Our Music of the Month selection for September 2021
"Music is like a tree, everything is connected, every musical line or rhythm you play is the shadow of something that came from somewhere and it is fascinating to me to see how cultural heritage continues to exist after centuries of geographical transformations."
Whisper of a Shadow is the first in a series of albums that follows the musical creative exploration of French composer and trumpeter Yohan Giaume tracing the musical lineage between Europe, Africa and America. Through the 19th century lens of Louisiana romantic composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s journey, the album is a result of an imagined conversation between two composers – Gottschalk, a Louisiana native of creole descent and the album’s conceptualist, Yohan Giaume – representing two different eras and two different cultures, New Orleans and France. In this first opus of Whisper of a Shadow Giaume pays homage to New Orleans and is distinctly African American culture and weaves a multi-genre musical travelogue encapsulated throughout the album’s operatic arias, Afro-Creole melodies, gospel tempos, spoken word romantic poetry, Congo Square’s rhythms, a funeral march and more. The 11 tracks are original compositions and arrangements which seek to interact with Gottschalk’s sources of inspiration, re-imagined in a contemporary musical setting. He is joined by Evan Christopher and his ensemble, and some great guest artists include poet Chuck Perkins and New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton,
Listen to some short excerpts from the album
You can also buy previous Music of the Month titles in our shop (and save a little on postage for more than one CD).
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