1 — AKA MOON. 2 — REBIRTH. 3 — AKASHA VOL. 1. 4 — AKASHA VOL. 2. 5 — GANESH. 6 — ELOHIM. 7 — LIVE AT VOORUIT. 8 — INVISIBLE SUN. 9 — INVISIBLE MOON. 10 — INVISIBLE MOTHER. 11 — IN REAL TIME. 12 — GUITARS.
p. 6 p. 7 p. 8 p. 9 p. 10 p. 11 p. 13 p. 14 p. 16 p. 17 p. 19 p. 21
13 — AMAZIR. 14 — CULTURE GRIOT. 15 — DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND. + AKA MOON. 16 — UNISON. 17 — AKA BALKAN MOON. 18 — AlefBa. 19 — THE SCARLATTI BOOK. 20 — LIGHT SHIP TRIO.
p. 22 p. 23 p. 25 p. 27 p. 28 p. 29 p. 31 p. 32
Liner notes p. 35 Notes d'accompagnement p. 45
AKA MOON 2017
1 — AKA MOON 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Aka Moves Aka Moon Aka Earth Aka Truth Aka Dance Aka Bird Aka Song
2 — REBIRTH 6'47 5'32 12'42 6'38 5'13 2'03 8'01 Total time: 47'19
Music: Fabrizio Cassol Arrangements: Fabrizio Cassol, Stéphane Galland & Michel Hatzigeorgiou Introduction on Aka Truth by Aka Moon at the pygmy community, recorded in Central African Republic Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: electric bass Stéphane Galland: drums Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Aka Moon Recorded in July 1992 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Rebirth (Part 1) Rebirth (Part 2) Rebirth (Part 3) Rebirth (Part 4) Rebirth (Part 5) Bruit
15'33 10'03 12'02 7'19 14'04 8'07 Total time: 67'21
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except Bruit by Pierre Van Dormael Arrangements: Fabrizio Cassol, Stéphane Galland & Michel Hatzigeorgiou Published by 7 Wheels except Bruit published by Art Public P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: electric bass Stéphane Galland: drums Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: The Kaai (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Aka Moon Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded live in October 1993 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
3 — AKASHA VOL. 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
4 — AKASHA VOL. 2
As Known As Venus (Part 1) Danse pour un ange Alaknanda Tiruvanamalaï (Part 1) Galileo, Galilei (Part 1) Namasté Tiruvanamalaï (Part 2)
14'03 6'09 9'04 4'23 4'59 2'34 7'09
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Bagherathi First Tchaï Rebirth (Part 6) Galileo Galilei (Part 2) Tiruvanamalaï (Part 3) Eclipse in Mahabalipuram As Known As Venus (Part 2)
7'15 13'42 5'48 3'12 6'12 5'57 4'03
Total time: 48'43 Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except Danse pour un ange by Michel Hatzigeorgiou & Namasté by Fabrizio Cassol, Stéphane Galland & Michel Hatzigeorgiou Arrangements: Fabrizio Cassol, Stéphane Galland & Michel Hatzigeorgiou Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Raghunath Seth: bansuri Aneesh Pradhan: tablas $.$hankaranarayanan: mridangam
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Assisted by: Melvin Fernandes & Avinash Oak Location: Studio Western Outdoor (Mumbai - India) Mixing: Michel Andina & Aka Moon Location: Studio Pyramide (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering Location: Studio Foon (Lier - Belgium) Recorded in February 1995 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
Total time: 46'32 Music: Fabrizio Cassol Arrangements: Fabrizio Cassol, Stéphane Galland & Michel Hatzigeorgiou Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Raghunath Seth: bansuri Aneesh Pradhan: tablas $.$hankaranarayanan: mridangam
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Assisted by: Melvin Fernandes & Avinash Oak Location: Studio Western Outdoor (Mumbai - India) Mixing: Michel Andina & Aka Moon Location: Studio Pyramide (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering Location: Studio Foon (Lier - Belgium) Recorded in February 1995 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
5 — GANESH 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
6 — ELOHIM
LIGHT SHIP TANTRA (Part 1) The Grace of Ganesh Mandala The Grace of Siva Emptiness Birds Talk to You The Grace of Vishnu Indentification with the Tree Elohim on the Moon
6'01 6'06 4'43 9'20 9'08 3'59 5'43 6'48
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except The Grace of Ganesh, The Grace of Siva & The Grace of Vishnu by Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone (C) Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass & voice (C) Stéphane Galland: drums (R) with: Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman: mridangam (C) Chander Sardjoe: drums (L) Pierre Van Dormael: acoustic & electric guitars (L) Marc Ducret: acoustic & electric guitars (R) Bo Van der Werf: tala
Stereo View: L=Left, R=Right, C=Center
Total time: 51'54
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Assisted by: Benjamin Bertozzi Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Erwin Vervaecke Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in April 1997 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
LIGHT SHIP TANTRA (Part 2) Ghandji (The Unseizable Water) AFRICAN PAINTINGS 2. Sa N’Diaye / Too Long the River Deep (For Doudou N'Diaye Rose) 3. Samayaï Kaï 4. Story Telling’s on (For Jayne Cortez) 5. Elohim on the Water / For Days on End (For Philippe Boesmans) 6. The River New 7. The River Blue (For Michel Hatzi) 1.
18'12 8'51 4'16 6'09 11'31 0'19 7'13 Total time: 56'37
Music: Fabrizio Cassol / Lyrics: David Linx Samplings on Elohim on the Water: Doudou N’Diaye Rose, excerpt from Live at Vooruit / Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, excerpt from Ganesh / Marc Ducret, excerpt from Live at the Fool Moon / Aka Pygmies Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums Light Ship Tantra (Part 2) with: Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman: mridangam Chander Sardjoe: drums Pierre Van Dormael: electric guitar Marc Ducret: electric guitar Bo Van der Werf: tala
African Paintings with: David Linx: vocals Guillaume Orti: alto saxophone Bo Van der Werf: baritone saxophone Geoffroy De Masure: trombone Kris Defoort: Fender Rhodes Benoît Delbecq: synthesizer & sampler Eric Legnini: acousic piano, synthesizer & Hammond B3
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7 — LIVE AT VOORUIT
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina Assisted by: Benjamin Bertozzi Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Erwin Vervaecke Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in April & August 1997 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Sa Yaral Sadom Téélen (Part 1) Téélen (Part 2 ‘The River Blue’) Jubo (Part 1) Jubo (Part 2) Jubo (Part 3)
8'09 6'48 2'15 7'32 1'10 4'56 9'14 Total time: 40'17
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except Téélen (Part 1) by Stéphane Galland, Jubo (Part 1) by Michel Hatzigeorgiou & Jubo (Part 2) by Doudou N’Diaye Rose Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass & voice Stéphane Galland: drums with: Doudou N’Diaye Rose: sabar and drummers from Senegal: Recording Engineer: Jarek Frankowski El Hadji N’Diaye Rose Location: Vooruit (Ghent - Belgium) Lamine N’Diaye Rose Mixing: Michel Andina & Aka moon Mame Youga N’Diaye Rose Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Abdoulaye Mbengue Mastering: Erwin Vervaecke Aly N’Diaye Rose Recorded live in March 1997 Tapha N’Diaye Rose Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Mor Koumba N’Diaye Rose Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Adama N’Diaye Rose
8 — INVISIBLE SUN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Spiritualisation (K’ien) Alchimie (Part 1) K’an Eclipse Alchimie (Part 2) Cosmic Duke Tchen Invisible Father Alchimie (Part 3) Li Offering Peace
5'31 1'46 2'06 6'23 1'28 6'06 8'53 4'58 2'07 7'18 7'53 9'39 Total time: 64'15
Music: Fabrizio Cassol Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums
with: Fabian Fiorini: piano (L) Kris Defoort: piano (R) Erwin Vann: tenor saxophone Bo Van der Werf: baritone saxophone Laurent Blondiau: trumpet & flugelhorn Geoffroy De Masure: trombone Antoine Prawerman: clarinet & bass clarinet Pierre Bernard: flutes Bernard Foccroulle: church organ on Offering Vincent Jacquemin: musical coordination
Stereo View: L=Left, R=Right Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Studio Caraïbes (Brussels - Belgium) except church organ on Offering, Église de la Visitation (Villers-la-Ville - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina Location: Studio Caraïbes (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Uwe Teicher Location: Electric City (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in August 1999 except church organ on Offering in November 1999 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
9 — INVISIBLE MOON 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Worlds of Possible Brothers and Games Dragon The House of Siva Three The Wedding Mother of Intuition
10 — INVISIBLE MOTHER 4'11 8'53 11'23 2'52 7'13 11'12 3'36 Total time: 49'37
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except The House of Siva by Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman & Mother of Intuition by Fabrizio Cassol & Fabian Fiorini / Lyrics: David Linx Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels Aka Moon Recording Engineers: Michel Andina, Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Sudha Prabhakar & Manivannan Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium), Stéphane Galland: drums Prasad Audiovision (Chennai - India) with: Mixing: Michel Andina Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman: mridamgam on The House of Siva & The Wedding Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Fabian Fiorini: piano Mastering Location: David Gilmore: guitar on Worlds of Possible, Dragon & Three Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) David Linx: vocals on Three Recorded in June 1998, Benoît Delbecq: prepared piano & keyboards on Worlds of Possible, August 2000 (Brussels) Dragon, Three & Mother of Intuition and in January 1999 (Chennai) Usha Rajagopalan: violin on Dragon & The Wedding Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) V.V. Ravi: violin on Dragon & The Wedding Location: RED H Studio C.N. Chandrashekar: violin on Worlds of Possible, Dragon & The Wedding (Brussels - Belgium)
1. Part 1 Genese The Lake, the Light and the Mountain Inner Fire Birth of Ganga 2. Part 2 Constellation 1 Constellation 2 Invisible Mother Constellation 3 Constellation 4 Constellation 5 "The Mother" The Joy of Siva Constellation 6 Constellation 7 3. Part 3 The Calls Stone of Wisdom After Accomplishment School of Mysteries 4. Part 4 The Wind Ascension Praying After Meditation
9'54
22'05
12'39
9'16
Total time: 53'58 (...) >
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11 — IN REAL TIME
Music: Fabrizio Cassol Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels
MUSIC FROM THE DANCE THEATRE PRODUCTION CREATED WITH ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER (ROSAS) & TG STAN
Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Fabian Fiorini: piano (Celesta on Genese, The Lake, the Light and the Mountain & Inner Fire) Ictus: George-Elie Octors: conductor Jean-Luc Plouvier: piano Takashi Yamane: clarinets Piet Van Bockstal: oboe & English horn George van Dam: violin Igor Semenoff: violin Paul De Clerck: viola Gery Cambier: double bass Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina & Fabrizio Cassol Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Benjamin Bertozzi Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in November 1998 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
IN REAL TIME Dirty Play and Chaos Dance Ursula and the Wind Dance Alix Marta and Rosalba Sleeping Dance Men’s Dance Sara I SAID I I Said I
8'01 6'53 9'45 2'57 7'55 6'17 4'40 11'11 Total time: 57'58
Music: Fabrizio Cassol Production I Said I: Stéphane Galland Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels IN REAL TIME: Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Fabian Fiorini: keyboards
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12 — GUITARS
I SAID I: Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
with: Eric Legnini: keyboards Marc Ducret: guitar In Real Time Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Aka Moon Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in August 2000 I Said I Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Studio Caraïbes (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Stéphane Galland Location: Studio Caraïbes (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in August & September 1999 In Real Time & I Said I Mastering: Uwe Teicher Location: Electric City (Brussels) Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
A La Luce Di Paco (Act 1) A La Luce Di Paco (Act 2) A La Luce Di Paco (Act 3) Jimi’s Three Words The Last Call from Jaco Scofield From Influence to Innocence Bill’s Dream Yang-Yin-Yang Three Oceans
5'01 7'03 4'19 8'46 5'46 5'38 7'07 12'05 4'15 5'07 Total time: 65'24
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except A La Luce Di Paco (Act 1) by Prasanna Published by 7 Wheels P 2002 vzw De Werf Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Prasanna: electric guitar David Gilmore: electric guitar Pierre Van Dormael: electric guitar
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Aka Moon Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Benjamin Bertozzi Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in August 2001 Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium)
13 — AMAZIR 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Amazir Cuban #1 Vasco Lila 7 Wheels 0 Cuban #2 (St Louis La Havana) Invisible Horn Cuban #3 Cuban #4 The Father Remixed
14 — CULTURE GRIOT 6'17 7'36 10'46 6'58 8'48 4'45 6'53 8'15 5'02 8'12 Total time: 74'00
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except 7 Wheels 0 by Fabrizio Cassol & Fabian Fiorini Arrangements: Aka Moon, except Vasco by Fabian Fiorini Recording Engineer: Eric Renwart Published by 7 Wheels Location: Studio Molière (Brussels - Belgium) P 2017 7 Wheels Mixing: Eric Renwart & Aka Moon Aka Moon Location: Studio Molière (Brussels - Belgium) Pre-Mastering: Cyril Orcel & Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Location: Studio Molière (Brussels - Belgium) Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Mastering: Benjamin Bertozzi Stéphane Galland: drums Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) with: Recorded in May, June & July 2005 Fabian Fiorini: piano Remastering: Michel Andina (2017) Magic Malik: flute & voice Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Nelson Veras: guitar The album Amazir is available from Cypres on Invisible Horn & The Father Remixed Records under the reference CYP0601. Robin Eubanks: trombone www.cypres-records.com on Vasco, Lila & The Father Remixed
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Aka Djelia (Histoire de griot) Aka Teri Ya (Amitié) Aka Giulia (Dédié à la fille de Baba, Giulia) Aka Séli (La fête) Aka Mali Foli (Unis les Maliens) Aka So (La maison) Aka Folo Folo (Auparavant) Aka Tele (Notre époque) Aka Tama (Voyager)
Music: Fabrizio Cassol & Baba Sissoko / Lyrics: Baba Sissoko Published by 7 Wheels P 2009 7 Wheels
6'06 10'50 11'19 5'24 6'38 3'20 9'13 6'01 7'29 Total time: 66'26
Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: electric bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Baba Sissoko: tama, n’goni, kalemn’goni & voice Black Machine: Diatourou Sissoko Yacouba Sissoko Makan Cissoko Adame Kouyate
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15 — DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND + AKA MOON
Bazoumana Sissoko Abdoulaye Dit Baba Sissoko Djime Sissoko all: tama, n’goni, calebasse & choir
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
special guest: Philip Catherine: guitar on Aka Giulia Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina, Fabrizio Cassol & Baba Sissoko Location: MA’s Brussels (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Michel Andina Location: MA’s Brussels (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in April 2009 Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium) The album Culture Griot is available from Cypres Records under the reference CYP0605. www.cypres-records.com
DJ Bigband Sound 7 Times Wonderful Continents Amazir Say Yeah 12 Sentences We Said We Solo Grazzhoppa Doudou Kaastrack Funky Mule
Music: Fabrizio Cassol & Wim Verbrugghe, except Dj Bigband Sound by Lamont Stigler, Fabrizio Cassol & Wim Verbrugghe, Wonderful & Say Yeah by Monique Harcum, Fabrizio Cassol & Wim Verbrugghe, Solo Grazzhoppa by Wim Verbrugghe & Kaastrack by Fabrizio Cassol, Chris Smith & Cornelis Smeekens Published by 7 Wheels P 2010 DJ BIGBAND Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums
3'57 4'27 4'04 4'15 4'50 3'17 3'47 6'48 3'58 2'24 4'22 2'26 Total time: 48'44
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16 — UNISON
with DJ Grazzhoppa’s DJ Bigband: DJ Boulaone DJ Courtasock DJ Grazzhoppa DJ Iron DJ J to the C DJ Lamont DJ Mixmonster Menno DJ Optimus DJ Smimooz DJ Vindictiv DJ XXL DJ Yzerbeat all: turntables
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
special guests: DJ Cee Brown: turntables (USA) Monique Harcum: vocals Recorded by Live is Life Location: KVS (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina, DJ Grazzhoppa & Fabrizio Cassol Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Michel Andina Recorded live in March 2007 The album DJ Grazzhoppa’s DJ Bigband + Aka Moon is available from Cypres Records under the reference CYP0606. www.cypres-records.com
Omax1 (Tokyo) Michel Is Back Stésté Istanbul Unison For Drummers Only Mirror Fonès East Berlin
Music: Fabrizio Cassol / Arrangements: Aka Moon Published by 7 Wheels P 2012 Kastafior
7'15 8'05 3'01 8'33 4'34 2'37 4'35 5'27 5'32 Total time: 50'09
Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina & Stéphane Galland Location: MA’s Brussels (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Michel Andina Location: MA’s Brussels (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in December 2011
The album Unison is available from Cypres Records under the reference CYP0607. www.cypres-records.com
17 — AKA BALKAN MOON 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Baba (F. Cassol - Includes the Bulgarian folk song: Izkusala Baba) Dali (F. Cassol - Includes the Bulgarian folk song: Dali Carni Ochi Nyamam) Bulgarian Study (F. Cassol) Okio (F. Cassol - Includes the Bulgarian folk song: Devoiko) Mome Kalino (Bulgarian folk song) A.K.A Stésté (F. Cassol) Upon Mi-Si-La (F. Cassol, after an anonymous 16th-Century English
- Includes an anonymous Bosnian tune and a Bulgarian folk song: Jenala E Diber Yanav)
18 — AlefBa 15'22 12'54 7'23 8'23 4'33 5'23 11'55
Monkey - Vocals: Tcha Limberger, Khaled Alhafez,
Mustafa Saïd, Magic Malik, Amir ElSafar Brume du matin - Vocals: Khaled Aljaramani, Khaled Alhafez Hadi - Vocals: Sheikh Ehab Younes, Mustafa Saïd
2. 3. 4. Sinaï 5. Comedia - Vocals: Khaled Alhafez, Khaled Aljaramani 6. Divina Comedia
13'31 7'36 15'38 13'03 13'12 4'22 Total time: 67'42
Total time: 66'10 Recorded live at Flagey (Brussels) at the opening of the Festival Musiq’3 (Festival of Wallonia), 26 June 2014. Published by 7 Wheels Recording Engineer: Bertrand Vanvarembergh (for Musiq’3) P 2015 7 Wheels Location: Flagey, Studio 4 (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina & Fabrizio Cassol Aka Moon Location: RED H studio (Brussels - Belgium) Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Mastering: Michel Andina Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums With the support of Fondation Royaumont (Frédéric Deval), KVS (Jan Goossens), Bozar (Tony Van der Eeken), with: Festival de Wallonie (Claire Ringlet, Baudouin Muylle), Tcha Limberger: violin & vocals Festival Musiq’3 (Laetitia Huberti), Fédération WallonieNedyalko Nedyalkov: kaval Bruxelles, Aubergine Artist Management (Maaike Wuyts) Tima Nedyalkova: vocals Stéphane Galland plays Lignum drums, Sabian cymbals Fabian Fiorini: piano & Vater drumsticks Vladimir Karparov: soprano saxophone Stoyan Yankulov: tupan drum & morsing
1.
The lyrics are mainly improvised and based on classical Arabic poems, written by anonymous or authors such as Qais Ben Ibn Al Moulawah, Abou Alala Almaari, Abou Taieb Almoutanabi, Ibn al-Farid, Hosni Ibrahim Mirza or Abu Nawas. The singers are listed in order of appearance. Recorded live at the Cathedral of Tournai (Belgium), during Festival Les Inattendues (Festival of Wallonia-Hainaut), 30 August 2014, except tracks 3 & 6, recorded live at KVS (Brussels), 4 April 2014. Music: Fabrizio Cassol, except Sinaï by Fabrizio Cassol & Misirli Ahmet & Divina Comedia improvised by Ehab Younes Published by 7 Wheels P 2015 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Magic Malik: flute & vocals Mustafa Saïd: oud & vocals Amir ElSaffar: trumpet, santur & vocals
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19 — THE SCARLATTI BOOK
Khaled Alhafez: vocals Khaled Aljaramani: oud & vocals Tcha Limberger: violin & vocals Sheikh Ehab Younes: vocals Misirli Ahmet: darbuka Emmanuel Baily: guitar Fawaz Baker: musical adviser
SONATA INSPIRATION
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Cathedral of Tournai (Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina & Fabrizio Cassol Location: RED H studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mastering: Michel Andina Production adviser: Virginia Pisano With the support of Fondation Royaumont (Frédéric Deval), KVS (Jan Goossens), Bozar (Tony Van der Eeken), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Bernard Foccroulle), Marseille Capitale de la Culture 2013 (Stéphane Moginot), Festival de Wallonie (Claire Ringlet, Baudouin Muylle), Festival Les Inattendues (Frédéric Mariage, Didier Platteau), Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles & Aubergine Artist Management (Maaike Wuyts) Stéphane Galland plays Lignum drums, Sabian cymbals, Vater drumsticks & Rathkamp snare drum
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
aKa 99 aKa 466 aKa 141 aKa 87 aKa 175 aKa 213 aKa 492 aKa 1 aKa 109
Music: Fabrizio Cassol, after the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757) Published by 7 Wheels P 2015 7 Wheels Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums with: Fabian Fiorini: piano Stéphane Galland plays Lignum drums, Sabian cymbals, Vater drumsticks & Rathkamp snare drum Fabrizio Cassol plays Borgani Madre Perla alto saxophone
7'40 4'17 6'01 7'43 5'51 5'35 5'50 6'56 5'01 Total time: 55'27
Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Assisted by: Pierre Dozin Location: Jet Studio (Brussels) Mixing: Fabrizio Cassol & Michel Andina Location: RED H studio (Brussels) Mastering: Michel Andina Recorded in September 2014
With the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles & Istituto Italiano di Cultura Madrid At the request of the Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid Sponsored by Carmelo Di Gennaro
20 — LIGHT SHIP TRIO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Elohim on the Moon Mandala Emptiness Birds Talk to You Identification with the Tree Ghandji (The Unseizable Water)
Music: Fabrizio Cassol Published by 7 Wheels P 2017 7 Wheels
5’09 9’01 8’34 5’16 7’35 18’00 Total time: 53'46
Aka Moon Fabrizio Cassol: alto saxophone Michel Hatzigeorgiou: Fender jazz bass Stéphane Galland: drums With the inspiration of the live dancing performances by Fatou Traoré, Karine Ponties & Johanne Saunier during the recording sessions. Recording Engineer: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Mixing: Michel Andina Location: Jet Studio (Brussels - Belgium) Recorded in 1998 Mastering: Michel Andina (2017) Location: RED H Studio (Brussels - Belgium) AKA MOON 2017
FABRIZIO CASSOL & UMAYALPURAM K. SIVARAMAN 1997
Summing up a quarter of a century of music in just a few lines is no easy matter: it would take a whole book to describe the intensity and diversity of our career, one that began in 1992 with the Aka pygmies in the heart of the Central African forest. The truly radical idea of a creative work based essentially on musical sources recorded in the field still seems quite daring to me. Diving headlong into the great open book of oral culture – from a western point of view, the ‘unwritten’ – opened up the path to a new attitude based on the application of a body of knowledge that is often traditional, and needs the permission of its guardians: a quasi-ritual form of consent that allows the processing, adaptation and combination of this knowledge with other unrelated sources. Stéphane Galland and Michel Hatzigeorgiou have an uncanny facility for capturing elements in real time that would usually demand years of work and practice. Along with their unfailing virtuosity, their outstanding powers of memory and their genius at improvising, they have the innate flexibility needed for understanding and processing musical languages from elsewhere. The triangle we form is welded together with a special kind of fluid energy, complemented by the harmonization of our differences. The 'Kaai' – a little bar in Brussels that was converted into an avant-garde jazz club and invaded for a seven-year period by a community of improvising musicians – was an important stage in our development during the 1990s. We had the good fortune to appear there every week, in conditions of total artistic freedom. It was there that the adventure of our Nasa Na band began, in the company of the late Pierre Van Dormael; with his extraordinary personality, artistic rigour and creative genius, he remains a landmark of musical integrity. But our wish to discover new rhythmic spaces outside the conventional forms of jazz became an imperative necessity. And so the trio Aka Moon was born. While it may
seem to be a world of its own, its further extensions have enabled us to create a unique home to styles, cultures and religions, without boundaries. The group has always evolved like an expressive kaleidoscope: multiple and diversified. Our guests all have the special feature of being key musicians in their own domain. Some are composers, or bandleaders: all are outstanding instrumentalists forging new, adventurous paths. A host of different constellations was born of these encounters, in a creative turmoil of excitement that we can never quite pin down. Aka Moon has developed by successive periods; each one of them has had a specific focus, as is clear from our discography, though it far from represents the full range of our career.
AKA MOON & REBIRTH
The Aka Pygmies with their rather different reasons for ‘making music’ called into question our ideas about improvisation and spontaneous invention, just at a time when we were looking for a different way of interacting as a group. While the first Aka Moon record laid bare the roots of a sophisticated rhythmic-contrapuntal language, Rebirth expanded it further, in the urgent quest for organic, instinctive forms, to harmonize with the whole range of the group’s energies. The pygmies’ natural tendency to accept random musical changes aligned with the life of the forest, and with their own games, inspired us to devise a kind of ‘non-form’ in which everything is capable of combination. It allowed us to remodel rhythmic and thematic material to an infinite extent, forging constantly new individual and collective paths. We have always been able to take the initiative of changing our musical direction, all three of us equally, without any of us being able to predict what the outcome might be.
AKASHA Vol. 1 & 2
India was our next shockwave, bringing a radically different musical approach. For the recordings of the two Akasha albums, it was the first time we had invited other musicians to join us: $.$hankaranarayanan (mridangam, South India), Aneesh Pradhan (tabla, North India) and Raghunath Seth on the bansuri. We met in a studio in Bombay (Mumbai), between a stay on the Ganges at Benares (Varanasi) and our first concerts in Madras (Chennai). Naturally these musicians had an incredible degree of facility, and they came up with some mind-blowing musical variations of a kind we had never heard before. Our wish to gain a more profound understanding of this new kind of musical thinking led to a later decisive meeting with the master musician Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman.
GANESH – ELOHIM - LIVE AT VOORUIT
This trilogy is a journey between two cultural poles and two musical personalities of great stature: on the one hand U.K. Sivaraman (Ganesh), and on the other the master of the Senegalese sabar drum, Doudou N’Diaye Rose (Live at Vooruit). Elohim represents the crossroads between the two, and begins where the Ganesh album ends. With the Indian influences as a point of departure, the group edges progressively towards Africa, revealing a musical language that unites the two cultures: the pithy, superimposed cyclical phrases of African music, whose polyrhythms can trigger the dancing, or induce a trance; and the long Indian cycles, such as those with rhythmic melodies. The result is a work that explores the harmony of rhythm in the synchronicity of different folk-memories. From this trilogy onwards, Aka Moon gradually became a large constellation composed of a myriad of smaller ones, offering a space for encounters, and for sharing. U.K. Sivaraman was a key figure: he brought order into our rhythmical fits of frenzy, while nurturing us with secrets from his immense store
of knowledge. This different way of organizing the musical discourse around rhythm has also had an impact on my ideas about harmony: since then I’ve come to regard harmonies as vibratory states of differentiated qualities. Doudou N’Diaye Rose and his eight percussionists planted us in an even deeper and more powerful rhythmic groove, in contact with a very special kind of energy, that of soul groups and family connections: a homogeneity of expression that is brilliantly summed up in a phrase I heard Doudou use. When I asked him which musicians would come to take part in the concerts, he replied simply: ‘When one of them knows, they all know!’ This reply changed my conception of the world. It set me thinking about the identity of groups, and the place of the individual in their complex blends and alloys.
INVISIBLE SUN - INVISIBLE MOON - INVISIBLE MOTHER
This Trilogy of Invisibles represents the search for another harmonic language with two opposite poles: the Ictus Ensemble, symbolizing the development of western music (Invisible Mother), and a more jazz-related aspect for Invisible Sun with its brass instruments. Invisible Moon is the connecting link. And each time there are two pianos and two pianists, so as to give the harmonic vibrations a precise relationship to each other. The starting point was to synchronize the Chinese divinatory book, the I Ching, with the whole structural system of the Indian ragas. Originally these two sources of knowledge were orally transmitted: this enabled my thinking on musical notation to develop in a different way.
IN REAL TIME
The album (except for the piece I Said I) is the music for the stage show In Real Time that brought together the Rosas dancers, the actors of TG STAN, and Aka Moon as a quartet with Fabian Fiorini: all of us, includ-
ing the writer Gerardjan Rijnders, engaged in a collective reflection on the theme of the change of millenium. All the rhythmic material stemmed from a project in collaboration with the choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, based on spirals, the golden section, and the Nine Star Ki.
GUITARS
This album could have been called Triangle of Influences – Indian with Prasanna, Afro-American with David Gilmore, and European with Pierre Van Dormael. These are three different expressive visions that I sometimes imagine seeing and hearing in one and the same style. But the diversity of worlds prevails here, with the three oceans united by the power of our trio. How can we be both traditional and visionary, modern as well as universal? How can we take what is timeless, and bring it into our own time? Each piece is dedicated to a great guitarist.
AMAZIR
Amazir offers the star spot to the flautist and singer Magic Malik, a unique personality without any musical limits; he operates between the extremes of the simplest and the most complex, and makes everything obvious with staggeringly virtuosic ease. Few musicians can achieve such an advanced symbiosis between intellect and emotion. The album was recorded in a series of scattered sessions and later reassembled. The Cuban studies are the seeds of a project that remained unrealized due to the loss of percussionist Anga Díaz. Initially an additional section of the repertoire was envisaged, with a new instrument, the aulochrome.
CULTURE GRIOT
Culture Griot is the fruit of a long friendship with the Malian praise singer Baba Sissoko. It represents a return to rhythmic and vocal simplicity: the tamas, the talking drums, sound out like songs from which the power of the word seems to emerge. A message of friendship containing the essential values of an African culture, in its joyousness and the thrill of its healing energy.
DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND + AKA MOON
DJ Grazzhoppa asked me to help him create a big band of DJs: it was fascinating to orchestrate this originally soloistic art, involving the manipulation of the vinyl records, and research into scratching techniques. Every single groove of the vinyl discs was meticulously chosen and synchronized with each disc speed. Naturally, the big band was built up like an African percussion ensemble, to show the origin of all these multiple sources. DJ Grazzhoppa is a cosmic spirit, someone quite out of the ordinary, a virtuoso gifted with an incredible instinct and memory.
UNISON
Unison is a multi-faceted pivoting point, highlighting our need to perform more frequently as a trio. Several of its pieces of music lie at the intersection of two axes: a fascination with the Balkans, and our experiences at Ircam in Paris with Omax, a musical co-improvisation software program – though only our own acoustic parts are heard here. The sound balance between the percussion and bass guitar has been handled particularly carefully on this album. For us, the pleasure of playing as a trio will always be a sublime and irreplaceable joy.
AKA BALKAN MOON / AlefBa
These two projects, which both started out at the Abbaye de Royaumont near Paris, have as their common point the personality of Tcha
Limberger, as a supplement to our trio. He has a stupendous memory for the most diverse musical traditions. His universal spirit is firmly rooted in his gipsy origins, but expands endlessly to take in songs of the most sublime nature. Our own felt need to connect with the music of the Balkans began with Michel Hatzigeorgiou’s passion for the bouzouki, and for Greek song. Aka Balkan Moon has its origin in the beauty of the Bulgarian songs inspired by that genius of the kaval, Nedyalko Nedyalkov. With their spirit of pure folklore, rhythmic jubilation, melodic fantasy and an almost baroque ornamentation, these musical dialogues draw us into a wide range of Balkan sounds, and the aromatic atmospheres of Transylvania, Budapest, Serbia, and Greece. AlefBa was a really special experience, a complex creative process against the background of the revolutionary Arab Spring. The involvement of personalities such as Mustafa Saïd, Amir ElSaffar, Misirli Ahmet and Magic Malik gave this encounter a historic character, one of rare intensity. This project highlights two inextricably-linked aspects: on the one hand, the expression of ideas about society and freedom, a cry constantly echoed in the news; on the other, a festive joyfulness that bears witness to the timeless beauty of Arab classical music, and its often ecstatic and contemplative forms.
THE SCARLATTI BOOK
I have always been inspired by the idea of re-working our own western music of the past, to which I attach the same importance as the understanding of world music. Our European culture has produced a great number of masterpieces, some of which are particularly well-suited to a re-modelling. VSPRS, based on the Vespers of Monteverdi; Pitié! after Bach’s St Matthew Pas-
sion, and Coup Fatal, with its mixture of baroque and African music: all these musical projects excited me, but none of them was necessarily oriented towards stimulating the art of improvisation. It was adapting some Scarlatti sonatas that provided the ideal opportunity to make Aka Moon and Fabian Fiorini resonate together in a whole new poetry of sound.
LIGHT SHIP TRIO
Light Ship Trio is an unedited album recorded in the late 1990s, yet never released. The suite Light Ship Tantra in its complete version is permeated by Indian rhythmic articulations, while also retaining the vigorous African impulses of our first period. This torrential flow was captured in the studio with all the energy of a live performance, as the dancers Fatou Traoré, Karine Ponties and Johanne Saunier improvised alongside us for the whole of the session. Music and movement are all one in a blazing whirligig that also gave birth to a stage show.
~ Revisiting these 25 years of discography makes me aware how unwavering our artistic commitment has been. Aka Moon as a trio would not be what it is today without this history, nourished by the diversity of its crossovers; and none of its stages would ever have been possible without the magically cohesive powers of Michel Hatzigeorgiou and Stéphane Galland. We have two ‘fourth musketeers’ in the group. First of all Michel Andina, who has put his imprint on the group’s sound, both in the studio and in concert. With his viscerally instinctive understanding of the Hatzi-Galland duo, he has given our work an almost clinical clarity. He knows our history better than anyone else, and he has found solutions in the most
technically complex situations. Next, Fabian Fiorini, the musician we have most frequently sought out. With his total commitment and his exceptional degree of understanding and musicianship, he has repeatedly enriched us with his extensive palette of colours, ranging between the extremes of power and gentleness. Our history is also linked to a whole host of other people not included in this box set: from projects with the 600 young singers of La Monnaie, the 500 young musicians of Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, the collaboration with Philippe Boesmans and Luc Bondi on the opera Wintermärchen, the groups African Voices and Oriental Voices at the Brussels Opera, electrical constellations of all kinds, our American connections, and the major festive concerts we have had along the way: all of them moments of fusion that remain unforgettable.
Fabrizio Cassol
AKA MOON & DOUDOU N’DIAYE ROSE 1997
Il n’est pas facile de résumer un quart de siècle de musique en quelques lignes, un ouvrage entier serait nécessaire à décrire l’intensité et la diversité de notre histoire, commencée au cœur de la forêt centrafricaine avec les Pygmées Aka en 1992. La position assez radicale de créer essentiellement sur base des informations musicales recueillies directement sur place me paraît aujourd’hui encore osée. Plonger de plain-pied dans le grand livre ouvert de l’oralité, ou du non-écrit selon la vision occidentale, aura ouvert la voie à une attitude fondée sur l’utilisation de savoirs souvent ancestraux, à la condition d’en recevoir la permission de ses détenteurs. Une forme de consentement quasi sacré permettant la transformation, l’adaptation ou la combinaison de connaissances avec d’autres sources éloignées. Stéphane Galland et Michel Hatzigeorgiou ont eu une aisance surnaturelle à capter en temps réel des éléments qui réclament souvent des années de travail et de pratique. En parallèle à leur virtuosité sans faille, leur mémoire exceptionnelle et leur génie d’improvisateur, ils possèdent cette souplesse innée à comprendre et intégrer les langages musicaux venus d’ailleurs. Le triangle que nous formons est soudé par un fluide énergétique particulier qui se complète dans l’harmonisation de nos différences. Le 'Kaai', petit bar bruxellois transformé en club de jazz avant-gardiste et envahi pendant sept années par une communauté de musiciens improvisateurs, a représenté une étape importante de notre évolution dans les années 1990. Nous avons eu la chance de nous y produire chaque semaine dans un contexte de liberté artistique totale. C’est là qu’a débuté l’aventure Nasa Na en compagnie de Pierre Van Dormael qui par sa personnalité hors du commun, sa rigueur artistique et son génie créatif reste un repère d’intégrité musicale sans faille. Mais notre envie de découvrir d’autres espaces rythmiques hors des formes conventionnelles du jazz est devenue une nécessité incontournable. C’est dans ce contexte
qu’est né le trio Aka Moon. S’il semble représenter un monde à part, il a dans ses prolongements permis d’inventer une terre d’accueil unique où les styles, les cultures, les religions ne représentent jamais une limite. Le groupe a toujours évolué comme un kaléidoscope expressif multiple et diversifié. Nos invités ont la particularité d’être chacun des musiciens phares dans leur domaine. Souvent compositeurs et leaders de groupe, ils sont des instrumentistes hors-pairs proposant des directions nouvelles et aventurières. Une multitude de constellations sont nées de ces rencontres dans une effervescence créative passionnante qui nous échappe à chaque fois. Aka Moon a évolué par périodes successives ayant chacune un focus spécifique et notre discographie le relate assez bien même si elle est loin de représenter l’intégralité de ces expériences.
AKA MOON & REBIRTH
Les Pygmées Aka avec leurs raisons différentes de «faire de la musique» ont remis en question les notions d’improvisation et de composition au moment où nous cherchions une autre manière d’interagir en groupe. Si le premier Aka Moon expose les bases d’un langage rythmo-contrapuntique sophistiqué, Rebirth le prolonge avec l’urgence de trouver des formes organiques ou instinctives en osmose avec l’amplitude énergétique du groupe. Le naturel des Pygmées à accepter les changements musicaux aléatoires en résonance avec la vie dans la forêt et leurs jeux nous a inspiré une sorte de «non-forme» dans laquelle tout est combinable. Elle nous a permis de remodeler à l’infini le matériau rythmique et thématique, inventant des chemins individuels et collectifs à chaque fois nouveaux. Nous avons pu prendre l’initiative de changer la direction musicale tous les trois de façon égale sans que personne ne puisse prédire quelle en serait l’issue.
AKASHA Vol. 1 & 2
L’Inde a été l’onde de choc suivante avec une approche de la musique radicalement différente. Pour les enregistrements des deux volumes Akasha, nous avions pour la première fois invité des musiciens, $.$hankaranarayanan (mridangam, sud de l’Inde), Aneesh Pradhan (tabla, nord de l’Inde) et Raghunath Seth au bansouri. Nous nous sommes retrouvés dans un studio à Bombay (Mumbai) entre un séjour sur le Gange à Bénarès (Varanasi) et nos premiers concerts à Madras (Chennai). Ces musiciens disposaient naturellement d’une habileté incroyable à nous proposer des variations musicales hallucinantes, de nature alors inconnue à nos oreilles. L’envie de comprendre plus profondément cette nouvelle pensée a provoqué plus tard la rencontre déterminante avec le maître Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman.
GANESH – ELOHIM - LIVE AT VOORUIT
Cette trilogie voyage entre deux pôles culturels et deux personnalités musicales d’envergure, d’une part U.K. Sivaraman (Ganesh) et de l’autre le maître du sabar sénégalais Doudou N’Diaye Rose (Live at Vooruit). Elohim représente le croisement des deux et débute avec la fin de l’album Ganesh. Depuis les influences indiennes, le groupe glisse progressivement vers l’Afrique et révèle un langage qui unit les deux: les cycles courts et superposés des musiques africaines qui dans leurs polyrythmies déclenchent souvent la danse et parfois la transe et les cycles indiens longs tels des mélodies rythmiques. Il en résulte un travail sur l’harmonie du rythme dans la synchronicité de différentes mémoires. Avec cette trilogie, Aka Moon devient petit à petit une grande constellation composée d’une myriade de petites autres qui offrent un espace de rencontres et de partage. U.K. Sivaraman a été une figure centrale qui a apporté de l’ordre dans nos «délires» rythmiques tout en nous nourrissant des secrets de son
savoir immense. Cette organisation différente du discours musical à travers le rythme a également eu un impact sur la pensée harmonique que je considère depuis comme des états vibratoires aux qualités différenciées.
du changement de millénaire. Tout le matériau rythmique est issu d’un travail avec la chorégraphe Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, inspiré par les spirales, le nombre d’or et le Nine Star Ki.
Doudou N’Diaye Rose et ses huit percussionnistes nous ont encrés dans un groove plus profond et plus puissant, un contact avec une énergie toute particulière: celle des âmes groupes et des connexions familiales. Une homogénéité expressive qu’une phrase prononcée par Doudou résume à merveille. Lorsque je lui ai demandé quels musiciens allaient participer aux concerts, il m’a tout simplement répondu: «Quand un sait, toute le monde sait !». Cette réplique a changé ma vision du monde. Elle a provoqué une réflexion sur l’identité des groupes et la place de l’individu dans la complexité de leurs mélanges.
GUITARS
INVISIBLE SUN - INVISIBLE MOON - INVISIBLE MOTHER
AMAZIR
IN REAL TIME
CULTURE GRIOT
La Trilogie des Invisibles correspond à la recherche d’un autre langage harmonique à deux pôles: l’ensemble Ictus en tant que symbole de l’évolution musicale occidentale (Invisible Mother) et un aspect plus jazz pour Invisible Sun et ses cuivres, Invisible Moon faisant le lien. À chaque fois, deux pianos et deux pianistes pour préciser les vibrations harmoniques en relation avec les vibrations rythmiques. La graine de départ a été la synchronisation du livre divinatoire chinois, le Yi King, avec tout le système de base des ragas indiens. Deux sources de savoirs initialement transmis oralement qui m’ont permis de développer autrement la réflexion sur l’écriture musicale. L’album (à l’exception de la pièce I Said I) est la musique du spectacle In Real Time qui unissait les danseurs de Rosas, les comédiens de TG Stan et Aka Moon en quartet avec Fabian Fiorini autour d’une réflexion collective avec l’écrivain Gerardjan Rijnders sur la thématique
Il aurait pu se nommer Triangle des influences: l’Inde avec Prasanna, l’afro-américain avec David Gilmore et l’Européen avec Pierre Van Dormael. Trois visions expressives différentes que je rêve parfois de voir et d’entendre dans un seul et même style. Mais la diversité des mondes l’emporte ici tels trois océans unis par la force du trio. Comment être à la fois ancestral et visionnaire ? Moderne et universel ? Comment porter en son temps ce qui est au-delà des époques ? Chaque pièce est dédiée à un grand guitariste. Amazir offre la part belle au flûtiste-chanteur Magic Malik, une personnalité unique et musicalement sans limite qui trouve sa place entre les extrêmes opposés du plus simple au plus complexe rendant tout évident avec une aisance virtuose renversante. Peu de musiciens vont aussi loin dans la symbiose entre l’intellect et l’émotion. L’album a été enregistré en une série de sessions éparses regroupées par la suite. Les études cubaines sont les graines d’un projet qui n’a pas été réalisé en raison de la disparition du percussionniste Anga Díaz. Une autre partie du répertoire était initialement prévue avec un nouvel instrument, l’aulochrome. Culture Griot est le fruit d’une longue amitié avec le Griot Baba Sissoko originaire du Mali. Il correspond à un retour à la simplicité rythmique et vocale: les tamas ou talking drums résonnent comme des chants desquels émerge la force de la parole. Un message d’amitié portant des
valeurs essentielles d’une culture africaine dans la joie et l’effervescence d’une énergie guérisseuse.
DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND + AKA MOON
DJ Grazzhoppa m’a sollicité pour l’aider à créer un big band de DJs: un travail passionnant d’orchestration d’un art à l’origine soliste grâce à la manipulation des vinyles et d’une recherche sur le scratching. Le choix de chaque sillon synchronisé avec chaque vitesse des vinyles a été effectué avec grande minutie. Le big band s’est naturellement constitué comme un ensemble de percussions africaines révélant ainsi l’origine de ses origines multiples. DJ Grazzhoppa est une âme cosmique hors du commun, un virtuose doté d’un insctinct et d’une mémoire incroyable.
UNISON
Unison est un pivot aux multiples facettes qui marque la nécessité de se retrouver plus souvent en trio. Plusieurs musiques s’y croisent sur deux axes: l’attraction des Balkans et les expériences à l’Ircam de Paris avec le OMax (logiciel de co-improvisation musicale) même s’il ne reste ici que nos parties acoustiques. L’approche du son entre la batterie et la basse a été particulièrement soignée sur cet album. Le plaisir de jouer en trio sera toujours une joie sublime et irremplaçable.
AKA BALKAN MOON / AlefBa
Ces deux projets, nés à l’Abbaye de Royaumont près de Paris, ont comme point commun la personnalité de Tcha Limberger comme lien en plus de notre trio. Il est porteur d’une mémoire gigantesque touchant des patrimoines musicaux extrêmement diversifiés. Son âme universelle s’ancre au cœur de ses origines manouches pour se multiplier à l’infini au travers des chants les plus sublimes. La nécessité de se connecter aux musiques des Balkans a commencé par la passion de Michel Hatzigeorgiou pour le bouzouki et les chants grecs.
Aka Balkan Moon trouve son origine dans la beauté des chants bulgares inspirés par le génie du kaval, Nedyalko Nedyalkov. Dans un esprit de pur folklore, de jubilation rythmique, de fantaisie mélodique aux ornementations quasi baroques, les dialogues musicaux nous entraînent dans les résonances balkaniques les plus diverses aux parfums de Transylvanie, de Budapest, de Serbie ou de Grèce. AlefBa a été une aventure spéciale, un processus de création complexe dans le contexte des révolutions arabes. La présence des personnalités tels que Mustafa Saïd, Amir ElSaffar, Misirli Ahmet ou Magic Malik donne un caractère historique à cette rencontre d’une rare intensité. Ce projet met en exergue deux aspects indissociables: d’une part l’expression d’idées sociales et libertaires, un cri qui résonne à chaque instant dans les actualités; de l’autre, la joie festive témoignant de la beauté intemporelle des musiques classiques arabes aux formes souvent extatiques et contemplatives.
THE SCARLATTI BOOK
La transformation de nos musiques occidentales passées m’a toujours inspiré et j’y attache autant d’importance qu’à la compréhension des musiques du monde. Notre culture européenne a produit une quantité de chefs-d’œuvre et certains ont une capacité particulière à se laisser modeler différemment. VSPRS au départ des Vêpres de Monteverdi, Pitié! d’après la Passion selon St Mathieu de Bach, les mélanges de musiques baroques et africaines avec Coup fatal m’ont passionné, mais chacune de ces situations n’avait pas comme nécessité de dynamiser principalement l’improvisation. L’adaptation de certaines des sonates de Scarlatti a été l’opportunité idéale pour faire vibrer Aka Moon et Fabian Fiorini dans une toute autre poésie sonore.
LIGHT SHIP TRIO
Light Ship Trio est un album inédit et jamais paru, enregistré à la fin des années 1990. La suite Light Ship Tantra dans son intégralité est imprégnée par les articulations rythmiques indiennes tout en conservant les forces des impulsions africaines de notre première période. Un débit diluvien qui a été capté en studio mais vécu dans l’énergie du live avec les danseuses Fatou Traoré, Karine Ponties et Johanne Saunier improvisant avec nous tout au long de la séance. Musique et mouvement ne font qu’un dans un parcours flamboyant qui a également donné vie à un spectacle.
~
Redécouvrir ces 25 ans de discographie me font prendre conscience de la constance de notre engagement artistique. Aka Moon en trio ne serait pas ce qu’il est aujourd’hui sans cette histoire protéinée par la diversité des croisements, et chacun de ces chapitres n’auraient jamais été possibles sans la force de cohésion magique de Michel Hatzigeorgiou et Stéphane Galland. Nous avons deux «quatrième mousquetaire» dans le groupe. Tout d’abord Michel Andina qui a marqué de son empreinte le son du groupe en studio et en concert. Il nous a donné une lisibilité presque chirurgicale par une compréhension viscérale du tandem Hatzi-Galland. Il porte notre histoire en lui comme nul autre et a permis de rendre possible des situations d’une extrême complexité technique. Ensuite, Fabian Fiorini qui a été le musicien le plus souvent sollicité. Avec une adhésion totale, une compréhension et une musicalité exceptionnelle il nous a maintes fois enrichi par l’étendue de ses couleurs entre les extrêmes de la puissance et de la douceur.
Notre histoire est également liée à toute une série d’autres personnalités qui ne figurent pas dans ce box: les projets avec les 600 jeunes chanteurs de la Monnaie, les 500 jeunes d’Aix-en-Provence et Marseille, la collaboration avec Philippe Boesmans et Luc Bondi dans l’opéra Wintermärchen, les African Voices ou Oriental Voices à l’Opéra de Bruxelles, les constellations électriques les plus diverses, les connexions américaines ou les grands concerts festifs jalonnant notre parcours comme des moments fusionnels inoubliables.
Fabrizio Cassol
AKA MOON 1992: Fabrizio Cassol, Michel Hatzigeorgiou & Stéphane Galland
Aka Moon Management, Production & Booking: Maaike Wuyts maaike@aubergineartistmanagement.com / +32 473 37 19 70 Photography cover box, CDs & booklet © NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Wisconsin (cc) Photography p. 4-5 & 33 © Danny Willems, p. 34 & 44 © Jacky Lepage, p. 54 © Antonio Narváez Dupuy Artwork Concept & Design © Racasse-Studio.com English Translation: John Thornley Executive Producer: Julien Lepièce © 2017 Outhere
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