(SOUNDBITE OF JERMAINE FROM THE SOUTH SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's estimated that fewer than 10,000 people speak Louisiana Creole. Well, Jermaine Butler does.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
JERMAINE BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole).
SIMON: He's been performing for years under the name Jermaine from the South. But he began to reconnect with his Creole roots, and his song, "Dan Vi-Cila," is one of the first that he wrote in Louisiana Creole. It follows his breakup with the woman he thought he'd be with for the rest of his life. That was his entry into this year's Tiny Desk Contest. And each year, we showcase some of the best entries.
BUTLER: This relationship - it was a real bad breakup that just kind of came out of nowhere. I don't want to get too much into the details, but it just - it wasn't good. And it definitely left me in a place where I was just, like, very confused as to, like, what my life was going to be like moving forward.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole).
The song, literally - it's just, like, a chronicle of, like, a year or so in my life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole).
Singing this song in Creole - in the beginning, it was, you know, sort of this masking opacity sort of thing, where I could really talk about some emotions and feelings that I was going through in my life that are, you know, just things in general that I wouldn't feel comfortable talking about in English. So an approach is, like, I can do this in Creole, and, like, people will understand. But it's only going to be, like, you know, a certain amount of people, and I could, like, just express myself - not only in a way to where, like, I was comfortable but in, like, a way that was artistically connected to Louisiana heritage and Creole heritage. Just because, you know, whenever you're speaking a language or you're making art in a language, you're going to be talking about your feelings, your emotions, your sentiments and all of that. All of that can be filtered through the language.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole).
The chorus of the song goes, (speaking Louisiana Creole). And so that just means, but in this life, she taught me, we ain't got long, my friend. You guys might recognize the word padna, which is one of the words that we use in Louisiana Creole for friend.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole).
The main lesson, really, which is nothing lasts forever, even if you think it will. So just try and do the best that you can. Enjoy it the most while you can and just, like, not take it for granted while you're there.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole).
I am just very lucky to be playing this role of musician in the Louisiana Creole language renaissance, or Kouri-Vini, as they call it, as well, and just, like, pushing the language forward. It's something that needs to be preserved, and something that a lot of people have been trying to do by giving classes and just being more active online within TikTok, social media, Instagram, and all that. I can start learning this language. This is, like, a heritage language for me that people in my family spoke some generations ago. And so it'll help me get back in touch, you know, with my own personal family history but also just with the history of our local culture. And it's amazing the things that you find and you learn about yourself whenever you start to learn this language.
SIMON: That's Jermaine from the South and his song, "Dan Vi-Cila," one of NPR's Tiny Desk Contest entries.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAN VI-CILA")
BUTLER: (Rapping in Louisiana Creole). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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