Wyclef, Akon Put A Spotlight On Haiti’s Suffering And Beauty At Yele Festival
December 15, 2007 - Capital square, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Haiti’s most famous diplomat was very busy over the weekend in his native country. Wyclef Jean co-headlined the first Yele Festival with Akon; the event was the brainchild of the two recording artists and manager Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond.
The two-day event included a tour of Haiti for journalists on Friday and a concert fundraiser Saturday.
“We cater to the press, answering questions, visiting the children’s prisons [in Port-au-Prince], the schools,” Rosemond said Friday. ” … There’s not too much stuff to do in Haiti. For it to be a two-day event is even big in itself. We’re trying to do something with Yele like how [Reggae] Sunsplash was for Jamaica. This will be a yearly event. In between, we’ll have smaller shows and cap off every year around this time with some of the biggest artists in the world.”
The Haitian-born Wyclef made a deal that he would perform in Senegal (Akon was born in St. Louis but raised in Senegal) sometime next year in return for ‘Kon performing in his homeland.


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