Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAnother disaster has hit Haiti but this time it's not Mother Nature. The political class has been ripped apart with the election of Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a hugely popular pop musician who was taken lightly and is now dancing all the way to the crumbling national palace.
Martelly soundly defeated former first lady Mirlande Manigat, a college professor and an establishment favorite. How Martelly went from being the bad boy of Haitian pop to the presidency is no surprise to those who know him from the music industry. But the political class failed to realize that this man transcended class and generations with his onstage antics, like dressing in drags, wearing diapers and cursing that makes a sailor blush.
For nearly two decades, Martelly has remained at the top of the music scene reinventing himself each time his star was fading. He picked up epic battle with bands and created rivals and made them so personal that eventually the other bands simply gave up because it was not worth it.
But Martelly, the self-proclaimed "president of Konpa" as Haiti's pop music genre is known, began his road to the palace shortly after his musical career began in the late 1980s. He created an organization that donated aid to the destitute across Port-au-Prince, the capital city. In one of his songs, he gave a shout out, "Cite Soleil men jazz ou," or "Cite Soleil here is your band." That gesture, as small as it was, resonated loudly among Haiti's untouchable class.
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