Illegal
by Harmonik · 2013 · kompa, kompa-gouyad · 5:10 · Haitian Creole, French
"Illegal" is a judgment before it becomes a story: something has crossed the boundary of law or acceptance. Harmonik carries the English word over kompa and gouyad in this 2013 recording, which lasts five minutes and ten seconds. Metadata identifies no act, relationship, or rule at issue. This page invents no crime to dramatize the term. It concentrates on friction between prohibition and groove, since music can make what is forbidden sound attractive or urgent. Repetition places the label under pressure, and the lyrics must show whether the voice fears that judgment, defies it, or uses it as metaphor.