noches
Sumari's 'noches' project links flamenco with
jazz musicians.
Miles Davis already coined it : 'Flamenco is the Spanish equivalent of the
blues. Both emerged from
a fusion of cultures.
'The idea behind Sumari is like a tree with its roots deeply embedded in
culture and tradition,while its branches reach for the sky, growing new fresh
green every spring.'
The performance of 'noches' evokes reminiscences of the early 1950's, when
be-bop was introduced into jazz. Many musicians with very different backgrounds
who had by then reached the summit of their artistry, joined to create entirely
new music no one had ever heard before, music that did not exist before.
Today 'fusion' generally comes down to infusing ingredients from other genres
and cultures into one's own work, in an attempt to spruce it up a little.
The resulting sauce, 'la salsa', may have a nice and easy taste, but in the
process it will also have lost all qualities of the individual ingredients.
It is significant in this respect that the father of the 'salsa', Tito Puente,
stated that 'salsa' should only be served on a plate, never in music.
The be-bop musicians of the 1950's went an entirely different way to fuse
different genres. They invited musicians from other cultures and disciplines
to create jazz together, leaving the individual qualities of each artist
intact while mutually striving for new harmonies.
Since 1997 the flamenco guitar virtuoso and percussionist José Toral
works in a similar way with
three of the very best jazz musicians : Stefan Bracaval (flutes), Serge Dacosse
(electrical bass) and Michel Bisceglia (piano).
They define their collaboration as 'a cross-fertilization between the traditional
and the new', wherein
'the individual background of each musician plays a significant role'.
For the performance of 'noches' four gifted musicians were added to the quartet
: percussionist
Ramón el Chispa, singer Roberto Chamorro 'El Roto', and the flamenco
dancers Sofía Yero and
Julián Martín.
The impeccable sound control by Gyuri Spies and lighting by Jean-Jacques
Deneuvostier make the scene perfect for their deeply moving performance.
Cuando
es de noche
la espalda del mundo duerme
apoyada sobre el tronco del sueño.
Ni color de piel paciente
ni ojos del juéz sordo
distinguen en la oscuridad.
Cuando la noche es,
se sienten las venas
palpitando a compas
del alta mar. |
When
it is night
.the back of the world sleeps
leaning on the trunk of dreams.
Neither color of patient skin
nor eyes of a deaf judge
distinguish anything in the darkness. When
the night is,
one feels the veins
palpitating in compas
with the high sea. |
|
|
