Melodically and rhythmically, French gypsy jazz tunes and performances are sophisticated and sublime, crediting the “French touch” at least in its classic incarnation. And, this music genre surely has that magical appeal to serious jazz aficionados, musicians, non-musicians and those that simply love and appreciate great music.
No drums, no piano, no saxophone — just hard swinging rhythm guitars and a base and voilà , you have a hot jazz and cool swing with an unmistakable gypsy vibe or a combination of traditional 19th-century French musette waltz, American jazz and the swing.
The recent “La Fete de la Musique”, otherwise known as the Music Festival in Suva illuminated the ever expanding French gypsy jazz via the Gypsy Jazz band from New Caledonia. The technique is graceful and very precise.
French gypsy jazz guitar maestro Michel Trabelsi arrived in Suva with two other guitarists, Stephane Fernandez and Brice Prudent, as guest performers at this year’s Alliance Francaise de Suva’s annual Music Festival. And these New Caledonia-based musicians has heightened the profile of this attractive music genre.
It is not an exaggeration to say that with the popularity of this year’s gypsy jazz band and music, musicians who participated in the 2015 Music Festival are already asking about next year’s event.
The touring Gypsy Jazz Band didn’t just perform in the scheduled concerts. They also held three master class sessions with the music students from the Fiji National University, St Josephs’ Secondary School and Suva Grammar School.
“We hope to see more guitarists of every age exhibit the similar steel wristed swing and awesome velocity that were Django’s trademark,” Trabelsi, the leader of the three-member band said after the master class at Suva Grammar School.
“All the students were so eager to learn and it is very refreshing because we can see the excitement that they are discovering a new music genre.”
Gypsy jazz emerged in Paris, France in the 1930s.
“It started as one French gypsy’s take on playing Louis Armstrong songs. It features swinging lead lines supported by the driving guitar-based rhythm technique known as “la pompe” or “the pump,” Trabelsi said.
“It originated in the 1930s from the unique guitar style of the late Django Reinhardt and his Quintette du Hot Club de France.
“Django played bright, racing solos by picking chords with just two or three fingers on the steel strings of a guitar.”
Dubbed the father and patron saint of gypsy jazz, Django has achieved an almost godlike status among those who love jazz.
Trabelsi said many of Django’s compositions had become jazz standards.
Django remains an inspiration to Trabelsi and uncounted others who found their true calling when they heard the bouncing lilt of French jazz.
And like many other devoted gypsy jazz enthusiasts, Trabelsi has devoted his career to gypsy jazz and has organised a gypsy jazz festival every November in New Caledonia as part of his long running campaign to champion gypsy jazz.
“It is something that is passionate for me. It is jazz music interpreted by the gypsy and for me, gypsy jazz has this vintage style that creates this nostalgic mood and when I start playing the guitar I don’t want to stop,” said Trabelsi, who was introduced to the genre at a young age.
Trabelsi says the challenge for anyone playing this music in the 21st century is to keep it fresh while staying true to its essential spirit. And he tries to do this by writing his own compositions in his own musical vocabulary and at the same time, empowering other musicians to do likewise.
The Gypsy Jazz band’s unique and completely different approach to traditional jazz has become a cliché following the Music Festival in Suva but it is one worth repeating. The scheduled free concerts in the Capital city proved to be the platform to raise awareness on French gypsy jazz.
Trabelsi’s pilgrimage to the Festival of Samois-sur-Seine in France proved transformative, showing him the path toward his musical future.
“The Festival of Samois-sur-Seine in south of Paris is where an immense Django Festival attracts devotees from around the world every year in June.
“After a couple of years of playing gypsy jazz at this festival, I was fortunate and very lucky to be invited by Django’s family to play at a church in remembrance of Django and at the same time, establishing that relationship with the gypsy community.
“It was a real honour because after that I have never missed a single festival, traveling from New Caledonia to France for this,” Trabelsi said.
And in 2003, Trabelsi and his wife started the Gypsy Jazz Festival in Noumea with an open global invitation to musicians.
“It has grown bigger every year and we didn’t realise how big it is and how Gypsy Jazz is being recognised back home in New Caledonia. It is a music genre that is being rediscovered all the way here in the Pacific and we are happy to have it exhibited here in Fiji too.
“I am also thankful for this opportunity offered to us by the French Embassy here in Suva because it is also another way of extending the breadth and heft of gypsy jazz.
“We have heard the applauses from the audiences from the concerts we have participated here in Suva and we are so happy because from their applauses, we can gauge how well we have played and at the same time, how the audience liked what we have to offer,” said the 54 year old guitarist.
Trabelsi was 18 years old when he found an old and abandoned broken guitar on a roadside in his hometown. He took the guitar and gave it an extreme makeover and it became his life.
Today, Trabelsi’s guitar collections includes a 1957 Gibson guitar and an original 1946 Gypsy guitar among other steel guitars.
He said the guitars were gifts from family and friends that have supported him in his music career throughout the years.
“I initially didn’t know or quite understand what made gypsy jazz swing because I was into rock and roll, bossa nova, a bit of reggae and a bit of blues too, but not gypsy nor jazz until I accidentally heard this recording of ‘Friday Night in San Francisco’ by three amazing guitarists playing amazing music.
“I knew that I had to learn how to play my guitar so I taught myself how to play a couple of chords while listening and discovering new gypsy jazz compositions and music from Django’s collection and other musicians.
“And in 1988, at 27 years old, I moved to New Caledonia and I met a fantastic person who became a very close friend of mine who was crazy about music and he gave me my first recording of Django.
“I immediately felt the Django virus. It was complete. The chords, rhythm, everything, it was just a package waiting to be discovered, heard and liked and Django became the centre of my music career.
“For most people, gypsy jazz brings to mind the agile, single note solos emanating from Django’s Selmer-Maccaferri steel guitar, but his rhythm playing is just as essential to the gypsy jazz style,” Trabelsi said.
Trabelsi and his musicians admitted that they have seen a surge of interest developing in New Caledonia since the introduction of this genre in the French Pacific territory.
And in paying homage to the inventor of gypsy jazz, Trabelsi also taught gypsy jazz in Noumea for a couple of years.
“It is a gift. I think it is very important to share my guitar playing knowledge and although I have stopped teaching, I always have time for young and enthusiastic guitarists who are committed and determined to play amazing music.
“And I am very lucky that my wife is also an inspiration in my music career. I admire my wife’s ability to hear and critique the compositions I play. It really helps,’ he says.
Trabelsi also takes pleasure in playing or jamming with other musicians.
In their Suva concert, the Gypsy Jazz band had a gig with Fiji’s own jazz legend, Tom Mawi that also included soul singers Annie Mawi (Tom Mawi’s daughter in law) and Cathy Waqa.
“I met Tom Mawi in New Caledonia 20 years ago and I love him! He is a legend and a great musician. And the ladies were amazing too. It gives us that extra energy to work harder too.
“He (Tom Mawi) is a quiet lion and it is always a pleasure playing alongside him,” Trabelsi said.
Trabelsi is also not shy to admit he is a crazy Carlos Santana fan too.
“If I ever get the opportunity to play alongside Santana, I will grab it, no doubt. He is like the Mecca and Holy Grail of all guitarists,” he enthusiastically says while humming one of Santana’s songs Maria, Maria.
French gypsy jazz have a plethora of authentic gypsy and jazz combined and the musicians have discovered this, throwing in a healthy dash of rumba, salsa, reggae and created a highly accessible and sellable product that once was deemed endangered music.
The Gypsy Jazz band also plays a reggae medley with a gypsy jazz and French touch. And their favourite are Bob Marley’s songs “I shot the sheriff”, “Wait in vain” and “Redemption song”.
And while Django is credited with inventing a style of music known as French gypsy jazz or jazz manouche (in French), fans and followers of this energetic swing music will be happy to know that there is now a vibrant gypsy jazz scene here in Suva waiting to be rediscovered and explored.
* Moira Vilsoni-Raduva is the public relations adviser and communications officer at the Embassy of France in Suva.
