bé -G e D - é Y - 5Passion5passion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Yosvany-Terry-New... ·...
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Yé-De-Gbé THE MUSICIANS OF YE-DÉ-GBÉ . . . are well versed in different styles of music, but they also understand the Arará tradition from the perspective of the practitioner of Afro-Cuban religion, so they’re able to place the music on the correct spiritual plane. My brother Yunior Terry provides the fat beats that inspire dancers. He acts as a bridge between the long line of Cuban bassists and the jazz bass tradition of the US. We share all our family tradition as well as the knowledge of the Sabalú cabildo of Matanzas. I have worked with Osmany Paredes for many years. His rhythmic sensibility is equal to that of any great drummer. He is one of the few players of his generation who carries within him the deep legacy of the school of Cuban piano. Pedro Martínez, besides being one of the most in- demand percussionists today, has a voice that connects you with the vodun. He’s a studi- ous musician who carries a lot of tradition under his belt. Román Díaz is the first person I call in New York to consult on anything regarding our foklore. A master drum- mer who learned from many of the greatest tamboreros of Havana, he and Pedro have a unique chemistry playing together that is manifest in this recording. I have always considered him the spiritual leader of the band. Sandy Pérez put me on the right path to meet Maño in order to start the full journey that culminated with this record- ing. A resident of California, he comes from one of the most important traditional families of Matanzas — the Villamil family, a founding fam- ily of both Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Afro Cuba de Matanzas. He grew up inside cabildo Sabalú as well as other tierras and cabildos in Matan- zas. Justin Brown was born and raised in the funky city of Oakland. He brings the flexibility of a modern jazz drummer, but he comes out of the church. Dominick Kanza is Congolese, but he was open to learning the Arará tradition. His guitar sound and knowledge were essential to the recording. It wouldn’t be Cuban without the Congo thing. THE DRUMS The core of the sound of YE-DÉ-GBÉ is a set of Arará drums that I commissioned from drum- maker Gilberto Morales in Matanzas and brought back to New York. From large to small, they’re called the yonofó, which is the lead drum, the apitlí, and the wewé. There is another drum, called the akotó, which has the largest diameter and the lowest pitch, and which does not always play. Those names are only within the Arará Sabalú tradition. If you go to Jovellanos they have differ- ent names, because that’s Arará Majino. THE COMPOSITIONS 1) Reuniendo la Nación (Bringing the Nation Together) is based on the toque de la nación, also called the toque de la tiñosa. That’s the drum pattern you do at the end of the ceremonies, when everybody’s dancing in the cabildo with the flag of the cabildo, the flag that represents who they are. They dance in a circle, representing the Arará nation. This number doesn’t have any chants. I see it as em- powerment. It opens with the drums, plus Val Jeanty, a DJ / sound designer from Haiti who brings her Haitian cosmogony with her. I hear ghosts in there. It’s contaminated with ghosts. Jason Moran and I, we’re just following them, weaving. 2) New Throned King is an arrangement of chants and drum toques for Asojano, who was known as Babalú in Yorubaland before he came to the Arará land, where the Arará people were expecting him. I tried to envision the patakín [story of the deities] of his coronation. 3) Walking Over Wave is dedicated to Afrekete, the vodun with a strong similarity to Yemayá. She’s motherly, she’s tender, she’s able to fish and feed the community, but at the same time she could be a big storm. 4) Laroko is one of the paths of Eleguá within the Arará tradi- tion. These chants have never been heard in Cuba except in Matanzas. I wanted to capture the spirit of Eleguá, and I decided to do it very traditional, just voice and handclaps, then portray him as a trickster with the soprano sax. 5) Ojún Degara is the name of the old and fa- mous cabildo in Jovellanos. They’re Arará Majino, a different group than Arará Sabalú. I decided to include knowledge from Ojún Degara as a way of incorporating something from their Maji tradi- tion into the album. This is my arrangement of the song they sing at the beginning and close of their ceremonies. 6) Mase Nadodo) tries to portray the energy of the deity Mase, the vodun who is similar to the orisha Oshún. I had gotten to know Ishmael Reed from working together with Kip Hanrahan, and I invited him to contribute something to this song. He was a wonderful collaborator. He wrote a poem that makes a parallel with the women warriors from Dahomey called Minos. The piano arpeggios are trying to re-create the image of the river. 7) Thunderous Passage is a sequence of chants dedicated to Gebioso, with his power of controlling thunder and lightning. Gebioso is the Changó of the Arará, but this path of him is named Wadé, and doesn’t have a counterpart in the Yoruba tradition. He’s like Changó as a small kid, almost like an Eleguá. This is the only one I presented in its most traditional way without touching it at all, with only drums, to hear the tradition as it has been kept in Cuba. 8) Healing Power is a song for Asoyí, who is one of the paths of Asojano. It’s very differ- ent than “New Throned King,” which is based on a different path of the same deity. Here I’m concentrating on him as a powerful healer. The “horses” of Babalú, or Asoyí, or Asojano have the power to heal conditions you think are incurable. 9) Dance Transformation is dedicated to Gebioso again, but now in the twenty-first cen- tury, and saluting a different path of Gebioso than the earlier one. Like his counterpart Changó, Gebioso is the owner of the drums and the owner of the dance. The arrangement tries to capture his motion. 10) Ileré is “Ilé Iré,” which means the house of joy. It was composed for the project by Dean Badarou, from Abomey, Benin (historic Dahomey), who was a research consultant on the project. It opens the album up at the end to connect with present-day Benin, where I hope to travel. I didn’t use any specific Arará toque for this song. We decided to create something new in this rhythmic language after working with it so much. Since it was the last song, I used it to do an Arará moyuba, which is the salutation to the spirits and ancestors. In it, I’m asking my ancestors and all the ancestors of the cabildo for their blessing on this recording. I see this number as representing the joy and the depth that are always associated with the different African cul- tures. As everything combines, we realize that it’s a tradition that’s much bigger than ourselves, that exists and is going to exist for a long time. YOSVANY TERRY as told to Ned Sublette December 3, 2013 / New York City
Transcript of bé -G e D - é Y - 5Passion5passion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Yosvany-Terry-New... ·...
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THE MUSICIANS OF YE-DÉ-GBÉ . . .are well versed in different styles of music, but they also understand the Arará tradition from the perspective of the practitioner of Afro-Cuban religion, so they’re able to place the music on the correct spiritual plane. My brother Yunior Terry provides the fat beats that inspire dancers. He acts as a bridge between the long line of Cuban bassists and the jazz bass tradition of the US. We share all our family tradition as well as the knowledge of the Sabalú cabildo of Matanzas. I have worked with Osmany Paredes for many years. His rhythmic sensibility is equal to that of any great drummer. He is one of the few players of his generation who carries within him the deep legacy of the school of Cuban piano. Pedro Martínez, besides being one of the most in-demand percussionists today, has a voice that connects you with the vodun. He’s a studi-ous musician who carries a lot of tradition under his belt. Román Díaz is the first person I call in New York to consult on anything regarding our foklore. A master drum-mer who learned from many of the greatest tamboreros of Havana, he and Pedro have a unique chemistry playing together that is manifest in this recording. I have always considered him the spiritual leader of the band. Sandy Pérez put me on the right path to meet Maño in order to start the full journey that culminated with this record-ing. A resident of California, he comes from one of the most important traditional families of Matanzas — the Villamil family, a founding fam-ily of both Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Afro Cuba de Matanzas. He grew up inside cabildo Sabalú as well as other tierras and cabildos in Matan-zas. Justin Brown was born and raised in the funky city of Oakland. He brings the flexibility of a modern jazz drummer, but he comes out of the church. Dominick Kanza is Congolese, but he was open to learning the Arará tradition. His guitar sound and knowledge were essential to the recording. It wouldn’t be Cuban without the Congo thing.
THE DRUMS The core of the sound of YE-DÉ-GBÉ is a set of Arará drums that I commissioned from drum-maker Gilberto Morales in Matanzas and brought
back to New York. From large to small, they’re called the yonofó, which is the lead drum, the apitlí, and the wewé. There is another drum, called the akotó, which has the largest diameter and the lowest pitch, and which does not always play. Those names are only within the Arará Sabalú tradition. If you go to Jovellanos they have differ-ent names, because that’s Arará Majino.
THE COMPOSITIONS1) Reuniendo la Nación (Bringing the Nation Together) is based on the toque de la nación, also called the toque de la tiñosa. That’s the drum pattern you do at the end of the ceremonies,
when everybody’s dancing in the cabildo with the flag of the cabildo, the flag that represents who they are. They dance in a circle, representing the Arará nation. This number doesn’t have any chants. I see it as em-powerment. It opens with the drums, plus Val Jeanty, a DJ / sound designer from Haiti who brings her Haitian cosmogony with her. I hear ghosts in there. It’s contaminated with ghosts. Jason Moran and I, we’re just following them, weaving.
2) New Throned King is an arrangement of chants and drum toques for Asojano, who was known as Babalú in Yorubaland before he came to the Arará land, where the Arará people were expecting him. I tried to envision the patakín [story of the deities] of his coronation.
3) Walking Over Wave is dedicated to Afrekete, the vodun with a strong similarity to Yemayá. She’s motherly, she’s tender, she’s able to fish and feed the community, but at the same time she could be a big storm.
4) Laroko is one of the paths of Eleguá within the Arará tradi-
tion. These chants have never been heard in Cuba except in Matanzas. I wanted to capture the spirit of Eleguá, and I decided to do it very traditional, just voice and handclaps, then portray him as a trickster with the soprano sax.
5) Ojún Degara is the name of the old and fa-mous cabildo in Jovellanos. They’re Arará Majino, a different group than Arará Sabalú. I decided to include knowledge from Ojún Degara as a way of incorporating something from their Maji tradi-tion into the album. This is my arrangement of the song they sing at the beginning and close of their ceremonies.
6) Mase Nadodo) tries to portray the energy of the deity Mase, the vodun who is similar to the orisha Oshún. I had gotten to know Ishmael Reed from working together with Kip Hanrahan, and I invited him to contribute something to this song. He was a wonderful collaborator. He wrote a poem that makes a parallel with the women warriors from Dahomey called Minos. The piano arpeggios are trying to re-create the image of the river.
7) Thunderous Passage is a sequence of chants dedicated to Gebioso, with his power of controlling thunder and lightning. Gebioso is the Changó of the Arará, but this path of him is named Wadé, and doesn’t have a counterpart in the Yoruba tradition. He’s like Changó as a small kid, almost like an Eleguá. This is the only one I presented in its most traditional way without touching it at all, with only drums, to hear the tradition as it has been kept in Cuba.
8) Healing Power is a song for Asoyí, who is one of the paths of Asojano. It’s very differ-ent than “New Throned King,” which is based on a different path of the same deity. Here I’m concentrating on him as a powerful healer. The “horses” of Babalú, or Asoyí, or Asojano have the power to heal conditions you think are incurable.
9) Dance Transformation is dedicated to Gebioso again, but now in the twenty-first cen-tury, and saluting a different path of Gebioso than the earlier one. Like his counterpart Changó, Gebioso is the owner of the drums and the owner of the dance. The arrangement tries to capture his motion.
10) Ileré is “Ilé Iré,” which means the house of joy. It was composed for the project by Dean Badarou, from Abomey, Benin (historic Dahomey), who was a research consultant on the project. It opens the album up at the end to connect with present-day Benin, where I hope to travel. I didn’t use any specific Arará toque for this song. We decided to create something new in this rhythmic language after working with it so much. Since it was the last song, I used it to do an Arará moyuba, which is the salutation to the spirits and ancestors. In it, I’m asking my ancestors and all the ancestors of the cabildo for their blessing on this recording. I see this number as representing the joy and the depth that are always associated with the different African cul-tures. As everything combines, we realize that it’s a tradition that’s much bigger than ourselves, that exists and is going to exist for a long time.
YOSVANY TERRY as told to Ned Sublette
December 3, 2013 / New York City
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Yosvany Terry “Sobo Jain” saxes, chekeré, wewé (5), coroOsmany Paredes pianoYunior Terry “Afra Jun” bass, coroPedro Martínez “Eshu Ni” lead vocalist, apitlíSandy Pérez “Oya Ladde” yonofó, akotó (1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10)Román Díaz “Asia Aña Bi” wewé, coroDominick Kanza guitar (2, 3, 9, 10)Justin Brown drumset (all tracks except 1, 4, 7)
GUESTSJason Moran piano (1)Val Jeanty sound design, DJ (1, 8)Gema Corredera coro (4, 5, 6, 8)Ishmael Reed poetry (6)
Produced by: Yosvany Terry Recording Engineer: Maxim RossMixing Engineer: Maxim RossMastering Engineer: Dave Kutch Executive producer: Gary Galimidi Graphic Design: Dayne DupreePhoto: Laura RazzanoIllustrations: Bobby Carcassés
Recorded at Systems Two Recording Studio, Brooklyn, NY.All compositions by Yosvany Terry except for “Ileré” by Dean Badarou/Yosvany Terry.
This recording is dedicated to the memory of my padrino (godfather) Mario Rodríguez “Maño.” Without him, this mu-sic would not have been possible. Also to my parents, Lidia and Eladio “Don Pancho” Terry, and family for their support since the first musical dream I ever had, and to the memory of my brother Yoel Terry and of Felix “Pupy” Insua, who was part of this journey from the beginning. Thanks to Jim Nadel and Catherine Conway for believing in the importance of documenting the Arará culture in Cuba. Incredible gratitude to all of the musicians who are part of this recording: Yunior, Osmany, Pedro, Román, Sandy, Dominick, Justin and Dean, and to Jason Moran, Val Jeanty, Gema Corredera and Ishmael Reed. Thanks to everybody in the Systems Two family and especially to Nancy and Maxim, and to Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Gary Galimidi for creating the opportunity to expose this music to the world. Thanks to Mecu, Oscar Rodríguez, the big family of the Cabildo Sabalú de Matanzas, Diane San-chez, John Santos, Ned Sublette, and everyone who has been involved with this recording project . . .
