Description
The word “Anmwe” is a very powerful exclamation in the Creole language. It is hard to find an exact word in English to translate it effectively. To cry “Anmwe” is to convey pain, emotional torment and heartache on the deepest level. The piece was inspired by a gut-wrenching documentary which included a mother’s tear-jerking reaction to the sudden loss of her three sons, blatantly killed during the ongoing conflict between the university students of Port-au-Prince and the government of Haiti at the time [2005]. The mother, having lost her sanity, spoke of her grief, mentioning how she wished they had also killed her so that she would not have to endure that excruciating pain. The text of Anmwe is written in the point of view of a mother who has lost everything.
Translation of Haitian Creole text:
If you can, tell me
what pain is greater
than a mothers pain,
my heart is tearing,
my soul is aching.
Who will tell me
why they killed my child.
Help me yell, help me scream,
ones pain is everyones pain
The one who hits forgets,
the one with the scar remembers.
A day for the hunter,
a day for the hunted.
I swear to God it will not happen this way.
I will yell, I will scream,
I will make the earth shake
so that justice and peace
can spread throughout the world.
My tears have dried
all my bones are broken
my soul is delirious.
Im screaming help
during the night, just as the day…
Click Here for complete text and English translation
Click HereTraducción al Español
Recordings
Anmwe – recording 1:
St.Cloud State University Concert Choir
Matthew Ferrel, conductor
Anmwe – recording 2:
University of Miami Frost Chorale
Jo-Michael Scheibe, conductor
Perusal Score
Performance Videos
Practice Tracks
