Manno Charlemagne is a virtual unknown in the United States. Bernard Pearce of One Man Machine hopes to change that. This fall, he’ll be bringing the Haitian singer to Louisiana for a month-long residency.

In his native Haiti, Charlemagne has been known for decades as a folk singer and political activist. Forced into exile by the Jean-Claude Duvalier regime in the ’80s, he returned in 1986 and supported the populist political movement of Jean Bertrand-Aristide. After Aristide was ousted by the military in a 1991 coup, Charlemagne toured the U.S. and Canada playing his music and fomenting support for Haitian democracy. After Aristide’s 1994 return to power, Charlemagne was elected Mayor of Port-Au-Prince as the candidate of Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party.

Charlemagne lost his home in the earthquakes that ravaged Haiti earlier this year. Pearce first heard of him while listening to NPR. “His home was destroyed,” says Pearce. “His homeland, his whole way of life was just ravaged. It touched me because of what I’d been through during Hurricane Katrina. My house got hit; I lost everything. When I heard about Manno, my heart sunk. When I heard his music, I teared up. As soon as I reached out, I got a response and we’ve been communicating ever since.”

Pearce plans to set Charlemagne up with a series of concerts and lectures in New Orleans and Lafayette. “I’m hoping that New Orleans discovers Manno and that he can make some good connections here,” he says. “I would love to see him find a home, for some record label to work with him and get his music out. I’m hoping to have public awareness of what’s going on in Haiti.”

Pearce was troubled by the fact that the earthquake, the devastating effects of which will be felt in Haiti for many, many years, has faded from international news. “No one’s reporting what’s going on in Haiti now. We lost 1,000 people [1,577 officially] in New Orleans. They lost 200,000 people in that earthquake. Can you imagine?” Charlemagne, says Pearce, is the perfect spokesperson for his country. “He’s like Dr. John. Who better represents the spirit of New Orleans than Dr. John? That’s Manno. He’s a cultural master.”

While the schedule of the residency is still coalescing, Pearce has some general plans. “I’m gonna reach out to people like Cedric Watson, Kermit Ruffins,” he says. “Definitely the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will have something to do with Manno, I can see some collaboration there. Ben Jaffe from the Hall is interested.”

“Right now Manno’s in Miami playing in a restaurant. And people like the music, but they don’t understand the music, and they don’t understand who he is. It’s like if John Coltrane was playing at the Ramada Inn in Covington,” Pearce says. He hopes the residency will allow Charlemagne to network and establish connections with New Orleans musicians – and that the cultural connection between Haiti and New Orleans lends social significance to the event. “Manno’s plight is our plight. All the reasons we love New Orleans—a lot of that comes from Haitian culture.”