Greetings!
“Konfyolo” is the title of the piece I’m posting today. It means “konplo, tripotay” in Creole, “complot” in French and “plot” in English. This piece, one of my compositions to be released in my next book, reveals the “plot” between the strings in their effort to outplay each other. They create a “Rara” atmosphere where the harmonization lays out the wide intervals of the vaksin and the dissonant aspect of our music.
By now, for those who have listened to some of my classical pieces, you may have realized that our music sounds differently from Beethoven’s, Bach’s, Chopin’s, Mozart’s, Debussy’s and many other great European composers’ music . Indeed, it should be. I am not discounting our history and the cultural symbiosis between our people and the Europeans and specially the French, since they were the ones who colonized Haiti after defeating the Spanish and the English on the West side of this Island. I would rather emphasize that our freedom should immunize us from a servile mentality which prevents our cultural identity from being tinted or spoiled at its core.
This is the reason why I spent more than 20 years digging our music and continue to do so. Such effort has been met with the realization
1o) “natif”, precisely based on the movements and intervals of the vaksin. It is an attempt to conceptualize authentic progressions to our music which is played mostly on percussion
2o) “Chantrèl”, an adaptation of chamber music with pieces written for a quartet
3o) Mizkla—Mizik Klasik Ayiysen, pieces written for a philharmonic orchestra
4o) Sètfwasèt—pieces written for a 7 string orchestra
“Konfyolo” brings a certain melodious freshness to the soul. It teases the ears with very delicate and subtle voicing while images of joyful musicians and dancers captivate the mind. As a composer, I wanted the violin to have a Haitian touch the same way the fiddle has its Jewish and Irish touch, or the violin its European and gypsy touch. I do believe that I have achieved that.
I hope you enjoy that piece as I do.
Peace!
Audio–Konfyolo