PASTOURELLE

A little bit of history 

​

Through his encounters and musical experiences, the percussionist continues his exploration of music that is part of the cultural heritage of the French West Indies and Haiti. The recording is a tribute to the quadrille, the contredance, the waltz and even the Creole polka.

Also tribute to the resistance to slavery, the artist seeks to revive a bit of history linked to his own  Haitian-Canadian identity.

In producing this new album, the drummer proposes a personal vision by incorporating Celtic sounds such as the thin, low and Irish whistle and Brazilian sounds like the cavaquinho, the bandolim, the 7 string guitar or the viola caipira. Following  this approach, he even allowed himself to include the rhythmic bones on somes pieces, producing a distinctive original sound.

Composition inspired by a traditional Guadeloupean tune, Pastourelle is the 4th figure of the bals quadrilles in the French West Indies. This musical and choreographic expression comes from the French contredanse of the 18th century and was introduced in the West Indies with the colonization. Adopted by the rural environment, it took the name of quadrille in the 19th century.

DESCRIPTION of the TITLES PASTOURELLE

1-Pastourelle : composition inspired by the 4th figure of the quadrilles of Guadeloupe

2-Mason : composition inspired by the tumba francesa of Cuba, music and dance imported to Cuba by the French landowners who fled during the Haitian revolution of 1791 with their slaves to Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.

3-Aimable: composition inspired by a contredanse from Martinique

4-Valse kréole de concert : piece by the Haitian classical music composer Ludovic Lamothe (1882-1953)

5-No to racism : composition by the Haitian guitarist Toto Laraque, founding member of the Caribbean Sextet in Haiti

6-Yo pa vlé wè mwen di yo pralé : traditional Haitian twoubadou song

7-Cazale : composition that pays tribute to the Polish soldiers who deserted Napoleon's French army that wanted to restore slavery in Haiti. They fought alongside the Haitian army of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, helping to establish the first free black republic in the world and the first independent state in the Caribbean in 1804. Cazale is a small village 50 km from Port-au-Prince, populated by descendants of Polish soldiers

8-Yvette : contredanse by the Haitian composer and arranger Antalcidas Murat (1915-1988) known within the legendary Orchestre du Super Jazz des Jeunes

9-La Dangereuse : music by Haitian composer Ludovic Lamothe