Mach-Hommy didn’t enter my cultural conscience until I gave a closer listen to Westside Gunn’s track “Margiela Split Toes.” His richly deep tone and smooth elisions floated above the syncopated trumpet refrain like a Dizzy Gillespie solo. Still, it would be another year before I delved more deeply into his music.
When I probed further and listened with an independent ear, I learned that Mach-Hommy embodies diaspora, both through his projects and his heritage. A mixture of advocacy and straightforward storytelling, his 2021 albums Balens Cho (Hot Candles) and Pray for Haiti comprise a complex narrative about both Haitian and American (and Haitian American) cultures, with clear nods to diasporic jazz traditions and a bit of Kreyol mixed in. He remains entirely anonymous, often masked with a Haitian flag emblazoned across his face, reflecting the masquerade performances found across the diaspora and creating ambiguity around modern conceptions of authorship and ownership. Further, he’s used the royalties from streams and funds raised from his Cash App tag $payforhaiti to contribute to Haitian education, highlighting the power of remittance for the country. Given my strong interest in lyrics and production (I was originally going to minor in music), I would love to explore his work even further through my final project, through an analytic lens that peers at his musical sounds and text, his connections to Africana masquerade and performance arts, and the tradition of using music (especially jazz) as a form of advocacy. If possible, I would delve even deeper to find other artists who have attempted to forge new narratives about Haiti or other countries within the diaspora. This could take the form of a paper, but I would also be interested in producing a more creative audio-visual project.