Ancestral Memories
Label: Catalog: 88985418682 Format: COMPACT DISC Baptiste Trotignon & Yosvany TerryThose of our own history, that of our collective unconscious.As is often the case in music, this album came about following a meeting of musicians. I was already familiar with Yosvany's music but we had never met. So when he called me in 2014 I was immediately enthused by the thought of sharing our cultures and history to produce a new musical blend full of meaning and reflecting our desire to create. Combining our strengths, our desires, and even our weaknesses (it is these that, I believe, add a touch of fragility and sensitivity to the emotions we try to get across) brought us a lot of satisfaction when we were looking into putting a repertoire together. We delved into the musical traditions of former French colonies (Haiti, Cuba, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, etc.) and tried to figure out how to integrate this material into a jazz quartet, something which is very popular at the moment. Learning has always been a driving force in my journey as an artist and I have always considered myself an eternal student, more so than a simple teller of temporary truths.This research came more naturally to Yosvany who was born and grew up in Cuba, a country which offers a wealth of ancestral traditions. As well as playing North American jazz wonderfully well, his work, whether in his playing or his composing, is also infused with "classic" European music, considered intellectual music, so our meeting was stimulating to say the least. The term intellectual as we would normally understand it is rather odd since the rhythms of African cultures and the thousands of songs inspired by them around the world are infinitely more sophisticated than most European music!During our research phase I remained very humble and open to advice with regard to my abilities in integrating this music, which did not come naturally to me. The first time we met, Yosvany played me a clave with a spoon and an old frying pan from my kitchen. It was a gentle reminder that I still had some way to go!We wanted the music on this album to be full, warm, peaceful yet invigorating like in spiritual island trances, and gentle like children's nursery rhymes, all while trying to blend in the sophisticated language of dance, an ancestral source of energy. »Baptiste Trotignon, April 2017 |