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CLAREL FARREAU
Un Hommage à mon père Clarel Farreau
Article de Clarel Farreau Jr.
Parlant du rôle, que son père, Clarel Farreau, a joué dans le domaine musical a l’église M/H Martissant Horeb.
Quand le docteur Leslie Théodore, me demanda d’écrire quelque chose en ce qui a trait à l’intervention de mon père dans le domaine musical
à l’église M/H; je considérai cette tache, comme un grand privilège. Parce que, non seulement je porte son nom, mais aussi, du fait que, très petit, je l
l’accompagnais toujurs et le suivais de près, dans toutes ses activités musicales, qu’il entreprenait à la maison ou à l’église, afin d’offrir de la bonne
musique aux membres et aux visiteurs; du même coup pour les aider à bien chanter, en louant le Créateur qui est un Dieu parfait.
Cependant, d’après ce que j’ai appris de lui, et des autres ainés, du début de notre chère église, je ne saurais parler de sa contribution dans le domaine musicale, sans rendre, un hommage bien mérité, à ses prédécesseurs qui ont eu à faire les 1ers pas dans ce domaine.
D’abord, à Lucien Vernet, mon oncle, qui très jeune, a eu a poser les premieres pierres de la musique à M/H, par ses compositions précaires: paroles et musiques, afin d’agrémenter les programmes de l’école du sabbat des enfants et de la société de jeunesse. Malheureusement, il ne tarda pas à se déplacer
pour d’autres champs et d’autres domaines. Quelques unes de ses compositions figurent dans l’ouvrage ‘Trousse MV’ du Docteur Vernet son Jeune frère.
Quelques temps plus tard, vint surgir, un autre, bien plus âgé, plus qualifié et plus expérimenté. Il s’agissait de Mr François Alexis, qui reçut une formation musicale à la Jamaïque, pendant qu’il y avait été pour des études en sciences mécaniques de la machine à écrire. Après avoir été musicien du palais national, où il jouait de la trompette, il servit la 1re église Adv. du Temple, à la rue de la réunion, et ceci à plusieurs niveaux, y compris le domaine musical.
Enfin, comme grand missionnaire laïc dévoué, convaincu de la vérité adventiste du 7eme jour, tout en exerçant son métier pour les services de l’état et dans son atelier, à l’instar de l’ Apôtre Paul, il prêchait au près, comme au loin, dans les mornes, comme dans les plaines, faisant claironner sa trompette dans les hauteurs de Decayette comme dans les régions de la savane salée oú il construisit un temple pour la Mission qui refusa l’offre. Malgré tout, sans se décourager, il continua dans les régions de Bolosse .A la 1ere Avenue de Bolosse dans ses activités missionnaires, Dieu l’avait béni, car comme grand passionné de la musique et de tout ce qui est beau, Dieu l’avait permis de gagner à la vérité, une dame veuve, d’une haute valeur morale, laborieuse qui jouait au piano répondant au nom de Flavie Farreau qui comme lui était passionnée de la musique. Et, puisqu’il était lui aussi veuf, il ne tarda pas à tomber amoureux de Flavie et finit par l’épouser. La dame vivait avec sa tante et son unique fils Joseph Clarel Farreau.
Dès le début, Mr François Alexis avait conduit toute la famille à l’église M/H ou tous étaient devenu membres actifs. Depuis lors, Mr. François Alexis donna toute sa mesure à M/H. Comme 1er musicien il apporta, non seulement de la musique vocale en formant, la 1ere chorale de l’église M/H qui répétait chez lui à la 1ere Avenue de Bolosse, mais aussi de la musique instrumentale; tout en entraînant, toutes les personnes chez lui pour l’épanouissement des membres de l’église M/H.
Sa nouvelle Epouse Flavie Alexis n’employait pas ses doigts seulement pour jouer au piano, mais aussi, pour préparer une petite réception à chaque répétition de la chorale, ou à chaque programme d’un Club qu’il avait fondé, dénommé « l’Effort ». Il y avait une rencontre pour les jeunes et une pour les adultes. Sœur Alexis, cousait aussi les tenues des membres de la chorale comme couturière, les robes des soeurs parfois, mais, surtout les cols et les cravates vertes, que
les membres de la chorale portaient sur le blanc.
Donc, je suppose que, cette ambiance d’activités d’amour musical dans laquelle vivait mon père J. Clarel, avait grandement contribué à l’enflammer pour œuvrer a M/H dans le domaine musical qu’il aimait déjà, influencé par sa mère, Flavie Farreau. Il s’y livrait à un point tel, qu’arrivé à une époque, il sembla dépasser ceux-là qui l’avaient précédé, sur plusieurs points.
Bien avant ma naissance il eut à son actif beaucoup de réalisations : telles que, la formation d’une chorale des jeunes qui a eu a évoluer
en chantant une composition, paroles et musique que mon père a préparées spécialement à l’occasion du 1er congrès de jeunesse
tenu au grand temple à la rue de la réunion, à l’intention des M/V, organisé par le Pasteur Marcel Abel responsable du Dep.
des M/V. A ce moment-là on avait eu la visite d’un pasteur étranger, représentant de la division Interaméricaine. A cette occasion
seule la chorale de l’église du grand Temple No,1 et celle de l’église M/H avaient chanté. Voici les premières paroles de la
composition de mon père : Missionnaires volontaires en ce beau jour, louons le Dieu des cieux par nos cantiques etc. Pour résumer
un peu de ce qu’il a réalisé, avant ma naissance, je ne citerai que cela. Et plus tard, comme grand amant
de la musique, il eut sa participation à toutes les activités musicales, culturelles et récréatives, formation de groupes, de quatuors et préparation d’autres compositions…
Tout ce que, je viens de relater maintenant, je les ai appris de mon père et des autres ainés, parce que, quand on les réalisait je n’étais même pas encore né. Cependant, j’ai pu lire et jouer certaines compositions de mon dévoué père; et aussi j’ai eu le privilège de vivre avec lui la plus grande épisode de
sa vie musicale, avant qu’il eut à passer la baguette à d’autres plus jeunes musiciens tels que: Joel Mentor, Lesly Theodore, Clarel et Lyonel Farreau qui l’ont dépassé à certains niveaux dans ce grand domaine de la musique, comme lui avait depassé ses prédécesseurs à certains niveaux, dans ce vaste
domaine musical.
Durant cette période, cette épisode musicale vécue avec lui: Voici ce que j’ai constate, et que je puis dire, comme témoin
oculaire: Mon père J. Clarel Farreau, malgré ses nombreuses occupations à la section de comptabilité à la compagnie Powell où, il a fourni 27 de services, malgré l’aide qu’il devait donner à ma mère, pour bien prendre soin de nous et de la maison, et malgré l’aide par sur quoi, pour le bon fonctionne-
ment de l’école ‘Patience d’Ange’ où, plus d’une génération a été bien formée, pour le bien de la société, dont je suis du nombre; oui dis je, malgré tout cela, il se donnait, sans réserve pour soutenir la section musicale de notre chère église. Et ceci non seulement, en faisant répéter régulièrement, les groupes
les quatuors, une ou 2 fois par semaine, dépendant des circonstances, programmes du 13eme sabbat, funérailles, mariages etc. Et, en plus de cela, avec ses connaissance en électronique, et ébénisterie il transformait les appareils de musique, petits et grands (orgues) en les accordants, en fabriquant des appareils de haut parleurs de toute sorte de dimensions pour amplifier et raffiner les sons au plus haut degré. Les plus gros haut-parleurs restaient
à l’église et les plus petits restaient pour les répétitions et le culte de famille. Il transportait l’orgue sur son dos, chaque sabbat
matin, afin de jouer, pour accompagner l’église dans l’exécution des chants, ainsi que des groupes. Je l’aidais à ce moment
un peu, dans le transport.
Un dernier effort de l’épisode de sa vie musicale a M/H, fut d’aider un groupe de femmes diaconesse fondé par les sœurs
Beaucicaud et Marcel Joseph dénommé ‘Vision céleste ou figuraient les sœurs Dormélia G Luma ainsi que sr Suze V. Farreau
et Lamothe, etc. Ces soeurs voulaient tout en prenant soin du temple et des malades, chanter aussi, pour avoir une meilleure vision du
ciel, en attendant le retour de Jésus apportant le réel.
QUATUOR LES SENTINELLES DE LA FOI
THE YEARS OF THE SENTINELS OF FAITH ( Les Sentinelles de la Foi)
By Joel Mentor
In our old city of Port-au-Prince many happenings good and bad besieged our lives during the raging fifties. It was however a time of new beginning for me as my family moved to the region commonly known as “ Morne a turf”, or to be translated into Hill of clay for better clarification to the word. That region comprised the sector of the Street of Monsignor Guilloux near the General Hospital of Port-au-Prince and some never clearly identified separating borders with the neighboring region of Bois de Chene ( Poplar wood ) in the East, and in the West by the zone of Fort Sinclair. My closeness to the Jean Jacques family allowed me a first sit in their living room while I was treated by their mother and father as a child of their own. By the year nineteen fifty five I was still wearing my short pants and somehow a teenaged prankster when I would sometime witness Edner Corbier arriving at the home of the Jean Jacques to meet with Jeanty. By that time him and I had already broke the ice of mutual isolation so it was always pleasant to greet him with an exchange of courteous words before he would turn to Jeanty and announce that they needed to “ frapper “ ( begin practicing ) a song. Soon Gabriel Desvarieux would arrive, and in the fashion of Edner would greet me with a handshake and some pleasant comments before joining the other singers with his tenor voice. Sometime I would dare join my voice to theirs with an improvised Baritone harmony, but could notice that they were not keenly interested with my help. A few times Wilson Innocent would join them. I would stay a while to watch them in their rehearsal until my attention would wear off, and decide to move away toward other locations or other things One Friday after the family service to begin the Sabbath, Edner and Gabriel arrived at the same time, and by their enthusiastic demeanor I could deduct that they were in a hurry to go somewhere and were rushing Jeanty to get ready to leave his home . I inquired about their destination and Gabriel told me it was a surprised while jokingly inviting me to follow them if I was brave enough to dare. Exiting the corridor on Reunion Street, they took the direction leading the to Big Temple where they met with Marcel Francois and Willy Jean Michel. My first impression was that they were going to perform at some Church event, but after saying a few words in low voices between themselves that I could not perceive, they left in the direction of the Champs de Mars. There they selected a well lit bu deserted corner of the Park near the Bandstand where they could sit and continue their rehearsal. Apparently their song required the smoothing of various difficult passages that I considered tedious and intolerable to my short patience, I seemed to once again lose interest in their fare, and tiptoed away expecting that by the time they realized my not being there, my silhouette would have already vanished in the shadows of the large trees majestically adorning the park
Long before that time, I always manifested some interest in singing. I grew up with the Church Hymn book, and even had my notebook with hand written copies of my favorite Hymns. A few times I flirted with the idea of singing with the Church children choir, but some mental barrier caused my heart to skip furiously whenever I remembered that I was to stand up on the stage in front of a large crowd of people. There was even that day in the Temple, when I was to sing and recite a Memory verse as part of the presentation by the children for the Thirteenth Sabbath program, but the organizer brother Marcel Bristol Bryce sensing my anxiety leaned down by my ear to whisper that I needed not say my verse. As I grew older, I developed a strong appreciation for group singing, and the quartet format was my preference, perhaps because the first time I saw a group of men singing alone was in a quartet made of a few young men of the Temple among them I recall were Antoine Alexis, Amos St Jean, and two others that I vaguely remember except that one of them could have been Michel Blain, a very gentle and sweet smiling face who died a few months after their song which was “ Savior thy dying Love.” As I heard their song, I thought to myself that someday I would want to be part of a quartet as well. My father sang Bass with the all men Church Choir under Yves Edward. One Sabbath afternoon he invited me to attend the rehearsal since I was curious to see what happened in a choir. Being the only child among the adults, everyone had a comment about my presence but I remember Yves Edward telling them that one day I would sing with Tenor voice probably judging by my boyish soprano.
The years had passed and I became better acquainted with the other members from Edner’s singing group. Wilson and I had a fraternal sort of friendship while Gabriel and Edner graciously afforded me the pleasure of their attention. That group became an eclectic amalgam of members from various Churches of the City counting at certain times a membership of eight singers. By the time I decided to follow Jeanty to Martissant, I had come to realize that when Edner and his group would be singing there, the membership would return to the format of a traditional quartet with Jeanty, Gabriel, Clarel Farreau, and Edner. Since I watched them practicing, a few times I “hijacked” their performances by joining them uninvited. It did not take me long to understand how rude I was to jump between those guys and play Goofy with their songs, then I refrained myself from such shameful eccentricity..
Edner and I took the habit of walking home together after the Vesper services at Martissant that marked the close of Sabbaths. Two months after my Evangelical Baptism as we walked in the seemingly darkness of the evening, Edner without preamble announced that I was chosen to join his singing group. I was exceedingly pleased and immediately accepted his invitation. We were two weeks away from the Thirteen Sabbath of the First yearly trimester which at Martissant was always a day of great festivity concluding by tradition with the Sacred Communion, my greatest joy was to be a part of the day’s celebration as Edner and I met with Jeanty to practice my two first songs with the quartet. No word could express the joy I felt to finally be part of a serious musical adventure. I had no difficulty learning the Baritone part of the two songs, like if I always knew the parts, although of them had no closeness to familiarity.
The morning of the last Sabbath in March arrived. As usual I met with jeanty for the walk to Martissant. Not as before when he was the one to pick me up from home on Sabbath mornings, the table had turned and I was so very eager to be at Martissant the small Country Church where I felt loved and at home so much that I became the one pushing Jeanty when we had to walk to Martissant. In That morning of my first performance, Jeanty and I were officiating the Sabbath School program so I did not need to wait in the aisle to walk forward when we had the cue to climb the podium. The first song went without incident and I somehow felt a sense of relief as my heart was racing from the freight of singing in public with a quartet for the first time.
From the beginning I wanted not to only be a quartet member but being able to contribute something to it. I had a few moths before the opportunity to see the famous King’s Heralds singing, and I braved myself to initiate contact with their arranger and quartet Baritone Wayne Hooper. He provided me during for the next few years with all sorts of his arrangements for male quartets which somehow brought us to become like rising stars in the Seventh day Adventist community. We were constantly busy going from one Church function to another as invited to perform. Usually we would be announced as “ the quartet of Martissant “ which somehow I found to be very impersonal. I proposed to Edner to decide on finding a name for the quartet. One day as we were having our rehearsals, he brought the suggest to the attention of the members who presented a few names that did not seem to fly very far. I suddenly opened my mouth to propose “ The Sentinels of Faith !, ” and the name was unanimously accepted, and from that time we requested to no longer be introduced as the quartet of Martissant.
From time to time, when there would be the need to perform a song that I had not practiced before or had no time to practice, Clarel would return to take his place with the quartet while I would sit to listen. The introduction of the new four male voice arrangements gave us a boost in sound quality and enrichment of repertoire as we sang songs such as WALK IN JERUSALEM, and many others which were translated in French.
Through the second year, we were constantly involved in various activities outside of the Church such as visiting members in need of spiritual support, or on Sunday afternoons attending evangelical meetings either in the open air at a meeting site in zone called Savanne salee, ( Salted meadow ) and occasionally meeting during the weeks for new song rehearsals in preparation for events where we were to perform. A new Martissant Church member Jacques Duroseau was invited to join us as First tenor singing side by side with Jeanty. His stay with us was shorten as he was called after a few months to serve as Evangelist teacher in a far region of the Country. We then returned to our formation until Edner and Gabriel got married and were themselves called to serve as Missionaries both at almost the same time. Around that same period Wilson began to continuously attend Church services in Martissant as a visitor; I invited him to reclaim his place as a Sentinel with Jeanty and myself, and for a while we endeavored to sing as a trio. The idea then came to me to invite Clarel for a return as our fourth member but he mentioned his newly becoming a father and the various activities that his role encompassed, adding the different aspects of other responsibilities which kept him always busy. Undefeated, I spoke with the other members about the possibility to use Lucienne Fontus as a First tenor since she carried a smooth Alto voice which could blend very well with our male voices. Although there was no objection from the active members of the quartet, when it came to those who sang before with us, some of them protested to the defacing of their quartet in bringing in a female member, to them after all the Sentinels of Faith was a male quartet. Lucienne having been told of that controversy wanted to rescind her acceptance but I convinced her to hang on while we would let the storm calm itself. Lucienne sang with us until Wilson relocated his membership with a new formed Church at the Auditorium. That was a setback to our activities but the works of the Lord never suffer for lack of laborers. Soon arose different other entities at Horeb such as Lesly Theodore’s quartet and later the Carillon des Jeunes which picked and carried the torch of musical activities for the benefit of the Church family.
Even when the quartet had stopped singing I always kept in mind the desire to create programs to bring us together. Our last opportunity was in March 1970 when I only had a blurred vision of my upcoming departure from the birth land. Ironically it was the first time that we met for a Sabbath afternoon concert in our own Church of Horeb. Gabriel was amiss but like the first time I sang with them, we were Wilson, Jeanty, Edner and myself standing there shoulder to shoulder in a performance still engraved in my memory as my swan song like if I felt that we would never in our lifetime meet to sing again in that Church or in that same formation. After my departure from Port-au-Prince, the quartet had gone into some sort of hiatus but as we regrouped in the United States, I sometimes dreamed again of the good old days and how we might rise to sing again.
The year 2005 was to be our banner year as the quartet turned Fifty years old. From December of 2004 to July of 2005, we had some glad opportunities to meet in songs either in New York City or in East Orange, New Jersey where for our last appearance we presented a Sabbath afternoon concert assisted by two gentlemen who lent their First tenor voices, and a gifted young Pianist who joined his talents to our songs. In my way of being proactive, I would have wished to see that those artists could keep their place with us, but if there is no limit to my imagination certainly there are some to my reach..
When during a vacation trip to Florida the troubling news came that Jeanty was sick and suffering after a life threatening surgery, at my return to Massachusetts I joined with the other members for a special visit to the Southeast coast in order to see and share our love with Jeanty. Wilson, Gabriel, Edner and I, with him for a fraternal dinner on a Friday afternoon. The second scheme of the plan was to drive Jeanty back to his home where we would serve him a songfest for dessert.
Despite the road fatigue causing my voice to turn coarse, I had a personal pleasure playing with Gabriel as we kept switching First and Second Tenor voices in various songs while he was driving us on the way to Jeanty’s home. We certainly had a very pleasant time with his family, and Edner’s wife Virginie who had followed the quartet through the years took the occasion to reminisce the many tales of our past, bringing everyone to blast into laughter. .
An unfortunate event brought us to sing again together in December of 2006. Paulette Appolon Luc Edner’s sister and a long time friend of our quartet had passed away, and we were there to sing at her funeral ceremony. Amid the sadness of such a somber circumstance, I felt some inner joy to be again singing with Gabriel , Edner, Wilson and Jeanty. As we sang the last word of the last phrase in the song, something surprising and curious happened: As our voices went silent the whole crowd attendees stood on its feet to thunderously applauded our performance. To my knowledge that was the first time in a Seventh Day Adventist Church there was applauding at funeral.
LE CARILLON DES JEUNES
By Joel Mentor
November 1st, 2007
THEN CAME THE CARILLON DES JEUNES
In the early morning of January 1st 1968, I was with many others at the Church Horeb to attend the customary first spiritual service of the year. Before the last prayer, the newly appointed Church officers were asked to stand up for a special prayer of consecration. Somehow it was then that I realized with a bit of sadness that, for the second year in a row, I was not considered by the nominating committee for any service in the Church. Curiously the position of Director of Youth Activities was to be vacant although officially somebody was chosen and voted by the Church to act as such.
The weeks had turned into months while such a vibrant entity as the Youth activities was nothing less than a silent and void instrument. Bewildered, many were asking what was going on with the youth activities, and there was no serious answer to that question since nobody really could discover a possible explanation to that situation. In frustration I abstained from arguing over that matter even more, there was not much that I could personally do. It was sure that just like me, many were trying to find a way out of that impasse but without success. To compound the difficulties certain leaders from the Church jumped on the bandwagon bailing out of Horeb like if a contagious plague had descended over the Church, accepting an invitation to be transferred to a newly formed Church at the Auditorium as a result we saw Wilson Innocent, Dumas Benjamin, Yvon Frank and others walking away while our reserve of young leaders was being alarmingly depleted. For a while I placed myself as bystander hoping that sooner or later something will change perhaps by itself. Admirably, Leslie Theodore by his own initiative gathered some of his friends and together they formed a new quartet comprising of Mac Connell Thevenin, his brother Claude, Leslie Theodore, and Probably Vilaire Mehus as the fourth member. That superb vocal quartet of young men picked up at the point where the Sentinels of Faith quartet had left, and sang beautifully for the services at the Church of Horeb. I found some consolation seeing that they were trying in their own way to fill the void, and encouraged their harmonizing as much as I could.
As being the newer Master Guide in the Church, many came to implore me to do something like a sudden coup d’etat or a takeover of the Youth activities, but I resisted the idea with the counter argument that if the Church did not nominate me to any post for the year, they must have decided for some secret reason that I was not worthy of their choices. My mind was at ease and I wished to keep it that way. However, I could only wish it could be so since I was losing my sleep over the situation to the point where I formed the plan to share my thoughts with Pastor Michelet Cherefant who was the Youth Department Director and at the same time the Pastor who distantly over viewed the administration of Horeb. In a morning of mid July I was in his office discussing my willingness to take charge of the Youth activities at the Church Horeb which he enthusiastically applauded while advising me to present my desire to the Church board members and obtain their blessing.
The Church board was convened in a special meeting to hear my say and everyone walked out of that meeting shaking hands with me as if they felt relieved that a solution to their problem was found, sensing that at last the time of the headless Youth Activities Department was at hand. My first task was to pick a new staff. I submitted the name of Lucienne Fontus as Assistant director, Etzer Blanc as secretary and by request of Emmanuel Mondesir his daughter Lea was retained as Assistant secretary, Lucienne also was to serve as the Pathfinders’ director and my friend Verdieu Desir was chosen to be my advisor. A few days later, while alone I was thinking of the best way to begin our activities, it came to my mind the idea of bringing back to Horeb all those who have had a part in the Youth activities for a whole Sabbath day affair which was dubbed The grand Jubilee. The program according to the well wishers was a great success, but later in the evening after I realized that something that should have happened at the Jubilee did not take place. I missed hearing the voice of the Pathfinders singing some of those joyous choruses that we so much enjoyed before. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that I should speak with Lucienne so we may have Pathfinders singing at our very next youth rally. In bed that night I could not sleep being visited by the memories of the good old days when I was leading the Pathfinder’s Club, and the warmth moments of songfest that I intimately enjoyed. Those Pathfinders although coming to age were still in the Church, and perhaps I could even arrange to have them join their voices to the active Club members. Another thought slipped into my mind as I wondered if it would not be a good idea to simply form a permanent singing group with them. Even if some of them would turn down my invitation, I was certain there would be enough of them to agree with me so we could start a small choir.
The next day, I approached Lucienne and Verdieu to collect their advice over that matter to which they both agree without reservation, except when it came to consider who would be the Music director. My offer to fill that chair was accepted but not without some doubtful remarks as the advisors would have preferred the choice of a musician with a prestigious name. Through the miracles of my personal life I have always been confident that God has His hand in the events before me, and when He wants me to do something for his cause He can inspire me to perform according to his will just like He did for Moses, or Balam’s donkey. I had firm belief that God would guide me in directing the singing group.
Before the end of the week we met again to further discuss and iron out the little details of the project. Verdieu out rightly wanted to see that we pick a name for the group, one thing that never truly crossed my mind. Each one of the two had different suggestions of names that could fit the group, yet every time there were contradicting comments to dismiss the choices. Suddenly I uttered timidly “what about Carillon, The Carillon des Jeunes?” After they repeated the name a few times like to see if it was an easy name to pronounce, there was no need to revisit that suggestion, the name was immediately accepted and I felt like if God Himself has placed his hand in blessing over the formation of the group. We all took charge the next day which was the Sabbath to contact the different prospective singers. My first decision was to only invite the old Pathfinders, but Lucienne realized that we might want to include a certain amount of lay members as well among whom we had Antonio Villars, Vilaire Mehus, Mrs Pierre Paul Jerome, Jose Delui, Ruth Barthelmy and Ruth Sanon. The old Pathfinders were Andree Lochard, Jocelyne Blanc, Nicole Raphael, The De Baygon sisters Marie Lucie and Jeanine, Michaele Collin, Carlo and Sonia Jean Baptiste, Leslie Theodore, Lionel Dupre, Samuel Sylvan, Mac Connell Thevenin. The plan was to never enlarge the group beyond a total of twenty two members.
Wasting no time I convoked the chosen members to meet for the first rehearsal the Friday evening of that same week. In preparing for the rehearsal, I made the tour of the different music sources available, even stopped at the Library of the Haitian American Institute where I was able to borrow a few song books which became a big help in filling a repertoire with some easy but entertaining materials. We worked hard during the coming week with two separate rehearsals so the second Sunday after the formation of the group we were able to perform in our first public concert.
Overnight, the name of the Carillon des Jeunes had become a sort of celebrity and many even from other Churches sought my attention to comment about what they felt when we had the first concert, as they wished a long life to our activities. The carillon somehow turned to be the focus of the Church youth activities, although many things were progressing all at once. We ventured to visit other Churches for concerts, and became the favorites of the Southern Mission, and the Franco Haitian Union leaders who took advantage of our availability to include us in their programs even when they would be held outside of the City of Port-au-Prince. It must also be noted the contribution of Leslie Theodore who many times volunteered to keep things rolling with the Carillon either when I would be late arriving to a rehearsal or at times when at the last moment I could not at all attend a rehearsal he would step in and conduct the meeting in my stead, I wish to again thank him for bailing me out so gallantly.
At a certain point of my tenure as Youth Director, I realized that there was a need to improve my touch and bring the youth and Carillon to higher level. At that point it could have been only a dream, but from time to time at night I would turn in my bed wondering what else could be done. I envisioned seeing a short movie strip by the Pathfinders, and a recorded disc by the Carillon des Jeunes that would be unveiled during a performance tour in the north of the Country. Yet on a quiet Sabbath afternoon, I was returning from a youth meeting that Leslie and friends organized at Dick Kinney when suddenly something clicked in my mind like if God was telling me what the next thing to do, and from that time like John the Baptist looking at Jesus, I felt that Leslie was going to be the one to pass the torch to. I must know that I could not tell what was going on in my life but I knew that 1970 was to bring some changes either by death or an opportunity to finally leave the Country. Leslie was then asked to be my Assistant Director for that year of 1970, from that time I endeavored myself to give him as much free hand to circle around the Administration as he could have time to do since he was very busy with his studies. Today I am still praising the Lord for His goodness in leading me as He did, and still carrying me as His own even when I fall undeserving of his favors. The thoughts of leaving Haiti must have been a part of my childhood dreams, but the actuality of such a dream to become real took only a few days… even faster that I expected.
Two days before my departure from Haiti I convened the Carillon in an emergency meeting. At my arrival to the Church the Carillon members were already there, waiting to know why they were called to be there. Pressed to speak, I had no time to confer with Leslie, and could simply present him to the other members as the new leader, the man who would bring the youth through the higher level that I dreamed of, and head of the Carillon. God has blessed his efforts even in greater portion as He did mine, and the Carillon des Jeunes remains as a group no matter if in a new Country. Let the Music of the Carillon ring and may their voices keep ascending in praise to the name of the Lord, because He is Great.
Looking back on those days, it is with amazement that I carry the memories of what has been done in so little time and I am still convinced that God’s blessings have stayed on Horeb and the effort of forming the Carillon des Jeunes.
RODNEY JN BAPTISTE
Rodney : Un musicien modele
Rodney a grandi à l’église d’Horeb. Sa mère Germaine Jean-Baptiste (Soeur Constant) qui lui apprit à aimer le message adventiste, dès l’âge de deux ans l’emmenant aux chantiers missionnaires. En deux occasions au moins, durant des croisades au Champ de Mars et à Fontamara, le garçonnet s’égara dans la foule, mais parvint néanmoins à regagner sain et sauf sa demeure, guidé par l’Esprit de Dieu.
A l’âge de quatorze ans, après son baptême, Rodney fut transféré par l’Eglise Mère à Grand Ravine où il profita pour recevoir de profondes leçons de sagesse et d’humilité qui guident sa vie aujourd’hui encore. Ainsi se développe chez lui une attirance pour les petites communautés chrétiennes dont Decayette. Cependant il ne manqua jamais de revenir à Horeb à l’occasion des réunions de jeunesse ou à la faveur des campagnes d’évangélisation, journées et soirées récréatives.
Très tôt, il éprouve une grande passion pour la musique en général, la guitare en particulier. Rodney a composé beaucoup de chansons chrétiennes, certaines interprétées par sa sœur Margareth Bonhomme. En 1994 il lance un album « A Sacred moment with the Guitar » publié et distribué par Chapel Records de Pacific Press. Ses musiques instrumentales de méditation sont très souvent diffusées sur Family Radio qui a fait de « Joy and Peace » un morceau d’Introduction de Programme. Sous cet endossement, cet album est distribué à travers le monde. Un invité spécial dans cet album est son frère Wesner Jean-Baptiste, une virtuose de la guitare, surnommé « L’Aigle des Monts ».
Exigeant envers lui-même, Rodney ne se considère pas pour autant un guitariste professionnel, estimant qu’il ne joue pas encore au niveau voulu. Pour le moment, Dieu, sa famille et ses occupations professionnelles occupent presque entièrement son emploi du temps. Son épouse Myrlande, ses enfants Jethro et Vanessa font principalement la joie de sa vie.
Rodney est détenteur d’un CMA (Certified Mangement Accountant) agrémentés de titres académiques en comptabilité, informatique et d’un doctorat (Ph.D) en administration. Consultant pour plusieurs entreprises de renom, Dr. Rodney Jean-Baptiste est aussi professeur dans divers Collèges et Universités aux USA, dont la Southern New Hampshire University.
Son rêve est de devenir un guitariste accompli quand il pourra disposer de plus de temps pour pratiquer. Mais son désir le plus ardent est d’aller au ciel un jour, vivre avec Jésus, voir sa famille, ses amis, et évidemment tous les Horebiens qui ont fait la joie de ses plus jeunes années!
