The Lisette Project:

This program features “Lisette quitté la plaine,” the oldest known song text in early Haitian Creole. Composed around 1757 in Saint-Domingue by French colonist Duvivier de la Mahautière, it tells the poignant story of an enslaved African man. Set to the popular French melody “Que ne suis-je la fougère,” the song weaves together Creole and European elements. The program follows its remarkable journey across Haiti, France, Cuba, New Orleans, and back to its place of origin in Haiti.