FIMAV 2024 | Sélébéyone, or cultural intersections according to Steve Lehman

Interview by Alain Brunet
Genres and styles : Africa / Free Jazz / Hip Hop / hip-hop abstrait

Additional Information

A conceptual leader, American saxophonist Steve Lehman creates music for ensembles of different configurations and aesthetic allegiances. In this case, Sélébéyone is a particularly spectacular project at FIMAV, as it highlights elements of hip hop and Senegalese culture to which he applies free jazz medicine. The line-up proposed for Victoriaville is particularly eloquent in this sense: American HPRIZM (HIGH PRIEST in Antipop Consortium), Senegalese GASTON BANDIMIC, who speaks Wolof, American DAMION REID, one of the first to adapt hip-hop beatmaking to drumming (with Robert Glasper), French MACIEK LASSERRE and STEVE LEHMAN on saxophones. The experiment began in the middle of the previous decade : the eponymous album Sélébéyone (which means “intersection” in Wolof) was released in 2016, followed by  Xaybu : The Unseen (Pi Recordings) in 2022. It’s May 2024, and Steve Lehman is finally presenting this finished project at FIMAV, explaining its ins and outs.

SÉLÉBÉYONE IS PERFORMING AT CARRÉ 150 OF VICTORIAVILLE , SUNDAY MAY 19, 8 PM. TICKETS HERE

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