Gwakasonné, Vwayajé  
Gwakasonné
Vwayajé
TIP  
CAN 2xLP 
Label: Seance Centre
Release Year: 2019
Style: Latin & Brasil & Afro
 
  “Stop here!” exclaimed Robert Oumaou as we passed a mango tree on the side of the road just outside of Point-a-Pitre, the balmy capital of Guadeloupe. He filled a plastic bag with ripe fruit, and we set off on our journey across the small Caribbean island in search of musicians he hadn’t seen in years. On the way, we shared stories in broken French and English, stopping at truck stops to eat delicious fried fish. Robert took me to his hometown, and placed a mango and a flower on the grave of his teacher and mentor, a local poet. The seeds of Vwayajé (Traveller) were sewn on this trip, but shortly after returning home, I heard that Robert was ill, and he sadly passed away in 2018. This compilation was originally intended as a way to share Robert’s brazen work with a wider global audience, but it now also serves to immortalize his indomitable spirit.

Gwakasonné is the ecstatic articulation of Robert Oumaou’s artistic and political vision, a unified expression of his interests in American jazz, pre-colonial rhythms, Guadeloupian independence, and Créole poetics. Over the course of three albums, all released in the 80s, Robert piloted a revolving cast of musicians, a venerable who’s-who of Point-a-Pitre avant-jazz pioneers, to deftly intone his creative communal concepts. The songs on Vwayajé are compiled from these three releases, Gwakasonné, Temwen, and Moun, along with an electronic mantra taken from his 2007 solo album Sang Comment Taire. Viewed from our current artistic and cultural landscape, Robert’s work is exceptionally enduring, grounded in its declarations of freedom and foundational use of the Ka (drum) and voice, and prescient in its borderless explorations of protest folk, electronics, ambient atmosphere, music from the African diaspora, and spiritual jazz. The long-form hive-mind expression of the group has parallels with similar explorations by The Grateful Dead, electric
Miles, Pharaoh Sanders, and even the Boredoms, but these are only oblique references for a truly peerless sound. Like other conceptual children of Gérard Lockel, the group was part of a progressive movement of like-minded musicians, such as Serge Fabriano, Dao, Erick Cosaque, and Gaoulé Mizik, who embraced Lockel’s modernist ideals, fusing Gwo Ka drumming and tuning systems with contemporary jazz and vanguard recording technologies. Robert’s ecstatic phrasings, embrace of electronic instruments, and daring lyrics set the group apart as the beatific expression of a sagacious soul.
 
      Wish List  
  Price: CHF 34.00   Currently not on stock!
Please check back later or call us for more information:
+41 (0)43 322 02 04
 
  Releases of the same artist  
  No items found ..  
  Releases of the same label  
  Abdur Razzaq / Rafiyq, The Night Of Power  
Abdur Razzaq / Rafiyq
The Night Of Power
[Seance Centre]
TIP  
CAN 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 32.00 Add To Cart
 
  Museum Of No Art, Museum Of No Art  
Museum Of No Art
Museum Of No Art
[Seance Centre]
TIP  
CAN 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 40.00 Add To Cart
 
  Princess Demeny, New York Grief  
Princess Demeny
New York Grief
[Seance Centre]
CAN 7inch  Wish List
CHF 23.00 Restocking!
 
  Sam McClellan, Music Of The Five Elements  
Sam McClellan
Music Of The Five Elements
[Seance Centre]
CAN 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 31.00 Add To Cart
 
  Smokey Haangala, Aunka Ma Kwacha  
Smokey Haangala
Aunka Ma Kwacha
[Seance Centre]
CAN 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 30.00 Add To Cart
 
  Various Artists, Triangulos De Luz Y Espacios De Sombra  
Various Artists
Triangulos De Luz Y Espacios De Sombra
[Seance Centre]
CAN 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 44.00 Restocking!
 
Amine
13 Months of Sunshine
[CLBN]
Annahstasia
Tether
[Drink Sum Wtr]
Apollo Brown
Grandeur
[Mello Music Group]
Bigxthaplug
Take Care
[DIGGERS FACTORY]
Billy Woods
Golliwog
[Backwoodz Studioz]
Budos Band
VII
[Diamond West Records]
Darryn Jones
In The Bush
[Hot Biscuits]
Deon Jamar
Heavennnnnn
[Smoke & Mirrors]
Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band
Avoudé Remixes
[Sol Power Sound]
Durand Jones & The Indications
Flowers
[Dead Oceans]
Ennio Morricone
Dietro Il Processo
[BTF]
Hall & Oates
Daryl Hall - John Oates And Dub!
[Not On Label]
Headnodic + Jazz Mafia
Headnodic + Jazz Mafia
[Be With Records]
ISAAC
Love Theme (Ilija Rudman Higher Ground Mix Part I)
[Brooklyn Highs Edits]
Italo Brutalo
Second Horizon
[Bungalo Disco]
J Dilla
928
[Not On Label]
J Dilla
Genius
[Not On Label]
Kodak Black
Collection
[Warner]
Lijadu Sisters
Danger
[Numero Group]
Lil Wayne
VI
[Young Money]
Little Simz
Lotus
[AWAL Recordings Ltd]
Lovetempo
Live Or Die By Love EP
[Toucan Sounds]
Milton Henry, Jerry Johnson
Them A Devil
[Wackie's ]
Nad
DB12 017
[Duca Bianco]
Richard Norris
Oracle Sound Volume Two
[Not On Label]
Stereolab
Instant Holograms On Metal Film (Clear Vinyl Gf.)
[Warp]
Sylvester
I Need You (Ron Hardy Edit)
[Fantasy]
The Revenge
Roar Groove Meets Dirt Crew Vol. 5
[Dirt Crew Recordings]
Thee Sacred Souls
Somebody Knew
[Penrose]
V/A
Spiritual Jazz 18: Behind The Iron Curtain (Part 2)
[Jazzman]
  1. Lexx
Rhythm Of Love
 
  2. Palace Pasador
Footprint Affair
 
  3. OG Florin + Melodiesinfonie
Meh Als Null Und Eis
 
  4. Jimi Tenor & Cold Diamond & Mink
July Blue Skies
 
  5. Jambonne
Jam On
 
  6. Paul Lowe
Lets Work It Out / Make Things Better
 
  7. Wilson Tanner
Legends
 
  8. Glenn Underground
Mother Tongue x Neroli EP
 
  9. Hiroshi Suzuki
Cat
 
  10. J Dilla
928