Overview:
Haiti’s cultural and tutorial communities are mourning the loss of life of anthropologist, singer and cultural promoter Jean Coulanges, who died Jan. 5 at age 84. Broadly revered for his work documenting and safeguarding Haitian standard traditions, Coulanges bridged scholarship and inventive apply, recording songs, finding out rituals and collaborating in musical tasks similar to Les Caracos Bleus and Kouidor. Tributes from writers, historians, former college students and establishments spotlight his lasting affect on Haitian tradition and mental life.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s cultural and tutorial communities proceed to pay tribute to Jean Coulanges, a famend anthropologist, singer, cultural promoter and influential professor, following his loss of life at age 84.
Information of Coulanges’ loss of life on Jan. 5 sparked an outpouring of tributes from students, artists, establishments and neighborhood members who praised his lifelong dedication to amplifying the voices, practices and data of Haiti’s standard lessons—typically in areas historically dominated by elite discourse. The anthropologist left behind a profound legacy within the examine and transmission of the nation’s standard traditions.
“As an artist, Jean would exit, generally very far, and convey again songs, customs and symbolic practices from standard communities,” author Lyonel Trouillot stated in a tribute revealed by AyiboPost. “Above all, he sang songs born of the Vodou creativeness, with out ever betraying their sacred nature.”
A scholar deeply rooted in lived tradition, Coulanges bridged institutional management and inventive collaboration
Born right into a household steeped in conventional practices, Coulanges devoted his life to documenting, defending and selling Haitian cultural expressions. He was each a rigorous researcher and a training artist, blurring the road between scholarship and participation by residing among the many communities he studied.
A revered professor, Coulanges devoted his profession to transmitting conventional data and integrating Haiti’s intangible heritage into tutorial discourse. His work helped legitimize standard cultural practices as fields of great mental inquiry whereas reinforcing their worth in collective reminiscence.
In 2013, he launched Anonse, an album of 11 songs impressed by Vodou traditions, folkloric music and Haitian religious practices. The venture mirrored his broader imaginative and prescient: preserving residing tradition whereas fostering dignity, continuity and intergenerational dialogue.
“Jean will likely be remembered as one of many best singers, with essentially the most lovely and highly effective voice the nation has ever produced.”
Historian Pierre Buteau
Coulanges additionally performed key institutional roles. He served as everlasting secretary of Haiti’s Nationwide Fee for Cooperation with UNESCO, the place he labored to safe worldwide recognition for Haitian cultural expressions. He was additionally a founding member of the Haitian Institute for Financial and Social Growth (IHDESE), contributing to long-term reflections on Haiti’s social and cultural future.
He got here from a household of artists and intellectuals. Coulanges was the older brother of guitarist and composer Amos Coulanges, one other influential determine in Haitian music.
Past academia, he was lively in inventive circles, notably with Les Caracos Bleus, alongside figures similar to Frantz Lofficial. He additionally participated within the musical venture Kouidor with artists together with Syto Cavé and Félix Étienne.
A life formed by conviction and an everlasting legacy
Coulanges’ mental and inventive commitments had been inseparable from his political convictions. A vocal opponent of the Duvalier dictatorship, he skilled exile and spent a part of his life in hiding as a result of his communist activism and outspoken positions.
“Jean Coulanges was like an older brother to me,” historian Pierre Buteau stated in an interview with AlterPress. “He will likely be remembered as one of many best singers, with probably the most lovely and highly effective voices the nation has ever produced.”
Regardless of his passing, Coulanges’ affect endures via his instructing, writings, recordings and archival work, which stay very important sources for understanding Haiti’s standard traditions and cultural identification.
“As a researcher, Coulanges was a grasp of hypotheses drawn from commentary. He was one of many best trailblazers in opening new avenues of analysis.”
Author Lyonel Trouillot
UNESCO honored him as a number one Haitian mental, citing his “mental rigor, robust sense of public service and clear imaginative and prescient of tradition’s position in social cohesion and sustainable improvement.”
The State College of Haiti (UEH), the place Coulanges lectured to generations of Haitians, additionally paid tribute to him, describing him as “an engaged mental and impressed creator who skillfully mixed tutorial rigor with inventive expression.”
The Ministry of Tradition and Communication and the Haitian Embassy in Canada joined tutorial and cultural establishments in expressing condolences to the Coulanges household and honoring a person extensively considered a guardian of Haiti’s residing reminiscence.