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Haitian Folk Singer Who Had Sharp Words For Politicians Dies In Miami Beach

Jacqueline Charles
/
Miami Herald
Singer Manno Charlemagne playing at a Miami Film Festival event in March 2017 at Tap Tap in Miami Beach.

Joseph Emmanuel “Manno” Charlemagne, whose acerbic folk songs about Haitian politics kept him in exile — often in South Florida — for much of his life, died Sunday in a Miami Beach hospital where he was being treated for cancer.

The death of Charlemagne, 69, prompted Haitian President Jovenel Moïse to pause in an official visit to Europe to tweet that the demise of “the committed singer Manno Charlemagne is a great loss for the country and for the cultural sector in particular. My sympathies to the family and loved ones of this patriot who loved his country with passion. Haiti is grateful to him.”

That was a significant departure from the way most of Haitian officialdom regarded Charlemagne throughout his life. Rare was the Haitian politician who didn’t feel the sting of Charlemagne’s pungent lyrics, which were anything but subtle.

Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald

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