Alain Moraille's Powerful Beauty and Music Inspire

December 22, 2012 2:55 PM

Alain Moraille, who goes by the stage name, Jahnesta, is a Haitian musician. He plays reggae and ska, his biggest musical influence--no surprise here--Bob Marley. He sings and plays in an original style, using 70s reggae and ska to imbue his music with a retro feel.

In his mid-twenties, Jahnesta's astounding beauty has surely broken more than a few hearts. And his has weathered a few as well, judging by the barely discernable vulnerability hiding behind his searching and striking green eyes.

He dresses the part of a Rastafarian, long dreadlocks cascading down his chest, nearly to his waist. His head, topped by an over-sized Rastafarian head covering, is worn like a kingly crown. Well-formed and even facial features are dominated by a thick set of dark brows. His slight smile conceals shyness, an uncertainty perhaps. As if afraid of the hypnotic effect of his beauty, he partially conceals his face with a perfectly manicured beard.
Jahnesta's social and philosophic songs move from ("Solda Jah"), a plea for world peace, to romance (�"Vini Avè-m"), to duplicitous brother hood and dishonesty ("Zanmi").

His is a blend of iconoclastic rogue influences and a dollop of the hapless troubadour. What else can one say about this dark Adonis, who inspires an exotic reference to an Afrocentric Jesus? Is this the second coming of the Messiah? If so, Jesus has morphed into a modern-day crusader for world peace, as we would expect him to be.

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