"She was very bold, " said Ensler, who at Merlet's insistence brought her play "The Vagina Monologues" to Haiti and helped establish safe houses for women in Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien.

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Septen was co-founded in 1948 in the northern city of Cap-Haitien by saxophonist Ulrich Pierre Louis at a time when most Haitian bands were playing music from neighboring Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

WSJ: The Enduring Voice of Haiti