After singing with talent and enthusiasm “Ou pati / Hello Baby” and “Baby I miss you”, Michael Benjamin (Mikaben) collapsed on stage and died on Saturday October 15, 2022, while he was hosting the concert of return of the Carimi group to the Accor Arena in Paris.
The singer collapsed shortly following 11 p.m. Paris time, never to get up despite the first aid provided on the spot by a medical team. Mikaben, who had just delivered a fiery performance in front of more than ten thousand people, greeted the audience and then collapsed on the stage.
The concert ended abruptly when Mickael Guirand came to announce that we had to evacuate the room. “It’s very complicated,” he said. “We need prayers”, for Mikaben.
At this time, people fainted in the room. The public understands that the rescuers called a few minutes before were trying to save the life of the singer.
An hour later, despite all attempts to revive him, Michael Benjamin was pronounced dead.
The return concert of the group Carimi presented itself as a very great moment for Haitian music. For the first time, a group dissolved in full glory – it was in 2016 – is reconstituted by launching a challenge never taken up by any orchestra in the history of Haitian music: to fill a room of more than ten thousand seats with a single musical group.
Carimi had taken up the challenge. Fans of the group had traveled from all over the world to cheer on Carlo Vieux, Richard Cavé, Mickael Guirand and their musician friends.
It is in this context that Mikaben, who had had great success with the group during fruitful collaborations, was invited. He had prepared for the show, had confided his expectations to the journalists of Ticket all week, happy to find the group and the public.
After a successful first part, Mikaben had raised the second part of the show before collapsing.
Aged 41, son of singer and lyricist Lionel Benjamin, Mikaben has spent his entire life making music since his appearance, very young, in the famous Chante Nwèl competition at Télémax.
Headliner in the past of the group Krezi Mizik, Mika, versatile, was known for his collaborations with several groups and artists. He was the ideal partner to write a song, enhance a performance and whitewash a room.
Mikaben expected a lot from this concert on October 15, 2022, Carimi’s reunion following the breakup of 2016 which had seen the group break up.
This concert at the Accor Arena in Paris presented itself as the highlight of the year and even as a peak in the history of Haitian music.
With the death on stage of Mikaben, it is Michael Benjamin – who goes down in history.
Mika gave everything to music until he died in full glory, under the spotlights and in front of the eyes of the public who, a few minutes before, adored him.
Frantz Duval
