Whilst the trio Aka Moon found their full moon in the heart of the Central African forest amongst the Aka Pygmies, John Coltrane has always been their guiding star; a breath of inspiration where boldness and renewal rub shoulders with tradition, so that music remains a celebration and the concert transforms into a ritual: a space to discover what we do not yet know.
Today, the group’s triangular structure paves the way for the two giants that are Robin Eubanks and Wajdi Riahi; one, fuelled by the power of his immense history, closely aligned with the Coltrane legacy (with Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Ravi Coltrane…) ; the other, driven by his African roots and his insatiable thirst to explore ever further the very essence of this art.
The story of Aka Moon has unfolded over more than thirty intense years like a tree with infinite branches; transmission has never ceased to be the prolific sap of ideas, a place where memories synchronise and creative gestures from multiple sources are invoked.
Coltrane reminds us, among other things, that art is an act of absolute honesty in which one accepts, out of love, to lose what one has acquired through reason.
Beyond the conventional ‘tribute to…’, this gathering takes shape as a constellation that belongs neither here nor elsewhere; an experience of life and vitality that will undoubtedly benefit from the virtual ‘Mirror Drumming’ between Stéphane Galland and Elvin Jones.
LAST ALBUM Quality of Joy (Outhere, 10.2023)