Overview:

Brooklyn-based artist and music marketer Mickael Marabou shares her perspectives on preserving and growing Haitian music, from her perch as both an artist and a music marketer.

NEW YORK—Among Haitian culture keepers, Mickael Marabou may be a platform all on her own, given the millions of followers and views she’s amassed over the years and across social media. Best known for her global hit, “Mwen Love Ou” featuring Davido, Marabou released “Pran Plezim” in September. Already, the rabòday solo is gaining traction with reels showing people dancing to it all over Brooklyn.

Yet, for all the love the vivacious vixen gets on socials and for her music, charting globally alone isn’t what has led to Marabou’s 1.7 million followers on Instagram. In a recent interview, where she was equally excited to speak about her work behind the scenes as out front, Marabou explained how her track record in television, music and events play a role. Her marketing savvy, public relations for top names like Wyclef in New York and handling artist bookings for large-scale events have all pushed her.

Marabou is particularly passionate about making sure Haiti is represented in different arenas—from literal stadiums to street festivals to streaming platforms. Most recently, she helped Audiomack, a streaming app popular in countries without spotty internet access, create the konpa category to capture Haiti’s sound.

Clearly, The Haitian Times had to get Marabou’s perspectives from both sides of the stage – as an artist and industry insider, about ways to preserve and grow Haitian music worldwide. Below is a transcript of the conversation, condensed and edited for length and clarity. 

The Haitian Times / Macollvie J. Neel: What was it like growing up in your household?

Mickael Marabou: I’m one of six—three boys, three girls. There are three generations born in Haiti, and the last three of us were born in the U.S. I grew up in Park Slope, back when a lot of Haitians lived there.

THT: What was it about your upbringing that fostered such an appreciation for Haitian culture that it’s part of your career?

Marabou: My parents came from Okap and Leogane, so I kind of knew the roots of the music. They always made sure to play Haitian Christmas carols, stuff like that. As I got older, my siblings came [from Haiti] around when they were 12. My older sister exposed me to country music, a little bit of pop music, R & B. When she got married, that’s where I got all the konpa. Her husband used to play konpa every weekend. He’d have parties at the house, with these big speakers and play all these bands. 

I didn’t even know their names then. When he played T-Vice’s ‘bidi bidi bam bam,’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s Selena. Okay.’ 

THT: That’s so funny. I have a brother who was born here, and he’s into Haitian music too. 

Marabou: That’s exactly my story. I think it’s about wanting to belong. It’s appreciating the culture and seeing it. The love and the passion that people from the diaspora have for Haiti is unmatched.

Mickael Marabou. Courtesy of the artist

THT: What can Haitian Americans, the broader diaspora, do to keep elevating the culture globally?

Being in a melting pot, where everyone has a culture, an identity, and it’s very important for us to showcase our culture too. As Haitians, it is our duty. Everyone here is in this melting pot and everyone has a culture, everyone has an identity. It’s important to know we’re a specific identity, and that Haitian history is world history. As Black people, we have an amazing story outside of just ‘we were slaves.’ 

THT: So how has that played out so far in your journey through music? What works?

Marabou: Within our community, I’ve been one of the first to do international collaborations, part of the ones moving the culture forward with that. For me, it’s really important that Creole, being our original language, is represented. With the Davido record, a lot of people fought with me. They said, ‘You know, you have a major feature. If you do it in English, it’ll be on Hot 97, it’ll be everywhere. You’re sacrificing the song, forcing Creole on people.’ I told them I would rather do that, because if I could listen to African music in multiple different languages and enjoy it, they can listen to Creole too.

Even if it’s not as huge as it should have been, I feel like I did a service for the culture. Creole is beautiful; it sings really well, it flows off the tongue, just like French and all these other African dialects. If I had to do it all over again, I would. That is how we’re going to make Haitian music international. It’s by collaboration, by making sure we have Creole elements, something distinctive to us, like konpa is. 

THT: From a business standpoint, how do we make the vision sustainable in the music industry?

The biggest export in every country is entertainment. It’s the music, food and culture. We just haven’t found a way to package the music to say this is the sound of Haiti. Like zouk comes from konpa. So other people have taken elements of our music and created other genres.

But I remember when I went on an interview for the Davido music video, they were like ‘We Googled Haitians, we don’t see a lot of magazines, we don’t see a lot of newspapers, we don’t see a lot of what it takes to run an entertainment business.’

“I feel like we have next. We’re in the middle of it. We’re in our moment. Haitians are doing really, really well. It’s just we need to figure out a way for the mainstream to talk about it,”

 Mickael Marabou.

I meet so many Haitian Americans in the music business. There are so many of us running the music industry in America—as lawyers, A&Rs, producers, everywhere. We just haven’t found a way to come together so people can see the impact of who we are. We’ve had the Latin invasion, the Afro-Beat invasion. I feel like we got next. We’re in the middle of our ‘next’ with Joé Dwèt Filé’s song and Burna Boy jumping on it.  So we just have to figure out how to package it so the world can have the invasion of our sound. That is how we merge the cultures and keep us alive. 

THT: Do you think it matters which of the Haitian genres, per se, is embraced? Or how authentic a particular genre, like konpa, might sound when it’s beyond our community?

Marabou: Konpa has had 70 years. I feel like they have done their service. Internationally, that is the genre people know us for because the work has been done. So many genres come from konpa and all of these people love that konpa sound. That big band konpa dirèk. But there are a lot of different types of konpa. There are other sounds that the streets of Haiti have created as well. They might be smaller sounds to the world market, but they’re still super huge.

Music is usually driven by the young. Hip-hop, for example, was a young people’s genre. Rock and roll, the kids created that. Blues, the kids created that. You know, jazz, the kids created that. Haitian culture has to allow the kids to create too. So if konpa has been here for 70 years, it’s not going to necessarily be the full sound of the young kids in Haiti. That is evolution and we cannot stifle that. 

THT: How else might Haitians who are not performers play a role in pushing the culture?

Marabou: Haitian Americans had a really big part in everyone using their flags now. When I see Haitian artists on stage and in festivals, they have Haitian flags with them. Everywhere they went was Haitian flag day. On the internet, I see Haitian Americans with their Haitian flags. Now I see people in Haiti do it as well. That’s how we show them unity and how we love our culture.

Behind the curtains

THT: Yes, say more about the music as a product, the economics of it, what is actually going on now from a marketing or product packaging standpoint.

Marabou: One of the things that should be going on is when Haitian artists’ music plays on the radio in Haiti, they should be getting royalties for that. That is not set up, but that is very important to get the chance to be on the charts and in Billboard [charts]. If the communities spinning our music in heavy rotation are not being monitored that way, it’s also really difficult for us to get to the next level. When you look at the Billboards, it’s a combination of radio plays and streams. 

Now, Joé Dwèt Filé being nominated for the BET Awards has opened a major door. As a collective, we have to figure out how to bring in other people through that same door. That’s the difficult part. 

THT: How do streaming platforms like Audiomack, which you’ve worked with, fit into that preservation effort?

Marabou: Audiomack is essential because it allows offline listening, which is crucial for places like Haiti and Africa, where connectivity can be limited. I work to verify Haitian artist profiles, get their official pages on the app, and ensure streams are properly attributed. I curate playlists such as Discover Global, Caribbean and konpa—integrating Haitian music into broader Caribbean contexts.

So, if you think of Haitian music, it will fall under konpa. So, it’s sort of like konpa is the main and everything else will be underneath it. With all these other sounds, even though they’re not like konpa at all, they still come from Haiti. So we still need to have these categories. It’s going to happen eventually because we are the top streaming in the Caribbean. 

People don’t have CDs anymore. If you’re in the dead zone, Audiomack is perfect for that. So, people in Haiti use it as one of the main streaming platforms for them.

THT: So what’s your day job like? How do you manage to be in both the studio and behind the scenes?

Marabou: I have multiple jobs. I created my own company for TV-type productions and then also try to assist the Haitian market. I did marketing for the [Labor Day] Carnival. Most of the Haitian trucks that go on the Parkway, I register them, I put them out, I fight for them, for the costumes so we can showcase our culture. I’ve worked with Konpa Kingdom, I do a lot of major bookings within our community. I’m Wyclef’s publicist in New York, and I work with the elected officials in New York too. Just keeping it ‘Team Haiti’ and working with the media and the bloggers. 

Stage presence

THT: So now I’m looking at the new one you have out, ‘Pran Plezim.’ Tell me more about it.

Marabou: Yes, it’s rabòday all the way from Andy Beats.  I wanted to be true to the culture in every aspect of what I do. So when I went to Haiti, I just saw all of the young people, everywhere the streets was lit on the raboday. I was like “I want to do that sound.” 

I feel like with music, you can’t overthink it. Music is music. And I feel like with our culture, we are really serious people too. So, we have a serious way about us and just like we said with the konpa people. So, yeah, my first song was a rabòday song, ‘Belfam.’ 

I do have konpa records coming out too,, because internationally, that’s the sound people know. But konpa has peaked many times, as individual artists. And you don’t usher in a sound with an individual. You usher it with the group. When we put on the Afrobeat playlist, we get a full playlist.  When reggaeton came out, there were so many different reggaeton songs. So it’s not about the artist, it’s about the sound. This is why I work behind the scenes a lot. I don’t gatekeep because we’re not going to make it as individuals. 

THT: So how are you feeling in this moment, you’re not only doing all this behind-the-scenes work, but you’re producing content yourself, new music?

Marabou: I feel like we have next. We’re in the middle of it. We’re in our moment. Haitians are doing really, really well. It’s just we need to figure out a way for the mainstream to talk about it. So now I can really focus on the music aspect to see where I can take it all in the way. That’s why in the music space, a lot of people don’t talk about me even though my music does really well. I have millions of followers, they know me really well, but I haven’t been on the live circuit. I haven’t been performing live. I am looking forward to my new venture doing that. 

I’m super excited to share all the female artists and I’m always kind of telling people about different people because it’s like we’re beautiful inside and out in our culture, is so real. Rich and it’s just so important for people to know what free looks like. What freedom looks like.

THT: Is there anything else you’d like to add that we didn’t get to touch on? 

Marabou: “L’union fait la force” — strength through unity. We will not be liberated until we put our heads together. If you put that on the flag, then that means you have to live by it. I feel like the universe and God is forcing us to live by it. We have to figure out how to get together as a collective to be able to help and save Haiti and to also continue to make a mark. In 1804, [our ancestors] made their mark. There are new marks being made daily. There are amazing people on the ground doing the same type of work we did to free ourselves. We just need to put light on them and be able to support them. 

THT: Thank you so much for your time, Mickael. This was so very insightful.

Marabou: Thank you so much. I really appreciate you guys. The Haitian Times is a staple too. We’re glad that you guys are on the ground to show that we have legacy, we have history.

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