Véro Hermann Sambin - Sky Loom (2020)

The title of a Native American poem, SKY LOOM means "loom connecting Earth to Heaven". This album is part of the action, beyond saying and emotion. This is the soundtrack of the cultural and educational project "TEXT’ILES", the objective of which is to rediscover the art of weaving in Guadeloupe and the Caribbean. The beginning of a new story, builder, poetic, this opus was born from the singer's desire to bring to life a forgotten skill, which the Amerindians and the Africans hardly had the leisure to perpetuate in the Antilles.

The traditional Guadeloupe rhythms (Mende, Kaladja, Toumblak, Biguine…), Martinican (Mazouk) or Latin (Boléro, Bossa) are honored by an impressive team of creativity and talent: ARNAUD DOLMEN (drums), GRÉGORY PRIVAT (piano), RALPH LAVITAL (guitar), XAVIER RICHARDEAU (saxophone and clarinet), RÉGIS THÉRÈSE (bass).

Colors, fibers, stories intersect here, as in the old textile stores on rue Frébault in Pointe-à-Pitre, with the vigor and the extensibility of Tout-Monde. Through the twists and turns of dreams and memories, the patterns and paintings scroll beautifully. Long verses introduce the themes, like the Broadway standards that Véronique Hermann Sambin likes. She takes the time and the care to weave. It transmits patiently. Something rare for a singer, she disappears at times, arranging the space in interludes, where music alone speaks. Words, even when handled well, cannot describe everything.

Under the artistic direction of guitarist Ralph Lavital, the compositions of the Guadeloupe fully immerse themselves in a vast creolity, according to an architecture that is at once anchored, striped, fluted, and harmonious. In addition to the 2 tributes to composers Scott Joplin (The Entertainer / Lanmou) and Edouard Pajaniandy Mariépin (Fête à la Guadeloupe), the other 9 titles are written and composed by the Afro-Caribbean artist.