Sou lanmè

Anonymous (Translated by Erol Josué and Laurent Dubois):

This traditional Vodou song recounts the experience of the Middle Passage and presents it as a metaphor for the creation of a new culture in Haiti. Lasiren and Agwe Tawoyo are lwa (gods) in Haitian Vodou who live under the water and control the ocean, ocean crossings, and travel. When the song is sung in a ceremonial context, it places the assembled group back on the slave ship itself, from which entreaties are made to Agwe Tawoyo and Lasirèn, and a future day of liberation is imagined. "In the bottom of the ship / We are all one," the song announces, capturing the ways in which many different African cultures came together to shape Haitian culture. This process is made clear in the structures of Vodou itself, which organizes the lwa according to various African "nations" of origin, including Congo and Nago nations. But here is the most powerful and complex symbolism in the song: though the ship is sinking into the water, by singing the song the Vodou community makes clear that despite exile from Africa and the experiences of slavery they are still, as a community, recalling their history in order to continue struggling in the present.

On the ocean we are sailing
Agwe Tawoyo
There's a time when they'll see us
On the ocean we are sailing

They took our feet
They chained our wrists
They dropped us in the bottom

They took our feet
They chained our wrists
They dropped us in the bottom of the ship

On the ocean we are sailing
Agwe Tawoyo
There's a time when they'll see us

Slave ship under the water
The ocean is bad
The ship is broken
It's ready to sink

Slave ship under the water 
At the bottom of the ocean
It's covered in water
It's ready to sink

In the bottom of the ship
We are all one

In the bottom of the slave ship
If it sinks
No one will be saved
Agwe Tawoyo
We're all on board
Don't you see we're trapped

We're trapped, papa, we're trapped 
We're trapped, Lasirèn, we're trapped