L’association Gwadloup Groove, on the initiative of its current President, Steve Nuissier, organised and presented the 1st Piano Summit (1ère rencontre autour du piano) from June 8 to 18, 2009. The objective was to enable local Guadeloupean pianists the opportunity to present their varied repertoires, Beguine, Jazz and Classical music to the public at several events in different settings.
The idea was also to allow the pianists to give workshops in schools of music such as Ecole de musique du Lamentin, salle Robert Loyson du Moule, Artchipel à Basse terre and Centre Culturel des Abymes.
Besides the workshops and the concerts, the event was also a tribute to the pianist Jean-Louis Mérault who disappeared in tragic circumstances just one year. ”Before his death, I wanted, in my own way, to help Jean-Louis to spread his music because I felt like a good pianist with technical qualities, a sense of composition and virtuosity deserves full recognition. Unfortunately, I have not had the time, but the desire has not left. [...]The creation of this event is totally inspired by JEM. It is in my view…the best way to keep alive his vision as an artist while showing him my friendship each year, ” confided Steve Nuissier.
All concerts were filmed with a view to broadcasting them on television and for the production of a documentary on the piano in Guadeloupe.
Five pianists were invited to perform at this tribute, Griffault Clement, Paul Lay, David Fackeure and Gilles Rosine and Mario Canonge. However, Fackeure had to pull out after suffering a bad fall and was unable to move. His foot was placed in a cast. He was replaced by Mario Canonge for the Sonis concert on June 8. (See program below)
They were supported by les guadeloupéens, Lesdel Jean-Michel, Michel Mado and Jocelyn Marboeuf .
The opening was a triple header on Monday, June 08 at Centre culturel de Sonis. For starters, the young Cyril Kunzelmann, a student of Lionel Benbanaste à l’école Men Art Music executed the compositions of three of his favourite pianists.
Kunzelmann was followed by the Jocelyn Marbeouf Trio. Marbeouf and his cohorts, Atrides Claudel (b) and Pascal Latour (dms), launched into a set of Beguine-Jazz from Guadeloupe.
Finally, Mario Canonge, walked right off his plane into a solo concert tracing the history of Piano-Jazz from the great masters of the past (Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus) to Caribbean compositions by Stellio and Canonge himself) - an exercise he enjoys more and more. The next day, the first part of the concert was performed by Michel Mado accompanied by Philippe d’Huy (g) and Raymond d’Huy (b).
The concert program was as follows:
A Sonis (the Abymes)
- June 8: Mario Canonge and Jocelyn Marboeuf .
- June 9: Mario Canonge and Michel Mado
- On 10 June: Gilles Rosine and Jean-Michel Lesde
- June 17: Paul Lay + Jocelyn Ménard 4tet and Clement Griffault
Robert Loyson (Le Moule)
June 14: Paul Lay duet with Jocelyn Ménard, (Jazz), Clement Griffault (Classical)
Movie theater Lamentin
June 15: Jean-Michel Lesdel / Clément Griffault
Closing night at Lakasa
On 18 June: Michel Mado and Philippe d’Huy, Paul Lay, Clémen Griffault t, Jean-Michel Lesdel, Jocelyn Marboeuf
Workshops:
with Paul Lay (Piano Jazz)
June 14 at la salle Robert Loyson au Moule
June 15 at l’école Men Art Music aux Abymes
June 17 at l’institut Chopin à Pointe-à-Pitre
and finally at l’école de la Clé des Arts à Baie Mahault
with Clément Griffault (Classical piano)
June 13 at CEFRIM au Moule
June 17 at l’école de musique du Lamentin
Sources: Première rencontre autour du piano, Ouverture des rencontres de piano à Sonis, Plâtre et piano
Filed under: Caribbean Jazz, Entertainment, Guadeloupe Jazz, Jazz, Jazz Music, Music | Tagged: Clement Griffault, Jocelyn Marbeouf, Jocelyn Ménard, Mario Canonge, Michel Mado, Paul Lay, Philippe d'Huy, Raymond d'Huy
I am interested in finding out more about Caribbean jazz, and music derived from the Beguine style music of Martinique and Guadeloupe. I live in Miami and am having trouble finding information and/or music. Any assistance would be appreciated. Much of this information is planned to be incorporated into a novel being completed that focuses on the lifestyle and culture of the French Caribbean. and hopefully the book sold for movie rights.
Thanks for any input or information.
What you should do for me Troy is drop me an e-mail with specific requests for the information you want to lay your hands on. I will forward it to my contacts who will hopefully respond to you directly. And I am sure they will.
As you can appreciate, I prefer not to drop names and e-mail addresses of private contacts unless I clear it with them.
Send me the message. I would love to help anyway I can.
Iz,
I take it that you have a platter winging its way to me. Looking forward to it. Had a great one on one chat with Luther Francois last week. He performed here in the Clocktown (London) as part of celebrations for St Lucia’s 30th year of independence.
One of the things he touched on is the apparent contestation surrounding Gwo-Ka
music and jazz, and some kind of spirited (on-line) debate between protagonists such as trumpeter Franck Nicholas and others. The devil’s advocate in me tends to argue for a rekindling of this discussion – heated or (now?) lukewarm – for the Woodshed community.
So, for all our Guadeloupean/Martiniquan jazz fans and culture vultures out there, I’d be interested in hearing your side of things.
Over and out,
The Scribe
I do remember Luther telling me that he would be London early June.
As you no doubt have noticed, by the few posts on Guadeloupe Jazz, I am reaching into the French West Indies now. The Gwada end of things is growing thanks to the folks at Bananier bleu.
I spent a week in Martinique in mid-June canvassing the scene there while on an official assignment and was lucky to meet some key people including a well-appointed promoter who is enthusiastic and keen to chop wood in the Shed.
I have an idea. I could pitch your topic by e-mail to my new contacts and encourage them to forward same to the Francophone musicians. If we are lucky we could draw them into a discourse on the stated subject, either by e-mail or in Comments. It does not matter. It is worth a try, don’t you think?
Thanks for getting back to me Israel,
I’m not sure where to start here. From the basic information I have, the Beguine style of music started in either Martinique or Guadeloupe, possibly both at or near the same time in the late 1800’s. It blended music tempos and concepts from Paris at the time and other music that originated from the African culture side of the music scene. I guess that’s the place to start. Did it die out or lose some of its momentum after the volcano eruption in 1902? or did Guadeloupe and other islands pick it up? From what little examples I have of the music it seems to have a lively and uplifting spirit to the music. The movie “Biguine”, which I haven’t been able to buy anywhere would be a big help. Start on some of those threads and let’s see where it leads.
I’m hoping that the novel, “Cardinal Cays”, will lead to a movie deal (I’m also a screenwriter) in which the Beguine (Biguine) music is showcased. The movie would focus on the current culture in Martinique, Guadeloupe and Iles des Saintes (the veiled reference to Cardinal Cays in this mystery thriller).
Thanks,
Troy Michael
Troy, John, Guadeloupean Woodshed Warrior, Christophe Jenny, one who has been most helpful in facilitating the penetration of the Collective into the French Caribbean, has been kind enough to introduce us to what he describes as the premier GWOKA site. It is administered by, among others, Gustav Michaux-Vignes.
Christophe writes: “(Gustav)…is really a specialist of Caribbean music, and particularly percussion. I’m sure he’ll be interested to collaborate. He is in charge of the Music Department at “la Médiathèque Caraïbe” in Basse-Terre.”
Christophe suggests, Troy, checking out Gustav’s site called, simply, GWOKA. He has already alerted Gustav of our interest in learning more about Gwoka. Gustav’s e-mail address is listed on there. Hopefully, he will not be surprised to receive a note from you.
But WE will be surprised if you do not share your findings with us as time goes by.
Le Festival de Gwoka de Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe pulled off the 22nd edition of Festival Gwoka from July 07 – 14, 2009. This essentially Guadeloupean festival was a showcase of the rich cultural wealth and diverse talents of the department’s Gwo Ka artists.
The highlight of the festival was a multi-part forum, open to all practitioners of Ka, in addition to numerous workshops to explore and promote local Guadeloupe talent. However, this event was not designed to be only pleasing to the ears and to stir the body into a jig. The ultimate goal, as expressed by Felix Cotellon, President of the organisation of Sainte-Anne volunteers, was to bring more recognition to the culture of Guadeloupe, not through the status quo, but by helping to transform cultural policy around the 4 “D” Culture concept – the Right to Culture, Cultural Democratization, Cultural Diversity and Cultural development.
Cotellon, in his remarks on the Festival Gwoka site, punctuated by the statement “culture is the life of sustainable development,” sought to further lift this traditional artform from the exotic – not to say that it is – to the level of socio-cultural pillar.
Festival Gwoka featured a 55-minute documentary by journalist, writer and editor of the online newspaper, Afrik.com, Franck Salin (aka Frankito); a children’s festival held under the theme “Our cultural heritage and our children” to debate the issues surrounding artistic education and culture; and forums on the issues and challenges of cultural identity, whether culture and tourism can be beneficially consolidated, the definitions and approaches of cultural development.
And of course, there was the music.
Great idea, Iz.
Its fantastic that for all the years of so-called CARICOM (or is that CARIGONE?) the ‘Shed is fostering a genuine pan-Caribbean music and cultural movement, fanning across our entire region like a tsunami, enveloping all the linguistic and cultural nuances.
Viva Continua!
The Scribe