Ernst Reijseger / Harmen Fraanje / Mola Sylla: Down Deep

opis:
Ernst Reijseger / Harmen Fraanje / Mola Sylla: “Down Deep” is available on two formats:
CD
Vinyl 1LP


Editor's Info:
Dogma: all types of digital effects, digital data carrier and digital processing are prohibited. In the centre of the work stands the real moment of the recording session, the realization of the pure analog sound without any digital manipulation.
I feel that a digital production is similar to the use of a computer for writing a text. In the moment when typing the letters I believe everything is exchangeable and revisable. The possibility to be able to manipulate and change something afterwards influences my thoughts and the content. The analog recording process has a fundamental importance, similar to the writing of a text with ink and fountain pen. The use of a fountain pen influences not only the flow of the work, but also shows the personal handwriting of the author. Through its existence, analog production changes not only the creation of a work and its purity, but also grants the possibility of creating a unique sound. I believe pure analog sound appeals directly to our body and senses. The listening experience is quite different. This perception can basically be compared to the experience of seeing an original painting or a copy. The original provides a unique sensory and physical experience of art.
Since the early beginning of Winter & Winter, the Dutch performing-artist, cellist and composer Ernst Reijseger has recorded numerous albums and soundtracks with the label. Ernst Reijseger and the team of Winter & Winter have developed a longstanding, close and fruitful collaboration.
Every album has its own history and identity. Ernst Reijseger, the magician of special sounds, has presented cello solo works and collaborations, for example with the Voches de Sardinna, Groove Lélé from Réunion, the Nederlands Kamerkoor, and also the wonderful voice of Senegal, Mola Sylla.
In May 2012, Ernst Reijseger, the singer Mola Sylla and the jazz pianist Harmen Fraanje came together to record »Down Deep«. Mola Sylla, who’s from Dakar, met Ernst Reijseger just after he played his first concerts in Amsterdam in the late 80s. Since then Amsterdam has been Sylla’s home base. Ten years after this first meeting, Mola Sylla asked Ernst Reijseger to perform concerts as a duo. This was the beginning of a strong musical partnership. In 2002, Reijseger recorded the album »Janna« with Mola Sylla for Winter & Winter.
The joint path with the Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje started in 2008. In 2009 and 2010 Ernst Reijseger recorded film music for Werner Herzog (»Cave Of Forgotten Dreams«) with Mola Sylla and Harmen Fraanje.
Ernst Reijseger, Mola Sylla and Harmen Fraanje form a body of sound. On »Down Deep«, in addition to Giacomo Puccini's »E lucevan le stelle«, they have dedicated their own compositions to the project so that their individual vocabulary connects in a natural way.
To capture the real moment, I have asked Reijseger, Fraanje, Sylla to record this album live-to-analog-two-track without any digital editing and without any digital manipulation. Only hand-selected microphones were used to transmit the sound without processing to the analog tape.
»Down Deep« brings together musical elements and playing traditions of the most divergent cultural horizons. Reijseger, Fraanje and Sylla create an inimitable and impressive sound which reflects the unique character and culture of each member.
No digital procession, no digital reverb, no digital effect were used at any time during the recording session. Winter & Winter combines high musicality with fine analog recording technology. In the last step of the recording procedure the final analog two track master was transformed with special analog to digital converters to get a digital signal for compact disc. The compact disc guarantees the best possible high fidelity sound and music. Any listener who would like to get the pure analogue recording has to get one of the 180g vinyl-LPs which are strictly limited to 500 copies with hand written numbers.
– Stefan Winter

About the songs:
Ernst Reijseger has composed »Elena« for a movie by Martijn Maria Smits about a woman and trafficking, initially called »Elena« and released later under the title »Under the weight of clouds«. For the trio Mola Sylla creates his own lyrics to the composition with the message: Talking is better than quarreling. He tells the story about Salamane who is the right person to bring peace between people.
In »M’br« Mola Sylla talks about the most important sport of Senegal, 'la lutte', similar to Sumo wrestling. When after the rainy season the harvest is done, it is time for relaxing, enjoying the food and entertainment: It is time for 'la lutte'. It can happen everywhere as long as there is a dry and sandy place, the right atmosphere, and fine musicians to encourage everybody with their performance.
In »Amerigo« the 'secret' of the future is revealed through the words of the ancestors.
In »Hemisacraal« Mola Sylla tells the story of a traveller experiencing a long journey into space. He rambles until no more water and food is left, but the traveller cannot find the way back home. So he asks one of the stars to give him shelter and since then he is lost in the stars.
»Ana« is a love song about an abandoned man hoping for his wife Ana to come back to him because his heart is lonely.
»Down Deep« is a piece based on the extra low (fifth) string of Ernst Reijseger's cello, which is especially made for him. Mola Sylla sings about a heavy battle of words between young and old, a never ending antagonism between the generations.
»Her eyes«: When you take care about a child that no tears run down her cheeks.

About the musicians:
Ernst Reijseger (born in Naarden, NL, 1954) started playing cello at the age of eight. He studied classical music with Jan Olivier, Anner Bijlsma and René van Ast. In the mid 70s he left the classical music scene and followed his interest for improvised music and jazz. His tutor Anner Bijlsma encouraged him to follow his own path.
In the following years Reijseger played and recorded with Derek Bailey, Alan "Gunga" Purves, Franky Douglas, Trilok Gurtu and Yo Yo Ma (to mention a few). He also was a member of the Theo Loevendie Consort, the Guus Janssen Septet, the Arcado String Trio, Trio Clusone with Michael Moore and Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg’s Instant Composers Pool, the Gerry Hemingway Quintet and the Trio with trumpetist Eric Vloeimans and guitarist Anton Goudsmit. In 1985 he received the Boy Edgar Prize and in 1995 the Bird Award at the Northsea Jazz Festival.
Throughout the years Ernst Reijseger has composed and developed outstanding solo performances. Both of his solo albums »Colla Parte« (1997) and »Tell Me Everything« (2008) were highly acclaimed by the international press. All Music Guide (Four Stars): "... the music is punctuated by rapid flourishes that make use of various capabilities of the cello. There are passages involving hand percussion on the body of the cello, for example, and modern jazz drumming and the freer varieties of jazz in general seem to be important components of the music. […] Tonally the music makes use of extended harmonies, it generally has clear tonal centers. The jazz influence is by no means thoroughgoing: there are echoes of Bach's music for unaccompanied cello, of Romantic virtuoso music, and of minimalism. Reijseger never does the same thing twice, and in fact the pieces resemble each other very little, which is quite an accomplishment for a disc of solo cello music. The sound, recorded in a medieval Tuscan commenda, or commandry house, is magical." In 2010 Ernst Reijseger received the renowned Edison Award, one of the most prestigious music awards of The Netherlands.
Ernst Reijseger collaborates with the Italian pianist Franco d'Andrea, the French clarinettist and saxophonist Louis Sclavis, the Norwegian accordion player Stian Carstensen, the Russian pianist Simon Nabatov, the Amsterdam String Trio, the Senegalese singer Mola Sylla and the African percussionist Serigne Gueye, the Tenores e Concordu de Orosei from Sardinia, the Scottish multi-instrumentalist Alan "Gunga" Purves and the group Groove Lélé from the island La Réunion. Ernst Reijseger composes and records soundtracks for various films.

Singer, percussion player and composer Mola Sylla (born in Dakar, Senegal, 1956) was raised in the capital of Senegal in the tradition of the 'griots', who play a very important role in the culture of West Africa. It's this huge and rich heritage from which later he will draw his source of inspiration as a singer and musician. He arrived in Europe in the 1980s with his first band called Senemali. In 1987 he permanently settled in Amsterdam where he still lives. In the Netherlands he met cellist Ernst Reijseger. Since the very beginning Mola Sylla and Ernst Reijseger started a fruitful artistic collaboration.
Mola Sylla sings mostly in Wolof, the language of Senegal, that has survived alongside French and which is spoken by 90% ofthe Senegalese people. In his lyrics he reflects the circumstances of colonialism and talks about the history of his people. Mola Sylla plays many traditional African instruments, such as the m'bira, the kongoma and the xalam, and creates his own unique sound world. His singing, rhythms and melodies are inspired by the tradition of his African culture.

Harmen Fraanje (born in Roosendaal, NL, 1976) started playing the piano when we was six years old. He studied jazz piano and improvised music at the conservatories of Tilburg and Utrecht. Already during his studies he started to play with some of the leading musicians in Holland, like Eric Vloeimans, Anton Goudsmit, Hans van Oosterhout and Hein van de Geijn. Today, Harmen teaches himself at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2007 Harmen is chosen as young VIP by the Dutch jazzclubs, and he is offered an extensive tour with the band Aneris, consisting of Michael Moore, Brice Soniano and Toma Gouband. In 2008 Harmen is offered a "Carte Blanche" by the Mundial Festival Tilburg and he invites Ernst Reijseger and Mola Sylla. That's the beginning of the trio Reijseger, Fraanje, Sylla.