The passing on of music from one musician to another and from one soul to another
continues, echoing ancient melodies that used to be heard throughout the city, in
churches and cafes; in the mosques and courtyards of stone-carved buildings. These
tunes, in Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish, have been passed down from one
generation to the next, their beauty serving as the sole weapon against falling into
oblivion.
Their one common denominator is, for Fawaz Baker, their constant innovation within the
constraints of traditional structure. Eastern music offers myriad possibilities in terms of
rhythm, melody and improvisation. It is what is referred to as modal music: composed of
musical phrases, not tones or notes like most compositions in the West since the
eighteenth century. Eastern sound is based on improvisation and polyphony; a freedom
that allows two melodies to evolve simultaneously within a complex architecture, letting
each musician interpret and improvise. How, then, might a balance be struck between
written and improvised music, between modal and tonal? The challenge is no small feat,
but it does illustrate how music – and art in general – is capable of creating a dialogue
between contradictory forces, one where ideology falls short.
At first there were the encounters the virtuoso of choro Paulista, multiple
meetings have marked the artistic experiments conducted in São Paulo by
Jean-Luc Thomas.
Between jazz, choro, contemporary music, popular mu- sic and learned
music, Jean-Luc has built a network of valuable collaborators, each
recognized locally and internationally around real knowledge and artistic
achievements.
Following the meeting in 2009 with Carlos Malta, the «wind
sculptor» (Hermeto Pascoal, Pife Muderno, Gil Gilberto, Gaetano Veloso,
Lenine, Dave Mathews, …), in 2013, they created the trio «Sopro da Terra»
with the talented percussionist Bernardo Aguiar (Pandeiro Re- pique Duo, ..)
who has performed on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Jean-Luc Thomas composed these pieces dedicated to places, people,
situations. Following a stay in Brazil in 2018, then a two-part residency for
recording in the spring of 2019, the album is mixed in Brittany in the fall, for
an exit in the bins the following winter.
