"The politicians take advantage of us musicians, they promise they will look out and they never do"
-Dutty Nishishi OR
y main contact in Port Au Prince, Haiti is 21 year old wunderkind Romel Jean Pierre. He is well known for his work with street artist JR and for his Tele Ghetto project and many different social/art/empowerment projects throughout Haiti.
After a day of drinking too much rum at the beach, the sun had set as we drove back into Port-au-Prince. At night this city of 2 million causes a sort of synsthesia-you hear, much more than you see. The darkness is punctuated by little islands of light, if the power goes out in a major U.S. downtown, a handful of emergency floodlights will pop on here and there. Life goes on just as normal, albiet at a slower pace, people carrying on their regular business and tasks in darkness.
Port- au- Prince
n contrast to Ogun's studio (see part 1), Dutty's studio fit in more with the rest of the built environement around it. After a brief introduction we walked down a narrow cinderblock corridor, semi covered by a corrugated tin roof but still outdoors. Dutty is sitting in an office chair in front of an imac with ProTools open, a fan buzzes and rotates next to him, there is no air conditioning. Romel introduces us, he continues talking, and I snap few photos of him. We are introduced to the rest of the folks in the room including Dutty's mom, who offers us Prestige beer which we gladly accept.
