IN THE PRESS
Hélène Lee • Libération
• April 15th, 2001 - World
"Once in a while, in the lush jungle of musical crossbreedings,
a peculiar flower blooms - like this AndoumA, a most unusual piano-percussion-voice
trio. Where Manu Dibango or Ray Lema would have tried their best
to conceal the seam between the musicians' respective contributions,
pianist Lydia Domancich leaps about lightheartedly between ragtime
and Debussy, leaving Guinean singer Aïssata Kouyaté
to do a balancing act to keep up with her. When she succeeds, the
results are gripping. Aïssata bends her Griotte voice to mould
the curves of these otherworldly harmonies, and the slight suffering
she goes through in the process gives the music an unexpected emotional
quality.
Accompanying them is percussionist Pierre Marcault, who takes his
bougarabous and his djembes on a vigorous and cheerful, almost independent
trajectory, witnessing the two women's dialogue, alternately light
and shade, harmony and dissonance, embrace and fight. The freshness
of their exchanges makes up for their occasional clumsiness : how
can one be deft when overwhelmed by a new emotion ?"
Denis-Constant Martin • Politis -
July 2001
... Their album is magnificent : it has both the freshness of a
fresh-blown flower and the fragrance of corollas patiently cuddled
by repeated grafting. The emotion that wells up from it comes from
everything that one feels without directly hearing it : respect
for others and their true nature; the explicit quest for a fruitful
balance between the dynamics of West-African forest rhythms, the
harmonic subtlety of 20th century European music and the complexity
of a voice whose rich timbre blossoms in this musical embroidery.
Andouma beautifully proves that nowadays, musical idioms can still
successfully mingle, and that jazz, probably the ultimate musical
melting pot, remains the binder of their combination... Emotion
can only spring from patient acquaintance and mutual respect."
Yves Jaeglé • Le Parisien
- May 11th, 2001
"Tonight the trio presents music from its latest album, a gorgeous
journey through pianistic moods that range from jazzy atmospheres
to reminiscences of Ravel, with percussion heralding the arrival
in Africa, magnified by the radiant voice of Aïssata, who sings
and dances the words of her ancestors. Given its improvised nature
and the resulting variation in musical colours, this is undoubtedly
a jazz album. Continents join together or grow apart, drifting away
musically as if dancing to a flexible tempo. Just think of a grand
piano being set up on an African village square, and played by a
musician wanting to make a fresh start in life... A beautiful and
authentic meeting.."
Jazzman ... "fragile music, intentionally
stripped of facile effects" ...
Afiavi ... "a trio straight out of a dream"
Open mag ... "A beautiful alchemy" ...
Africultures ..."another way of depicting
the evolution of the world : crossbreeding, dialogue, mutual understanding.
Calm and serenity prevail on this album, providing further evidence
that people of different cultures can live together in perfect harmony."
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