Henri Guédon

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Henri Guédon (born May 22, 1944 in Fort-de-France , Martinique , † February 12, 2006 in Paris ) was a French musician ( singing , percussion , composition ) and visual artist. He is considered to be the creator of the Zouk .

Act

Guédon, who was originally also a judoka , moved to Paris in 1964 to study fine arts. There he founded his first band La Contesta at the age of 20. In the same year there were recordings with Alain Jean-Marie and André Condouant . As a pioneer in the modernization of Afro-Cuban music, he and Daniel Barda founded his big band Jazz Caraïbes in 1970 , in which he played boogaloo , a mixture of soul, rhythm and blues and Afro-Cuban rhythms. During the performances he emphasized the percussions by playing very loudly.

He coined the later genre term Zouk and released the album Cosmo Zouk in 1972 , on which he played with numerous musicians from the Caribbean such as Don Gonzalo Fernandez, Nicole and Jacky Bernard, Claude Vamur and Michel Pacquit. He also worked with the Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval , the trombonist Glenn Ferris , the saxophonists Jo Maka and Bobby Rangell and the percussionist Sabu Martinez . In 1979 he received a Maracas d'Or as a percussionist .

In the late 1970s, he introduced the New York salsa to France; In 1980 he performed at the Olympia with musicians such as Andy Gonzalez , Barry Rogers , Mario Riveira, Nicky Marrero, Alfredo de La Fe, Johnny Rodriguez Jr, Marion Riviera, Eddie Martinez and Ray Romero .

After a concert in 1981, Guédon merged jazz and Caribbean percussion on his albums Retour (1981), Afro-Blue (1982) and Afro-Temple (1984). In 1982 he founded an experimental percussion group. In 1983 he received the Grand Prix of the Charles Cros Academy for his Légend et contes des Antilles . Between 1984 and 1988 he toured internationally.

In 1988 Guédon published his L'opéra Triangulaire , a jazz oratorio with a symphony orchestra, big band and choir; he had already received the order for this in 1983. In the same year he performed Un poème symphonique with musicians from the orchestra of Provence Côte d'Azur and the singer Carol Unpkin at the Avignon Festival in homage to Aimé Césaire .

In 1992, in Bagneux, he created his Marseillaise en trois Continents . In 1993 his Nomadisme Musical aux Caraïbes , with the instrumental ensemble Parenthès , the singer Yolanda Hernandez and the pianist Georges Rabol premiered in Courbevoie . In 1995 he played the Latin Be Bop program with his Latin Jazz Band . He celebrated his 40th stage anniversary in 2004 at the New Morning jazz club in Paris. The following year he gave his last concert on his home island Martinique.

As a sculptor, Guédon created monumental trees of freedom. In 1998 the French Post commissioned him to design the postage stamps for the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. In 2003 he installed his Zépol karé toubannman , which consisted of 1,406 bottles of rum, in the courtroom of Fort-de-France .

Guédon has also composed film scores for various films such as Zan Boko (1988), Aïnama (Salsa pour Goldman) (1980) and Archipels (2007). He can also be heard on albums by Barney Wilen ( Wild Dogs of the Ruwenzori ) and Max Cilla ( La Flûte des Mornes Volume 2 ).

Guédon died as a result of heart surgery.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Brenda F. Berrian Awakening Spaces: French Caribbean Popular Songs, Music, and Culture Chicago 2000, pp. 215ff.
  2. ↑ Jocelyne Guilbault Zouk: World Music in the West Indies. Chicago 1993, p. 33.
  3. ↑ Obituary (Humanité)


personal data
SURNAME Guédon, Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French musician (percussion, composition) and visual artist
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Fort-de-France
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2006
Place of death Paris