Haitian Beatz

Beken, born Jean-Prosper Deauphin, sings songs about despair and redemption that resonate deeply with Haitians, especially in times of tragedy.

His pack of Comme Il Faut cigarettes was almost depleted. The smell of rotting garbage on the street and fried pork from a stall next to his tent filled the air in Place St. Pierre. Some children looked at his crutch and grew silent. Beken, one of Haiti’s most gifted musicians, exhaled a veil of smoke.

Singing the Suffering of Haiti

Beken, 54, lost his right leg at age 12 in a car accident. The quake destroyed his home, pushing him and his wife and three children into a squalid tent camp in Pétionville.

“I should be in Miami living off the proceeds of my records,” said Beken, born here 54 years ago as Jean-Prosper Deauphin before adopting his stage name (pronounced Beck-ENN). “Instead I’m living in the filth of this place,” he said, summing up a predicament unbeknown to many who revere his songs.

Haiti is astonishingly rich in music, with musicians who are more successful and famous than Beken, including the Port-au-Prince hip-hop group Barikad Crew and the protest singer Manno Charlemagne, who now lives in the United States. But few composers occupy a space quite like Beken’s, whose songs of despair and redemption strongly resonate with Haitians during times of tragedy.

Peddlers sell pirated CD collections of his songs, including “Tribilasyon” (“Tribulation”) and “Mizè” (“Misery”), on the streets of Port-au-Prince for about $1.30 apiece. Gritty photos of Beken, who lost his right leg at age 12 in a car accident, accompany the CDs. He sings in Haiti’s troubadour tradition, playing a guitar and emphasizing contact with the audience in songs of lament, humor and sometimes politics.