Interview with Vincent Segal and Vincent Peirani & #SessionLive from the Abajàde group

A kora, a cello, a saxophone and an accordion. We receive 2 of the 4 musicians Vincent Segal And Vincent Peirani. The Lost is more than a disc. It is a play area, a place of musical life, a poetic asylum inhabited by two pairs who, for years, have excelled in the art of crossing sounds and transcending genres: Ballake Sissoko (kora) and Vincent Segal (cello) on one side, Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Emile Parisian (saxophone) on the other. With these magicians, 2+2 no longer makes 4, but 1. Because it is indeed a unity of spirit and a fluidity of sound that these well-tempered individuals invent together, despising any competition of egos to put themselves at the service of the common musical good. Neither jazz nor traditional, neither chamber music nor avant-garde, but a bit of all of this at the same time, The Lost is this album where the ear is the king-instrument, where virtuosity is expressed in the art of being an accomplice, where the simple and grandiose desire to listen to the other leads to the birth of a splendid song four voices. It all starts with a meeting at the top – at the top of a hill overlooking Lyon. This evening in June 2019, as part of the Les Nuits de Fourvière festival, we are preparing to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the NØ FØRMAT label, in a beautiful setting of open-air Roman stones. For the occasion, Vincent Segal is the master of ceremonies and holds a (music) salon, surrounded by select guests: among them are already Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Peirani and Émile Parisien. Between the participants, a pact has been signed: no rehearsal should precede what promises to be a moment of spontaneous creation. But how to restrain such inspired, animated by the desire to converse in music? In the afternoon, under an arbor that protects them from the dodger, here they are, for the sheer beauty of the gesture and the greatness of the pleasure, start jamming. And the music, then, flows like a source, limpid and fresh. It is in the memory of this outburst that the idea of ​​composing the quartet of Les Égarés took shape. And this is what the recording of the album will have looked like: a spontaneous sharing of impulses and knowledge.

There is only one promise that this disc could not fulfill: that, caressed for a time by Vincent Segal, to record in Bamako with his accomplice Ballaké, as at the time of their divine album Chamber Music. The extreme tension that reigns in Mali got the better of this dream, and it was finally in Gap that, for a week, the four musicians set up their creative workshop. Outside, the weather was very unstable. In the studio, she looked great right away. But it wasn’t all that good: from the first exchanges, everything started to move and vibrate. Normal: None of these four Freedmen likes to be imprisoned – whether in a role or in a type of playing or sound to which his instrument would be condemned. In his bag, each brought a handful of rough diamonds, which he submitted to the group. Tested by the common fire, in the natural crucible of live acoustics, these gems took new shape, sublimated themselves: they very quickly provided the material for an authentic collective loot. Musical gold, melted into a singular alloy of timbres, touches, breaths and phrasing, whose unison motif that opens the album immediately gives the basic alchemical formula.

There is thus Ta Nye and Banja, Mandinka marvels which are like the starting and finishing points of the traced route traveled by Les Égarés: two kora themes that the countermelodies and repeats of the other instruments coat and imperceptibly displace, with this Commitment to gentleness, this desire to accompany as precisely as possible which is the prerogative of experienced musicians – listen to the wildly ethereal introduction that Émile Parisien signs on Banja. A scent of Armenia coats the first bars of Izao, a piece that slides towards Transylvania via Turkey, and seems to orchestrate in places disturbing nuptials between kora and Bartok. Supported by a throbbing bass, Amenhotep triggers a slow but sure upward spiral, a Coltranian trance raised by the crossed breaths of the accordion and the sax. Around the theme of Dou, the four men take over as if it were a question of keeping a fire going, of maintaining the memory of an ancestral blues by giving it the intoxicating rocking of a lullaby. All in majesty and in mystery, Nomad’s Sky opens like a plant with heady fragrances, finding something to permanently stun the senses in the obstinate ribbing of the bass, played on cello, and the progressive deployment of the instrumental motifs. La Chanson des égarés unrolls one of those irresistibly cadenced melodies that we hum to ourselves when, like Vincent Segal, ” we walk without knowing where we are going, letting ourselves go in the pleasure of being lost – pleasure which, in itself, sums up the philosophy of the disc. Themes borrowed from outside sources are similarly transcended. Hope, accordionist Marc Perrone’s standard, sounds like a cumbia both alert and sweet, its melody passing from hand to hand weaving a fabric that the listener carries to the very heart. In Time Bum, taken from Bumcello’s repertoire, is the illusion of hearing a brass combo taking shape, a big band with an ultra-tight groove that the cello bass only reinforces. In Orient-Express, breathless cover taken from the great work of Joe Zawinul, immense builder of bridges between Europe, Africa and the East, the quartet, without recourse to electricity or a rolling fire of percussion, succeeds in preserving the DNA of the original while totally recomposing its tissues, its vital force, its infectious groove. Without the slightest demonstration, the four accomplices thus achieve a whole series of feats that are never displayed as such.

The Lost is this disc without a soloist voice which, however, never stops singing. This record without drums or percussion which, however, never ceases to make a very human and very sensitive pulsation heard. This disc with such harmonious exchanges that, in sequences, the ear, seized by a few auditory illusions (isn’t there a balafon here, and a harmonium there?), even manages to lose itself voluptuously, to no longer distinguish who does what in the intimate intertwining of voices. This record which, while pushing back the banality, never ceases to embrace the obvious, in an art of amorous unframing and voluntary drifting whose daring elegance refers to other great misguided people like Don Cherry or even musicians without number of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. ” I’ve never recorded a record in such an atmosphere, emphasizes Vincent Peirani. None of us have been in the “perf”, so much so that the music tells a lot of things without ever telling it to itself. None of us had the truth: we found it together. Incidentally, Les Égarés reminds us of how rebellious the spirit of harmony can be, and how the art of acting with such fine intelligence can generate an extremely subtle way of setting fire to the powder. Contrary to a somewhat painful received idea, living in harmony does not necessarily mean having to make painful compromises, soft consensuses and other soothing routines: when it wants, peace moves. And with these four, she wants it, she wants it all the time. In The Lostshe even lifts mountains, recomposing the musical landscape to draw vanishing lines of incredible beauty.

Titles played

– Izao, The song of the lost, Time Bum And Banja see the clip.

– See Esperanza clip.

► album The Lost (No Format 2023).

Concert France 2023 to come

July 12 – Les Suds in Arles.

Then we receive the Abajade group in the #SessionLive to present the album ” Latopa », see the clip.

Latopa deploys the full extent of a mystical groove developed between the streets of Havana and the clubs of Paris. By coloring the Yoruba songs dedicated to the orishas of the musical universes of this brand new collective, Àbájade brings its touches of soul and jazz for an original sound built by eight. A brilliant debut album!

The album is called Latopa because it is dedicated to the orisha Elegua which opens the way in the Afro-Cuban tradition of Santeria. Divinity of the crossroads, we feel it emblematic of our music by the diversity of the musical roads which cross in this disc.

It includes 7 titles, mixing original compositions and new arrangements with Àbájade sauce for a total duration of 36 minutes. To be closer to our energy on stage and restore the organic aspect of our music, everything was recorded live. We also wanted a warm and somewhat vintage sound like on the mythical albums of the 70s. The recording, mixing and mastering were carried out on analog tape with vintage microphones.

The disc comes with a graphic universe designed by street artist Gilbert Mazoutwho achieved a great mural at the heart of the clip and the cover.

After exploring the music of the saxophonist Miguel Zenon in our first EP, we stumble upon the disc Meta Meta from the English group timeline. It’s a revelation for us, because, through arrangements with licked grooves, comes to our ears a music that will not leave us since: the sacred songs of Cuban santeria. We are immediately seduced by the beauty of the melodies, the polyrhythms of the batá drums that accompany them and the spiritual dimension of the orishas.

We begin to integrate these elements into our repertoire, and a few months later we are in Cuba to participate in the ceremonies whose music we play. A new chapter then opens for us, to the rhythm of round trips to Havana. Through daily rites, the electric atmosphere of drums and the rumbas in the street forge bonds of friendship with the musicians who keep Afro-Cuban traditions alive today.

It was the spiritual atmosphere, the rhythmic inventiveness and the intense energy of the ceremonies that we were able to experience in Cuba that it was important to us to transcribe in a personal and original way. In 2022, 3 creation residencies in partnership with performance halls enabled us to develop our new repertoire. We prowled it on stage with a good package of concerts in Ile-de-France and Provence, during which we explored our compositions, always ready to improvise new turns together. We also invited incredible musicians, like the Cuban percussionist Barbarito “Machito” Crespo. Our first album finds a good echo with upcoming dates at the Jazz à Vienne festival, at the Flèche d’Or, at the Tamanoir, at the Dynamo… and a release party at the Studio de l’Ermitage in Paris.

Titles performed at the big studio

– Peze Cafe Live RFI

– Lalubanchefrom the album Latopa

-Obatala Live RFI.

Line Up : Thomas Celnikartistic direction, keyboards & percussion; Julian Catherinedrums & percussion; Cyprien Corgierlead vocals & percussion; Syriel Guignardvocals & percussion; Waly Loumemulti percussion; Hamza Touretenor saxophone, flute & bass clarinet; Antonin Paquetbass; Sophye Soliveaulead vocals.

Sound: Benoît Letirant & Matthias Taylor.

► scrapbook Latopa (InOuïe Distribution 2023).

Upcoming concerts

– May 2023, at La Dynamo-Pantin

– July 7, Jazz in Vienna.

(Replay).