We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Whisper of a Shadow - Opus 1

by Yohan Giaume

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €10 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Whisper of a Shadow - Opus 1 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 1 day
    Purchasable with gift card

      €17 EUR or more 

     

1.
2.
Mascarade 04:48
Vestiges of the jungle are, Tucked neatly in my shirt The public is relived to see my, Wide smile and soft shoe dance No traces of contempt, No hard feelings left over From our troubled past, Ain’t we happy I make monkeyshine, Laughing when nothing’s funny Smiling despite the pain, All seems forgotten They tolerate who they expect me to be, My participation is incidental This masquerade is no cakewalk, I wear the mask, I wear the mask My congeniality belies the truth, My mask is a square dance I love to boogalou, I will not, be the invisible man forever The Cracking whip still haunts me, Slavery tried to break me But the music makes me free, I feel it in my body, I got to move my feet; This fiddle’s going to save me (X3) I can no longer tolerate the lie, This charade has savaged my soul I must terminate my minstrel, Remove the mask and free myself Un-tuck my shirt, pluck the blues, And let my authenticity Boogaloo All over your expectations, This Masquerade is over
3.
Lisette 05:44
4.
Cold Facts 02:54
The Red river flowed past a scarlet fire beneath a magenta sky. In Colfax LA, This courthouse sits on sacred ground Baptized by the crimson blood of freedom seekers Consecrated by the bones of 150 children of god My disbelieving eyes located the placard, it said Their death represented the end of Carpetbagger misrule And the Ancestors fill pity for small men Who can’t give up their colossal fantasies of Supremacy The horns blare and the birds sing Morning g lory The tears of the shadows marks the affront The grass don’t grow and fire don’t burn no more But dreams still breathe, the ancestors will be honored On Easter Sunday 1873, 3 died fighting for White Supremacy 150 died fighting to live
5.
6.
We come to praise in Congo Square A trilogy of drums, dancers and rhythms Reminding curious eyes of our Kongolese past Remembering the beautiful souls of the ancestors Spectators form circles with our family from Other worlds, the secular and the sacred They surround Sun shined gris gris dancers Black bodies kissed with the mark of Africa Pounding drums call out to ancient spirits Africans Dance the Bamboula and the Calinda Shadows of the unseen sway to the beat Libations are poured for the great ones The Bamboula Rhythm has traveled the World with the children of West Africa You will find it wherever you find them It is the vitality of unconquered spirits Open your ears and hear the bamboula in Congo square Hear the rhythms everywhere From west Africa to the Caribbean Black crows spread their beautiful wings Paying homage to the children of Shango You cannot beat the black off of us And you can’t beat Africa out of us We ain’t giving it up
7.
8.
Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi mo gardé, Afrikan ye vini. Dimanch apré-midi mo gardé, Afrikan e la. Dimanch apré-midi, mo gardé, Afrikan ye dansé. Dimanch apré-midi mo kouté, Tambour joué la bas. Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi mo gardé, Afrikan ye vini. Dimanch apré-midi mo gardé, Afrikan e la. Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi, mo gardé, Afrikan ye dansé. Dimanch apré-midi mo kouté, Tambour joué la bas. Mo pansé éspri e levé la, Ti monman ~ de liberté Por pov ~ moun African Mo gardé, Afrikan e la. Mo pansé éspri et levé la. Ti monman ~ de liberté Por pov ~ moun ki e Afrikan Mo gardé Afrikan e la. Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi mo gardé, Afrikan ye vini. Dimanch apré-midi mo gardé Afrikan e la. Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi, mo gardé, Afrikan ye dansé. Dimanch apré-midi mo kouté, Tambour joué la bas. De moun Guinea e kampé la, Ye chanté por ~ Legba la. Bèl espri lez Afrikan Mo gardé, Afrikan e la. De moun Guinea a kampé la, Ye chanté por ~ Legba la. Bèl espri lez Afrikan Mo gardé, Afrikan e la. Tuba ~ ye dansé la Mandinka ~ ye dansé la Guinea ~ ye dansé la Congo ~ ye dansé la Yoruba ~ ye dansé la Fon ~ ye dansé la Fulani ~ ye dansé la Bamboula ~ ye dansé la *** Instrumental *** Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi mo gardé, Afrikan ye vini. Dimanch apré-midi mo gardé Afrikan e la. Mé tou le dimanch apré-midi, mo gardé, Afrikan ye dansé. Dimanch apré-midi mo kouté, Tambour joué la bas. De moun Guinea e kampé la, Ye chanté por ~ Legba la. Bèl espri lez Afrikan Mo gardé, Afrikan e la. De moun Guinea a kampé la, Ye chanté por ~ Legba la. Bèl espri lez Afrikan Mo gardé, Afrikan e la. Tuba ~ ye dansé la Mandinka ~ ye dansé la Guinea ~ ye dansé la Congo ~ ye dansé la Yoruba ~ ye dansé la Fon ~ ye dansé la Fulani ~ ye dansé la Bamboula ~ ye dansé la
9.
10.
The Passage 01:20
11.

about

Whisper of a Shadow Opus 1 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 the first opus of Whisper of a Shadow, due out February 12 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 represent Giaume’s first album as a bandleader with original compositions and arrangements which seek to interact with Gottschalk’s sources of inspiration re-imagined in a contemporary fashion.

Giaume collaborates with renowned musicians from both sides of the Atlantic with an emphasis on New Orleans based artist, Evan Christopher (who also co-directed with Yohan the compositional interpretations). Amongst the 22 artists on the project are: drummer Herlin Riley, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, bassist Roland Guerin, pianist Aaron Diehl, a French string quartet, poet Chuck Perkins, an array of Caribbean percussionists and singers, as well as Louisiana based trombonists and tubists.

The origins of Whisper of a Shadow were conceived 15 years ago when Giaume began to immerse himself in different foreign cultures mainly guided by his love for the music of the African diaspora. He explored Cuba, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Morocco, Europe and different places throughout the United States. He started spending as much time as possible outside his native country after his academic studies and immersed himself in different musical traditions, to be connected to the ancestor heritage and understand what is hidden behind the notes.

Giaume explains, “By exploring these cultures from inside, traveling back and forth to different countries seeking the roots of the music, I started to discover pieces of the puzzle of the musical family tree and the links that interconnect the various cultures. 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. It shows how music is powerful, essential in a society, and how vital it is to have continuum from the past to present time.”

Giaume began in Cuba and South America, but it was New Orleans that left him rapt. “I had a strong feeling of recognizing a part of myself in that culture and city.” He also made an unexpected discovery during his journeys to the Crescent City: Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the Louisiana romantic Creole composer and pianist, had taken almost the same route in his travels as Giaume did two centuries apart. During Gottschalk’s time, he was one of the first, if not the first, American composer to inspirationally embrace Afro-Creole music. Gottschalk was heavily inspired by Afro-creole folk songs that his Haitian nanny sang to him when he was child.

Giaume discovered a song that Gottschalk never used in his compositions, although it was very familiar to him, he reimagined it as his own arrangement, sublimated by Christopher’s interpretation. In New Orleans the melody of “Lisette Quitté la Plaine,” once a very popular tune, was labeled as an Afro-creole song, but in his research Giaume discovered that the melody was originally part of the melodic repertoire used in operettas vaudevilles in France during the 18th century and the lyrics were a creole parody of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera “Le Devin du Village.” In his composition “Lez African E La” Giaume was inspired as well by another old afro-creole folk melody "Quan Patate La Cuite" that Gottschalk used for his famous piece named "Bamboula". In this track, Yohan pays a special homage to the enslaved that gathered on Sunday afternoon in Congo Square at Gottschalk’s era.

Another example of Giaume’s compositional process is what he did with the melody of Gottschalk’s piece titled “Morte!! (She is dead).” “One of my most powerful experiences was to attend Snooks Eaglin’s funeral in the streets of New Orleans. It is the first time I saw a funeral that celebrates a life and life, in general, with such beauty,” explains Giaume. “I was moved by the emotional strength and grace of this experience where the procession is accompanied by a riveting and soulful music. Gottschalk’s melodic lamentation sounds like a hymn and it moved me by its grace and its simplicity. That melody walked with me and infused the whole development of my composition called "Life Circle" inspired by the jazz funeral procession."

credits

released February 12, 2021

Yohan Giaume (Compositions / Arrangements / Musical Director / Trumpet) 

Evan Christopher (Clarinet / Collaborating partner)
Aaron Diehl (Piano)
Herlin Riley (Drums)
Roland Guerin (Bass)
Tristan Liehr (Violin)
Louis-Jean Perreau (Violin)
Emmanuel Francois (Viola)
Thomas Ravez (Cello)

Additional musicians :

Nicholas Payton (Trumpet on tracks 5, 9, 11)
Terrance Taplin (Trombone on tracks 9, 11)
Greg Hicks (Trombone on tracks 9, 11)
Matt Perrine (Tuba on tracks 9, 11)
Chuck Perkins (Spoken word / poetry and lyrics on tracks 2, 4, 6, 10, 11)
Nell Simmons, Kid Merv, Troy Sawyer, Casme Barnes, James Germain (Choir on tracks 8, 11)
Philippe Makaïa (Vocal and Percussions on track 8)
Bago Balthazar (Percussions on track 8)
Bruce Sunpie Barnes (Lyrics on track 8)

Recorded at Esplanade Studio in New Orleans 
by Misha Kachkachishvili assisted by Jesse Snider 
Recorded at Sextan Studio in Paris 
by Vincent Mahey assisted by Arthur Gouret. 

Mixed by Steve Reynolds 
Mastered by Gene Paul and Joel Kerr at G&J Audio, Union City, NJ

Artwork by Guillaume Saix
Nicholas Payton appears courtesy of Paytone Records.

Executif production by Yohan Giaume.
Produced by Life Celebration Project. 

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Yohan Giaume Paris, France

French composer-arranger, trumpeter, ethnomusicologist, Yohan Giaume is building an oeuvre that combines his passion for world music traditions, large-scale collaborative efforts, explorations of new genres and creatively enriching partnerships with other musicians. ... more

contact / help

Contact Yohan Giaume

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Yohan Giaume, you may also like: