On the anniversary of Haitian singer Mikaben’s death, his legacy is celebrated in Haiti

Roseline Benjamin was sketching out a plan on promoting peace in Haiti among the country’s youth when she turned to her youngest son, saw the sadness in his eyes, and asked him to come join her “to put peace in Haiti.”

Haitian singer Michael “Mikaben” Benjamin would die unexpectedly before he could help his mother. But in the year since his shocking death on the night of Oct. 15, 2022 during a concert in Paris, his legacy and spirit have served as inspiration and will be the focus of a multi-day commemoration this weekend in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s northern city. There, his family, friends and fellow artists are planning to honor his memory and vision for a better Haiti.

From a visit to the country’s famed 19th-century mountaintop fortress, the Citadelle Laferrière in the city of Milot, to a Roman Catholic Mass at the Cap-Haïtien Cathedral, to a visit on Tuesday to the city of Limonade to plant trees in his honor, the singer’s death will be marked with a sense of purpose by those determined to carry out his vision.

“Haiti stood up for Mika and showed him love when he left us,” said older brother Lionel. “It was important for us to commemorate the first anniversary in Haiti, especially in this time of crisis to show Haiti love the same way Haiti showed love.”

Singer Richard Cave, who plans to be among the musicians in attendance, said his friend and longtime collaborator was “a legend who we need to honor.”

“I think we tend to forget our artists really fast,” Cave said, adding that Mikaben “gave us 25 years of amazing music.”

The Benjamin family has not only found comfort in Mikaben’s love of Haiti but in his music. Both his sister, Mélodie, and dad, Lionel Sr., who are also singers, have returned to the stage to promote his legacy. They’ve had concerts in South Florida, New York and elsewhere while his mother uses her pain to to try and help others.

He was “a child whom I loved a lot. If someone had told me I would have lost one of my children I would have told them they were crazy,” Roseline Benjamin said, explaining that she is living “the biggest drama, the biggest suffering I’ve experienced in my life.”

Yet, she finds solace in continuing the work they planned to do together in a country where the family still lives despite the daily difficulties with armed gangs, rampant violence and kidnappings.

A psychologist and grief counselor, Roseline Benjamin knows there is no blueprint when it comes to mourning, and it’s not simply a process of moving on. Getting through grief, requires finding a way to move forward in a meaningful way.

For her that has meant finding a purpose, which she believes she has found by continuing to build on her son’s legacy, which wasn’t just about writing and performing music, but using his music to inspire and promote a different image of the country beyond its volatility and despair.

Haitians were reminded of this last week when the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, quoted the late singer’s lyrics, as she told Haitians that “help and hope are on the way,” after the U.N. Security Council voted to authorized the deployment of a Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti, led by Kenya, to help the police disarm gangs.

Roseline Benjamin says she was comforted by the acknowledgment. She believes that her son’s untimely departure is aligned with what is unfolding in Haiti. “Mika,” she said, “was very attached to Haiti and the situation we are living.”

“Mika isn’t here physically with us, and it’s very difficult,” the family’s matriarch said. “But he’s with us in all of the projects that we are doing.”

The conversation in which she invited the singer to come join her occurred about a month before he collapsed on stage during his performance in Paris before a packed arena. He died at the age of 41. Thinking about the violence, the assassination of the president and the despair, “he was sad, he was revolted by what was going on,” Roseline Benjamin said.

They began putting together an action plan and decided to revisit it after he returned from Paris, where he was joining Cave and Mickael Guirand, the lead singers of the Haitian konpa band, CaRiMi, in a historic concert.

“Everything was written,” Roseline Benjamin said, “and I told him when you return from Paris, we will finalize it. And he did not return from Paris.”

As he proceeded to leave the stage after a high-energy performance with a Haitian flag wrapped around him, Mikaben collapsed, leaving a pregnant wife and two young children behind, along with a legion of fans.

“This entire year has been about what we are going to do that is constructive so we can accomplish the mission we had with Mika,” Roseline Benjamin said. “It wasn’t just a mission he had by himself, but something we had together.”

As part of this weekend’s commemoration, her son Lionel, has asked her to make a video about grief. As a professional, she knows all the steps and the advice. But as a mother having to live the unimaginable, she said of her own experience: “We’ve lived the departure of Mika with a courage that we could not have imagined.”