The singer Jean Jean Roosevelt presented Tuesday the project “Rèl Fanm”, on the occasion of the International Women’s Rights Day. “March 8, 8 women, 8 PM”: this first program of the project was broadcast on several online platforms including Chokarella and Zoom Haiti News.
Rèl Fanm, is the boost that young women wishing to enter the Haitian music industry need to combat the inequalities that are felt in this sector. An opportunity to make a career in music without having to offer sexual favors to achieve their goal.
What does the project consist of?
According to the initiator, it is to help these talented young women by providing them with a production space but also allow them to live from their art. This is why Rèl Fanm proposes a training and accompaniment component to allow these women to become autonomous.
For about a month and a half, 8 young women from different regions of the country, among them mothers, single women and housewives, who in the past started in music but had to put their career on hold because of a change in their family situation or for other reasons.
The music business is very difficult in Haiti, especially for women, which is why Jean Jean Roosevelt wants to make Rèl Fanm a platform for female solidarity.
Each of the participants received training in audio recording, management of social networks, management of download platforms, artistic coaching etc.
The highlight of this initiative is undoubtedly the room-studio that each of them will benefit from, which will allow them to record from the comfort of their homes. ʺRÈL FANMʺ advocates the promotion of equal opportunities and diversity, said the native of Gand’Anse.
A new generation of women will be able to make music, make a living from their profession and at the same time evolve in an environment free of sexual harassment.
Throughout the broadcast of the documentary, Christie, Christina, Dazmé, Gueytch-Lore, Lovelie, Saika, Valencia and Kettia praised this initiative and did not hide their joy regarding their participation in this project which is supported by the Jean Jean Roosevelt Foundation, Unicef and the Spotlihgt Haiti initiative.
For some time, popular Haitian music has been criticized for being full of stereotypes, violence, obscenity, sexism, and the worship of inequality. The Rèl Fanm project is a breath of fresh air, and we can only hope that these abuses will be corrected thanks to this new generation of musicians.
Jean Jean Roosevelt has always supported the cause of women, not only through his songs but also through his collaborations with national and international institutions in the fight for the emancipation of women and the respect of their rights.
With Rèl Fanm the author of “Laisse tomber” sends a clear and strong signal: “It is high time that this power that is artistic creation, this ability to change the vision of the world, ceases to be a male monopolyʺ.
To repeat Victor Hugo, “one half of the human species is outside of equality, it must be brought in: to give as a counterweight to the right of man the right of woman.”