version)[2][3]

Biography

Michel Mauléart Monton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to a Haitian father and an American mother.[4] His father was Emilien Monton, had emigrated to Louisiana where he was a tailor. For family reasons, Michel Mauléart Monton was raised in Haiti by his older sister, Odila Monton, who owned a shop on the Rue du Magasin de l'Etat in Port-au-Prince. Subsequently, he attended music classes with Toureau Lechaud who was a well-respected Haitian musician[1] and taught him the piano.[3]

His musical style was a compendium of multiple influences, a musical melting pot in which he drew the charm of the rich tropical nature of Haiti, surrealism and a mixture of African music of Haitian religion, Vodou, and European classical music. He combined these influences to compose many musical pieces.[3]

Michel Mauléart Monton is best known for putting the music méringue on the air with a poem by Haitian poet Oswald Durand called Choucoune, that had been written ten years earlier in 1883. This song was played in public for the first time in Port-au-Prince on May 14, 1893. On a slow pace and light méringue which was nicknamed "Ti zwazo" or "Ti zwezo" (French: Little bird). Choucoune was an immediate success both in Haiti and abroad, and was taken in the years 1950 to the United States under the name "Yellow bird."[3]

Notable works

Monton composed a series of polkas and méringues.[3]

  • Choucoune
  • La Polka des tailleurs
  • L'Amour et l'argent
  • P'tit Pierre
  • Les P'tits Suye pye du jeudi

See also

References
  1. Largey, Michael (2006). Vodou Nation: Haitian Art Music and Cultural Nationalism. pp. 79–83. ISBN 0226468631. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  2. Shepherd, John; Horn, David, eds. (2014). Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 9: Genres: Caribbean and Latin America. p. 476. ISBN 9781441141972. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  3. Press, ed. (11 July 2011). "The Story of Choucoune Stolen Legacy: The Ordeal of Choucoune". Haiti Sentinel. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  4. #891: A review of the Choucoune material from Gage Averill
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