Interviews

Drummer and composer Andrew Cyrille intended to pursue advanced studies in chemistry and ultimately opted for the chemistry of sounds and improvised music. Of Haitian descent, the octogenarian is among the great American musicians who have experienced the transition from modern to contemporary jazz. He was heard alongside saxophonist Coleman Hawkins in his early days, then in pianist Cecil Taylor’s band. Later, he was associated with saxophonist David Murray, pianists John Hicks and Marilyn Crispell, and many others. This Saturday at La Chapelle / Scènes contemporaines, he is performing the second part of a program as part of the FLUX festival, presented jointly by Le Vivier. We reached him in New York earlier this week, and here is the conversation transcribed for PAN M 360 readers.

PAN M 360: You’ve performed in Montreal several times in the past, and this time you’re coming in a different context. Perhaps you could briefly explain this solo project to us, and tell us how it came together?

Andrew Cyrille: It’s built on original compositions and also on concepts that come from other artists. I express my music through the medium of percussion.

PAN M 360: And if we try to be more specific, can you give us examples of these experiences, or of your relationship with your compositions as a percussionist?

Andrew Cyrille: Yeah, well, I did something a few years ago on an album called What About, it has to do with trying to give an example of birth, the first breaths, the first sounds that can be communicated to other human beings. Another one on What About focused on drum frames, this included overdubs of whistles or flutes. Another piece was recorded with Gene Lee and Jimmy Lyons on the Nuba album and I’m playing the Nuba piece that I designed and in which I do a percussion solo in homage to Art Blakey and Max Roach, like the Seven for Max that I’ve already recorded. If I give you all the examples, I’m not going to play them all!

PAN M 360: Can you tell us about this specific project planned in Montreal?

Andrew Cyrille: I’m coming alone. And I gave Flux Festival instructions on how to assemble the drum kit that would suit me. I photographed my instruments and sent them to the FLUX organizers.

PAN M 360: You have always been involved in new forms of jazz, as a drummer, performer, composer, or leader. And what place does the solo concert have in all this?

Andrew Cyrille: I’ve done a lot of percussion solos throughout my career, and I would say that soloing is also included in a jazz composition for any ensemble. I just presented a solo concert at a club in the New York area.

PAN M 360: So it’s always changed, you’ve been able to refine your approach and go further.

Andrew Cyrille: Whatever the jazz compositions, that’s what we do within those compositions: make them different. In other words, to take a piece and transform it by adding new ingredients. We start with a composition and transform it with our own influences.

PAN M 360: Are your Haitian roots reflected in your music? Haiti’s rhythmic heritage is so rich!

Andrew Cyrille: I was born in the United States to Haitian parents. There are reminiscences of Haitian culture in my playing, but it’s rather subconscious. The fact is that my musical education was received in the United States, at music schools like Juilliard, and that made me who I am. Of course, the musicians from all over the world with whom I played also contributed to forging my musical personality. I learned through all of that to become who I am.

PAN M 360: You stayed connected to the music.

Andrew Cyrille: The thing about music is that you don’t see the notes, you don’t taste the notes, you don’t put them in your pocket. You feel the notes, and it’s a spiritual connection. If you find a common thread and a way to connect with other human beings regardless of the clothes they wear or the food they eat, then you can make music.

PAN M 360: Are you involved in many ensembles or do you still focus on your solo project?

Andrew Cyrille: I focus on what people ask me to do. For example, I just played with the trio of pianist David Virelles, who is of Cuban origin and lives in New York with double bassist Reggie Workman, or with the group of pianist Adegoke Steve Colson. There is no specific plan in my collaborations, there are rather possibilities, opportunities. There is also my own quartet that recently performed at the Village Vanguard, with Bill Frisell, guitar, David Virelles, piano and Ben Street, double bass. I will soon return there with an ensemble including Joe Lovano, saxophone and Dave Douglas, trumpet. In addition, I teach at The New School. For me, it works like this: I can really only manage the present, try to improve myself in the present and stay alive (creatively). Yes, I think about what may happen in the future. But for me, when the future unfolds, it is the present. And that is what matters to me.

PAN M 360: Are memories important to you? You have a long and varied career, but you are still active.

Andrew Cyrille: You know, there are things in the past that I can remember, experiences that have made me grow spiritually. For example, I had the opportunity to play with Coleman Hawkins for his album The Hawk Relaxes. I was 21 when I did that, and I had never met Coleman Hawkins before, and I had a recording date with him, and who was it? Ron Carter was on bass, and Kenny Burrell was on guitar, Ronel Bright was on piano. I was Sarah Vaughan. That was the only time we played together, Coleman Hawkins accepted me and we played his music.

PAN M 360: Coleman Hawkins was already old at this time, but he had a reputation as a very open man, which was not the case for the majority of his colleagues of his generation.

Andrew Cyrille: One person I had a phenomenal time with and who taught me a lot was the great pianist Mary Lou Williams. I was a student at Juilliard at the time, and Mary Lou taught me other dimensions of music, including having me sing melodic patterns from modern jazz before she played them. I learned not to be afraid of my voice and to do what she told me to.

PAN M 360: A bit like in Indian classical music, where the ragas are said out loud before being played.

Andrew Cyrille: Many things on this planet are interconnected.

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Cordâme isn’t a band like any other. The members vary depending on the project, but there’s a core group that remains. Among this core group, we have Jean Félix Mailloux, who spoke with Keithy Antoine to describe the band’s uniqueness and what they’re preparing for MUZ. For the occasion, they’ve invited Ziya Tabassian, who has already participated in their projects in the past but has agreed to do it again. An evening that promises to be rich in sounds, with the river as its narrative thread.

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Originally from Rwanda, Umurutasaté was born in Ethiopia and lived in Libya before arriving in Quebec 28 years ago. It was after a trip to Brazil in 2005 that she realised music would be an integral part of her life, but it took almost 15 years to make that dream a reality. After a pandemic and a midlife crisis, she quit her 9-to-5 job to devote herself entirely to her three passions: music, journalism and teaching French. She spoke with Keithy Antoine for PAN M 360 about her music, a blend of East African and Latin American rhythms, a few days before her concert on 4 October at Studio TD.

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Recently arrived in Quebec from the Republic of Congo, Hendry Massamba is a percussionist at heart. He sings mainly for people who have no voice and whose realities are not always obvious. He will be accompanied by well-established musicians such as Donald Dogbo on drums for his first show as an artist. He has already participated in MUZ as a percussionist, but this time will be completely different. Keithy Antoine was able to ask him a few questions about his artistic journey as he prepares to perform on Saturday, 4 October at Studio TD.

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Her name may seem intriguing at first glance, meaning ‘the hairy one’ in Spanish, but it was inspired by a video in which a woman sang about her body hair. And it is this word that the artist chose for her stage name. Quebec-Colombian Lapelúda embraces both of her roots in her music. She has just released a brand new album, Entre cielo y tierra, and is preparing to deliver a show that reflects her personality, in which she has added a song in French translated from one of her compositions in Spanish. She discusses this with Keithy Antoine in this interview, a few days before her show on Saturday 4 October at Studio TD.

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Nora Toutain is participating in MUZ for the second time and will be accompanied by her loyal collaborators on drums, guitar and bass. Franco-Moroccan, she has three albums to her credit and wishes to continue her musical introspection and open up to new horizons. She feels more comfortable exploring songs in French, something she did not do in the past. Keithy Antoine spoke with her to learn more about her career and what she has in store for us on Saturday, 4 October at Studio TD.

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Raíz Viva is a band that made a name for itself at the Syli d’Or competition. Since then, they’ve been everywhere, with music that draws on Afro-Colombian and indigenous roots. Several members play different traditional instruments, sing and share their passion for Colombian culture and the cultural diversity it encompasses. Nicolas, one of the members, spoke with Keithy Antoine for PAN M 360 and even shared a surprise that will take place on Saturday, 4 October at Studio TD. Not to be missed.

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Québec Musiques Parallèles (QMP), Le Vivier, and the Flux Festival are jointly presenting “a diverse program at the crossroads of cultures,” based primarily on a collaboration between Navajo composer and musician Raven Chacon, the Bozzini Quartet, the musicians of E27 musiques nouvelles, and the Oktoécho ensemble led by composer and artistic director Katia Makdissi-Warren.

One of the unique features of this program on Friday, October 3, is that it will be presented in two different venues connected by a procession in which audience members will accompany the performers from one location to the other, from the Cité des Hospitalières to La Chapelle. Since the works on the program are mostly by Raven Chacon, we met with him to review this rich and unique program, which includes Voiceless Mass, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize for music, which is no small feat.

PAN M 360: First, explain the fundamentals of your approach and where you are currently.

Raven Chacon: A large part of the music I make is written for classical musicians. I would say that the score allows me different possibilities and choices so that these musicians can produce sounds that I have never heard before. And from there, it becomes a process of developing sounds.

PAN M 360: What are the benchmarks?

Raven Chacon: What I incorporate into my music isn’t didactic. I don’t know myself if the influences are direct, but I can say that I make the music I want to make.

PAN M 360: In any case, a composer does not think about his references when he composes. His music emerges from his unconscious, whether his music is direct or not.

Raven Chacon: There are no quotes, in any case. As for my background, I am half Navajo and half Chicano, and I was born in the American Southwest. My other influences are thrash metal, electronic music, classical music, and other factors also influence my work, such as the location, the nature of the project, etc.

PAN M 360: Let’s take the example of Voiceless Mass, the work that earned you the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2022.

Raven Chacon: This piece is entirely influenced by sacred music, with the church organ being a central instrument in this composition. This piece is critical of the role of the Church on Indigenous peoples.

PAN M 360: In the United States as well as in Canada?

Raven Chacon: Yes, I think so. There was much greater awareness of the role of the church in residential schools for Indigenous peoples in Canada than in the United States. That certainly had an influence on this play.

PAN M 360: In the Americas, the church was part of the colonialist invasion.

Raven Chacon: Yes. The conquistadors came to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism, giving them an ultimatum to either be killed or convert. “Voiceless Mass” addresses this history and may lead the Church to acknowledge it and perhaps move toward reconciliation.

PAN M 360: How was the FLUX festival program designed?

Raven Chacon: There are six plays on the program in two different venues. More specifically, “Voiceless Mass” is built around the church organ. What it thinks, what it is influenced by different masses played on the organ and other sacred music. This forms the bedrock for other instruments that also tell this story. The piece is called Voiceless Mass because it is composed in the style of a choral mass. However, there are no voices, so no singers. Instead of voices, you have the organ, which embodies the religious institution, and the other instruments represent this lack of voices.

PAN M 360: Are there any quotations throughout this work?

Raven Chacon: I don’t quote any sacred works; I write inspired by the form.

PAN M 360 : Apart from your own career, what were the benefits of winning the Pulitzer Prize?

Raven Chacon: The good thing is that this play has contributed to the recognition of this role of the church in different places, and has also led church leaders to become aware of it and to combat this stance.

There are also three string quartets performed by Bozzini.

One was originally commissioned by the Kronos Quartet: The Journey of the Horizontal People. To return to the question of replication, I am not inclined to reproduce musical forms in order to create new ones, but I can reproduce certain protocols typical of the people I come from. For example, the piece is written in such a way that the string quartet separates from itself. Some measures are longer than others, so a violinist may have to speed up while the cellist has to slow down. One player may repeat a motif six times and the other five to eight times. So there are choices to be made.

This composition also tells the story of the different clans of ancient times who were searching for their kin. Over time, the different clans met, moved across the territory with their animals, found each other, and became the Navajo people.

There were times when the people were less united and a woman could be appointed to realign them with the right path, which is also evoked in this string quartet. This is a metaphor for matriarchal leadership in Navajo society. Structurally, this quartet evokes the way in which our communities are led by matriarchs, and also the constitution of the Navajo nation by different settlements.

There is also a string quartet entitled Horse Notations, which is the result of a long process inspired by an article published in 1874 in Popular Science Monthly, which attempted to analyze and classify different horse gaits, from a slow trot to a full gallop. This data was then transposed into rhythms for this piece.

PAN M 360: So these different horse steps were translated into rhythmic instructions.  

Raven Chacon: Yes, exactly. And so this piece refers to that article written at the beginning of the industrial era and what that might have meant at the time. The whole piece then becomes a contemplation of speed and rhythm, reminiscent of the automobile replacing the horse. It also brings to mind the airplane, which took on the role of the bird.

PAN M 360 :  Parlons de  Tiguex VI: Downhill Procession (Procession 1)

Raven Chacon: The entire piece was performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is a huge piece, divided into 20 different movements performed in different parts of the city. The sixth movement is intended to be a procession. We chose it because the Bozzini Quartet asked me how to link the two venues, and I had this procession in my repertoire that had not yet been performed anywhere other than Albuquerque. So we will have eight musicians walking with the audience between the church and La Chapelle theater, meaning there will be no interruption in the program.

PAN M 360: OK! So let’s talk about what’s next at La Chapelle theater. First there will be  (Bury Me) Where The Lightning [Will] Never Find Me , for percussion, violin, cello, bass clarinet  and then…

Raven Chacon: The first string quartet, Horse Notations, has already been performed. The second, The Journey of the Horizontal People, will be performed in the second venue.

It will be followed by Double Weaving, a string quartet originally written for Ethelm, a New York ensemble. I composed this piece while mentoring students on Navajo and Hopi reservations (Native American Composer Apprentice Project), as the students composed their own works.

PAN M 360: Now we are seeing a very significant movement among Indigenous composers in many complex musical styles. We see it in jazz, in written music, in contemporary music, in electronic music, in noise music. So you are one of the pioneers of this indigenous emergence.

Raven Chacon: Yes, thank you for recognizing that. Contemporary music, classical music. Creative music. Creative written music, electronic music, free improvisation, invented instruments, and installations have been part of my work for a long time. I actually have an exhibition on this theme at Concordia University. I’ve also played in metal bands and composed folk songs.

PAN M 360: How do you see yourself today? As a representative, a representative of your community? Isn’t your Pulitzer Prize also very important to your community?

Raven Chacon: I was honoured, along with some of my Indigenous colleagues, to be able to present the work we do. You know, many of us don’t come from big cities. So if I can also inspire emerging artists from Indigenous communities, I am honoured to be able to contribute to that. I also believe that Indigenous artists have a responsibility to draw attention to some of these lesser-known or forgotten topics, whether historical or contemporary, and to suggest a different perspective.

PAN M 360: And how does the situation in the United States compare to that of Canada’s indigenous peoples?

Raven Chacon: In this regard, there has been more attention in Canada than in the United States on the work of Indigenous artists. In the United States, as you know, we are experiencing a very intense climate, and the arts in general are not prioritized there. So we must continue to amplify what we do and not take for granted the opportunities we have had as artists. I often tend to think that I am as much a musician, sometimes more than a composer, because I enjoy collaborative work in creation.

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ARTISTES

e27 and Oktoecho:
Mélanie Bourassa: clarinet
Michel Dubeau: flutes, multi-instruments
Raphaël Guay: percussion 
Katia Makdissi-Warren: musical director, oud
Bertil Schulrabe: percussion
Nina Segalowitz: voice, throat singing

Procession et autres pièces de …

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Programme

  • Raven Chacon: Voiceless Mass  , 2021 (17′) for organ, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 percussionists, string instrument, and sine wave generator
  • Raven Chacon: Horse Notations , 2019 (25′) for flûte, percussions & string quartet.
  • Raven Chacon: Tiguex VI: Downhill Procession (Procession 1) , 2025 (12′) for 8 mélodic instruments.
  • Raven Chacon: (Bury Me) Where The Lightning [Will] Never Find Me , 2014 (8′) for  percussions, violin, cello, bass clarinet
  • Raven Chacon: The Journey of the Horizontal People , 2016 (8′) for string quartet
  • Raven Chacon: Double Weaving , 2014 (8′) for string quartet
  • Katia Makdissi-Warren: Écliptique , 2025 (40′) for voice, oud, shakuhachi, percussion and clarinet

Artists

Nothing predestined Irem Bekter to become a singer. She began her career in dance, then theatre, before turning to music. Born in Turkey, having lived in England and then Argentina, she settled in Montreal, bringing with her all her influences. Her music reflects all of this, as it is steeped in all the styles she has discovered throughout her journey. Keithy Antoine spoke with her for PAN M 360 as she prepares for her performance on Friday, 3 October at Studio TD.

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This is a first showcase for Marcia, a trio composed of three members who share a passion for Brazilian music. All three have been to Brazil at different times in their lives, and today they want to pay tribute to the diversity of Brazilian music through their unique ensemble. Guitar, vocals and flute blend perfectly, inviting listeners on a musical journey. They recently recorded their first album, which they will share with us on 3 October at Studio TD. Keithy Antoine spoke with Mikhael Doudi, the band’s guitarist.

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This isn’t Abdel Grooz’s first appearance at MUZ. He was there several years ago, when he had just settled in Quebec. But this time, he’s back to share his brand new project, which is a blend of music from his home country of Algeria, such as Gnawa, and inspirations from West African music, always with the same touch of groove and jazz, hence the name Grooz. Keithy Antoine spoke with him a few days before his performance scheduled for Friday, October 3, at Studio TD.

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Recently arrived in Montreal, Floric Kim is already making waves. He can be seen on several stages, notably at Nuits d’Afrique, and elsewhere across the country. For this edition of MUZ, he would like to present his brand new project entitled ‘Nkundulisation.’ which means ‘fraternisation.’ He describes himself as a spokesperson for the street, as he wants to address the realities experienced by the most vulnerable through his music. Keithy Antoine spoke with him to find out more about him and discuss what he has in store for us on 3 October at Studio TD.

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