THE SLOW MUSIC MOVEMENT​
  • Home
  • Music Tips
  • Radio/Playlists
  • Record Label/Licensing
  • Blog
  • Sound Advice
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Music Tips
  • Radio/Playlists
  • Record Label/Licensing
  • Blog
  • Sound Advice
  • About
  • Contact
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Picture

The Slow Music Movement Blog

​Mostly we put our daily recommendations here for the blog readers among you, although occasionally we go longform.
Reading about music is a bit like looking at pictures of food - not nearly half as much fun as getting involved, so we scribble a brief intro to hopefully whet your appetite but you're better off just hitting play. Not very "slow" I know but there's a lot of music to check these days & hopefully you'll find the recommendations a handy filter.
​Trust your ears, not opinions.

2/2/2022 0 Comments

Lèspri Ka : New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 (Time Capsule/Séance Centre)

what your ears say & the cover looks like


what we say

If you're unaware of the power & beauty of Guadeloupean music then hit play on what is sure to be one of the compilations of 2022, curated by Time Capsule & Séance Centre. It's a deeper than deep selection soaked in Afro spirituality, jazz licks, Caribe soul, historic hardship, resilience, joy & love and those impossible to ignore calls to dancefloor catharsis so prevalent in African diasporic music.

what the release notes say

The innovative, radical soul of Guadeloupe explored across thirty years of contemporary gwoka music, released by Time Capsule and Séance Centre. 

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” 

Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island. 

Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with a rich seam of genre-defying experimentation. 

Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funkinflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large. 

As co-curator Cédric Lassonde writes: “What unifies these selections is the depth of the compositions, the experimentation around the santiman ka, and the spirit of resistance and liberation against slavery, be it modern or ancestral. With a thirst for innovation typical of the island’s creole culture, the ka spirit is deeply rooted in collective history and in a quest for identity.” 

Co-curator Brandon Hocura continues: “The creative energy of these musicians is powerful and demonstrates a universal pursuit of resistance, freedom and identity. Their voices are distinct, but the chorus rises high and carries their message far across the sea.” 

Released on double LP, Lèsprit Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 is the first compilation of its kind to bring the sound of modern gwoka to a wider audience, with many of the musicians features still active today.

Presented with typical attention to detail, the release features a specially commissioned essay by Guadeloupean musician Marie-Line Dahomey, and extensive liner notes from the curators. 

True to the hybrid nature of the music, the compilation seeks not to provide a definitive sound, but express the variety of contemporary forms gwoka has grown to take. Just as Guadeloupean trailblazers Kassav fused gwoka with funk and cadence to create zouk, so did the musicians on this collection push gwoka in new directions rarely heard beyond its shores. 

In the words of Gérard Lockel, “gwoka is the soul of Guadeloupe". 


?? 

コズミック~スピリチュアル・ジャズ、バレアリック、レアグルーヴ…すべての音楽ファンを虜にするそのあまりに素晴らしい音楽的クオリティはもちろん、資料も充実した大労作!!! カリブ海に浮かぶフランス海外領地の島、グアドループの民族音楽であるグウォカ。本国フランスでもほぼ出回っていなかった80年代以降の進化系グウォカを集めた世界初の復刻コンピレーションが、英 Time Capsule とカナダの Séance Centre のコラボレーションにより、ついに発売決定。 

グアドループを代表するダンス音楽であり、アフリカから奴隷として連れてこられた人々のコミュニティにおける社会的、音楽的、儀式的な慣習に根ざした独立と抵抗の精神の象徴、そして生き方や考えそのものともいえる「グウォカ」。そのスタイルは、元来コール&レスポンスとドラムという極めてシンプルなものだったが、1970年代に入ると Gérard Lockel や Christian Laviso といったカリスマ的ミュージシャンが登場し、ファンク、ジャズ、電子楽器等、様々な音楽からの影響をグウォカに取り込み始める。そんな「進化系グウォカ」のなかから特筆すべき楽曲のみをセレクトした世界で初めてとなるコンピレーションが本作だ。 

ディープでコズミック、スピリチュアルな要素を含む Dao、Freydy Doressamy、Gaoulé Mizik、ジャズファンクの影響が色濃い Gui Konket と Horizon、現代のダンス・ミュージックにも通じるドライヴ感溢れる Michell Laurent...。 どれも強烈な音源ばかりだが、それらに共通するのはそのルーツである強烈なパーカッションと、グアドループの魂とも言うべき彼等独自の個性的な表現方法にあると言える。言い換えれば、グウォカやクレオール語を始めとした彼等の文化は、歴史の渦中で失った彼等のアイデンティティの飽くなき追求なのだ。 

そんな豊穣にして個性あふれる音楽性を持つにも関わらず、進化系グウォカに関する復刻や記述、研究はこれまで世界的にほぼ皆無だった。今回のコンピに収録されている楽曲の多くはこの島の外はおろかフランスにも滅多に出回らなかった為、どの作品も現在ほぼ入手不可能か、もしくはオークションなどで非常に高価な値段で取引されているもの。くわえて本作収録アーティストの一人でもあるグアドループ出身女性アーティスト Marie-Line Dahomey によるグウォカの歴史や現代的解釈をつづったエッセイを収録している他、同地に20年近く定期的に渡航を続けているフランス人で本作のキュレーターでもある Cedric Lassonde による各楽曲解説、そして共同キュレーターでカナダはトロントのレーベル Séance Centre を運営する Brandon Hocura によるエッセイも収録と資料性もばっちりだ。 

近年、世界中のコレクターや音楽歴史家達から注目を集めるフレンチ・カリビアン音楽の歴史的音源を多角的に楽しむことのできる最高のコンパイル・ワーク。
  
CreditsRemastered by Stuart hawkes, Metropolis, London UK 
Artwork by Alan Briand 
Curated by Cédric Lassonde & Brandon Hocura (Séance Centre) 
reissue production Kay Suzuki & Naomi Okabe (Séance Centre) 

if you like that you might like this

Link to the playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube & Soundcloud
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    OUR MISSION STATEMENT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS

    Lazy Days, Hazy Moments & Dancing to a Slower Groove

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Lazy Days, Hazy Moments & Dancing To a Slower Groove