Martha Jean-Claude

Singer and actress whose music inspired Haitians who fought against dictatorship for decades. Known as the daughter of two islands, she was a symbol of fraternity between Haiti and Cuba, where she lived most of her life.

Born in Haiti. Affectionately known as Mamita, she rose to fame in her native country during the 1940s, especially during the bicentennial festivities of Port-au-Prince in 1949.

As a child, she sang in the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince and, in 1942, began her professional career with folkloric concerts at the Rex Theater, where she was often accompanied by her colleagues from Despradines, singer and dancer Emérantes.

In 1952, she was imprisoned for publishing a play, Avrinette, which President Paul Magloire's regime found subversive; on December 20, 1952, she arrived in Cuba.

I left Haiti after spending several months in prison during pregnancy, she recalled in an interview. I gave birth two days after getting out. A month after leaving prison, my husband was in Cuba, so I went with him.

She had married Cuban journalist Víctor Mirabal, whom she met after one of her performances. A few months later, they married in Venezuela.

Together they had four children: Linda, an opera singer in Madrid, Sandra, a musician who lives in Amsterdam, Magdalena, a doctor who lives in Cuba, and Richard Mirabal, musician and director of the Martha Jean-Claude Foundation, based in Pétionville, Haiti.

In Cuba, she quickly became a star in theater, radio and television, performing with different orchestras and in many clubs, such as the famous Cabaret Tropicana.

In 1957, she spent a year working in Mexico, where her Afro Cabaret was very popular on television. She later traveled to Venezuela, and in 1952 settled in Cuba, first in Camagüey, then in Güines and finally in Havana.

Here she continued her life as an artist, performing fundamentally Haitian folklore, which she widely promoted in Cuba, in addition to singing accompanied by the Conjunto Sonora Matancera, which she joined through the mediation of Celia Cruz.

Regarding this, Héctor Ramírez Bedoya says:
"Martha Jean Claude accepts the invitation that Celia Cruz extended to her and arrives in Cuba. She has a magnificent voice and is a cultivator of dances and folkloric rhythms from her country.

She achieves performances at the renowned Cabaret Tropicana and records with the Matancera a single song, the Haitian congo Choucoune (Yellow Bird), with Celia Cruz's voice providing a duet. This song originates from the folklore of her country."

1967 participated in the Encounter of Protest Song organized by the Casa de las Américas.
1971, she starred in the anti-Duvalierist film Simparelé, produced in Cuba.
1977 she traveled to Canada, where she performed at the Pollack Mac Gill hall in Montreal, and later at the Le Platteau theater; she also performed on Canadian radio programs La Vie Cotidienne and Canada Around the World.
1978, invited by UNESCO, she performed several times in France.
1986 she did so in Haiti, where she offered three recitals at the Rex Theater, the University, the Field of Mars and at Independence Plaza, with her group Makandal.
Comprised of:
Richard Mirabal Jean-Claude, (director and guitarist)
Sandra Mirabal Jean-Claude, (clarinet and singer)
Ramón Díaz, (drums)
Leonardo Padrón, (bass)
Rafael Alfredo Echemendía, (percussion)

"It is natural that the struggle for social justice," Martha said in an interview explaining the political character of many of her 50 songs and 8 albums.

"To sing the song of the peasants, which is what is in my heart." "I lean toward these people." "My songs are what one calls protest ballads."

After 34 years of exile, she returned to Haiti in 1986, after the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, and gave a triumphant concert. She performed again in Port-au-Prince in 1991 with Makandal, a musical group formed in 1978 with her children Ricardo and Sandra.

Several of Martha's grandchildren accompanied her to a concert in her honor with Despradines and Cuban singer Celia Cruz at the Sylvio Cator stadium in Port-au-Prince, in July 1996.

That same year, President René Préval awarded her Haiti's highest decoration. She created the Martha Jean-Claude Foundation, chaired by Richard Mirabal Jean-Claude with the objective of improving the artistic training of young people and allowing better cultural relations between Haiti and Cuba.

In 2000 she returned to Haiti again with her group Makandal, to attend the presentation of the documentary "Woman of Two Islands," written and directed by Marlene Gómez.

Regarding this, Martha Jean-Claude says:
"Almost all of the 'complaintes' ('Laments') are protest songs [...]. I always said that my favorite songs were the 'laments', which I couldn't sing much because they told me they weren't commercial. The Encounter of Protest Song gave me the opportunity to perform them."

Her last public appearance was at a reception at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana on July 17 on the occasion of the State visit of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Cuba. Although in a wheelchair, Martha joked cheerfully with Fidel Castro and Aristide.

She toured:
Mexico
Panama
Ecuador
Venezuela
Guyana
Martinique
Guadalupe
Grenada
Poland, where she performed at the Wykadowa Hall in Warsaw, later in the city of Lodz, in the Europezki and Victoria hotels
France, she performed in Toulouse and at the University of Nanterre
United States, in Chicago, New York and Boston

Works
Hilarión
Invitation au Voudu, calypso-merengue
Me fui de mi patria
Nostalgia
Protesto
Tú me demandes una canción
Vosotros

Filmography
Appears in the films:
El octubre de todos, by Santiago Álvarez
Simparelé, documentary (won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival and the Golden Dove in Barcelona, Spain
Special Prize at the Leipzig Film Festival, East Germany
Maluala
La tierra y el cielo

She died in Havana on November 14, 2001. Her funeral, attended by former President of Haiti, René Préval, was held in Havana on November 15.

Richard Mirabal, in collaboration with Cuban television, produced a one-hour documentary about her life and music titled "Fanm De Zil" (Woman of Two Islands).