Misié Sadik tells the story behind the music video of "On Sèl Kou"
I’ve been hearing about Misié Sadik [t/n: Mister Sadist in Kréyol] for a few years. In 2018, his song “O Swè La” was everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. I thought the song was nice, but I didn’t get the craze. And then I saw it live at La Cigale in April 2019 and I got it. In my review available in the French special edition #2 of my podcast Karukerament, I talk about the most beautiful moment of that night: his duet with Dominik Coco on the song “On Sèl Kou”. With this track released in 2009, Guadeloupean people opened their heart to Misié Sadik who jumped straight from the underground scene to the mainstream scene. Singer Stevy Mahy likes the “On Sèl Kou” music video because “it describes well the paradox that Guadeloupe represents. It denounces as much as it’s full of love for the country and its people”. In this new Music Video focus, Misié Sadik tells us the story of this time capsule from the late 2000’s.
Before we get into the music video, I’d like to know a little bit more about the creating process behind the song “On Sèl Kou”. It’s the Kreyol expression for the English word “Suddenly” or “All At Once”. I'm far from being a dancehall expert, but it seems to me that it's quite rare for dancehall artists to promote an acoustic song. Especially when the song is about Guadeloupe’s socio-economic problems.
I clearly remember the state of mind I was in when I wrote the song "On Sèl Kou". I had put myself in the shoes of a young Guadeloupean man concerned by the socio-economic reality of his country. It's a song that didn't always exist in an acoustic version. I recorded it in 2007 on a rap beat, but it was a combination of circumstances that led me to deliver the text through an acoustic version. Some of my cousins play the guitar. They stopped by my house one day. They made me listen to some melodies they had. I adapted the text to the guitar and I thought it was great, so I recorded the song like that and it stayed that way. Then I included it on my album “Pli Lwen Ki Zyé” which was released in 2009. The song wasn't meant to be the first promo single or anything. It was really spontaneous. When I listened to the album, it was obvious to me that it should be the first title track.
Did the fact that it was an acoustic version influence the concept of the music video ?
To be quite honest, I never really asked myself this question when I was shooting the video. What's important to me is to be able to create a visual for the song. It's true that being able to make a music video at that time was already a great opportunity. So the requirements weren't very important, but I still wanted to be able to deliver a visual that was authentic enough.
What do you mean by authentic?
In the sense that I wouldn't say that the music video is hyper-conceptual, but the visual is authentic because we see a little bit of that hood reality, some of the difficulties that young people can face. We also see young people who are trying to get by, like the shirt maker on the boulevard, the one who weaves hats with coconut leaves, etc. It wasn’t also about just showing negative things. It was about giving a little bit of hope to the viewer with the small means we had at the time. I was fully involved in the making of this music video, but I was open to the different suggestions the people who were with me at the time made.
Indeed. I was surprised when I first watched the music video. There are black and white sequences alternating with full color sequences. The contrast creates this atmosphere between the intimate and the collective.
I remember that the director of the video had suggested a black and white music video, something I hadn't necessarily opted for. So we kept the black and white shots because they made it look better and conveyed a certain melancholy. The color sequences are usually the most joyful, positive shots.
These joyful sequences are the ones we get to see you surrounded by many people. How did you cast these extras ?
As I said, the means I had at that time were different from the ones I have today. The music video was shot on location because we couldn't afford to go to the studio. We didn't want to make a postcard-like video. Although it doesn’t matter because wherever we film in Guadeloupe, we end up with beautiful images. We shot mainly in my home town of Sainte-Anne, hence the fact that most of the people in the video are Sainte-Anne residents. They are friends, family members, people I know personally. What appears as anonymous faces to the viewer are faces that I know and that I encounter on a daily basis for the most part. It was necessary for me to have this real and true aspect. We see a lot of images from my neighborhood, the one where I grew up: Dupré. In fact, the mural you can see in the music video was shot live while we were filming.
And does the mural still exist?
Yes, you can still see it in the Dupré district.
Something else caught my attention in your visual: your t-shirt with the Madras striped fabric.
It wasn't the kind of music video where we’d be changing outfits several times. The guy who did the mural is the one who made the t-shirt. He added this Madras striped fabric at my request as a reminder to the cover of the “Pli Lwen Ki Zyé” album. This Madras striped fabric was a reference to the Creole, Caribbean side. On the back of the t-shirt, it’s written the name of the person who made it: KéOz.
Can you share an anecdote about the video filming ?
It's true that we had a lot of fun shooting the video. At one point, we see policemen, but that's because we filmed them discreetly. I think it was a foot patrol. They were passing by and it was good timing because we wanted images of the police. With the director, we had to be a bit cunning to get some images on the fly, which would be a little more difficult to do today.
If you had to reshoot the music video today, would you change anything?
I don't know if I’d change something. Its simplicity and authenticity that make it what it is today. That's how it was able to make a difference back then. When you watched that music video, you were already seeing something different.
Imagine a 10 year old child watching this music video in 2100. What comments do you hope to hear?
Since it’s a 10 year old child, I hope this child realize that he or she wasn't born when the video was shot. There are no comments that I’d hope to hear in particular because this is just a visual. The music video is a part of my work, but I'm mostly a lyricist and a performer. I wish the child would have listened to the lyrics and realized that, even though the images look a bit old and it’s a 4:3 video, it was our reality at a time when he or she wasn’t even born yet.
"On Sèl Kou" was released more than ten years ago and is undoubtedly one of your audience's favorite titles. In your opinion, what is the secret of this longevity?
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the song spoke as much to purists, people who had been following me for quite some time, as to a new audience that I was able to acquire with the release of this track. The young and the not-so-young joined the song. It's a song that, in my opinion, is still relevant today. And I have the opportunity to check it at each one of my performances and at each one of my concerts, since it still gets strong reactions from the public. If you listen to the song too, you can see that the things I'm talking about are even more valid in 2020 than in 2009. Unfortunately.
Unfortunately, but we are fortunate to have artists singing our realities to get us through difficult times. Thank you very much for answering these questions. Before leaving, can you tell us more about your future projects?
The lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic have been a bit of a shock. I should be touring in France in 2021. The tour will include Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse, Montpellier, maybe Marseille. And it will end in Paris, but I don't have a precise date. Otherwise my three albums are still available, so you can stream them on any streaming platforms and you can follow me on social media.
Karukerament thanks Misié Sadik for his time. You can follow him on Twitter (@MisieSadik) and Instagram (@misie_sadik_officiel). See you next week for my review of his music video “On Sèl Kou”.