heart

coeur      iyollotzin   corazoncito

                    In Mexican Nahuatl mysticism, the human heart was given in offering to nurture the light of the sun. What you hear in coeur  iyollotzin corazoncito relates first to this powerful symbol of sacred  love. This music is also born of the encounter between the various worlds and cultures of the American continent whose meld in the XXIst century forms the rich soil of our new contemporary cultures.

This album bears the colors of three root formations, the American Indian, the African and the European. Can be heard here the echoes of son jarocho from Veracruz, chorinho and samba from Brasil, jazz from New Orleans along with its tradition of onomatopoeic improvisation, scat-singing. Our various languages with their Indian, Latin or Anglo-Saxon origins are all present, with their commonalities as well as differences in accent, sung by heart. I render homage to the genius of Brasilian composer Hermeto Pascoal (1936) father of universal music, with the complicity of a young pianist from Québec, Sébastien Champagne. We have also chosen to interpret a symphonic piece by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Concerto en Sol M pour piano et orchestre, 2ème mvt, Adagio Assai. The three original compositions are played by a young string quartet directed by cellist Ryan Molzan from QuatuorArthurLeblanc. All the musicians participating in this project have brought their musical talent and generosity.

The music of coeur iyollotzin corazoncito displays a style that is both singular and universal, and tries to respond to our new humanistic needs. Straight to and from the heart, or listen to your heart, are expressions that I like to sing and share in concert.


       

géraldine célérier

(1969 México, Mexico)
singer, improviser, guitarist, composer

Géraldine’s music is steeped in many sounds, idioms, and cultures. Her storyteller’s voice dances through a world of color and rhythm to create a language of universal values.

She started singing, improvising and composing in 1980 at the age of eleven in Lisbon, Portugal where she lived until 1983. She quickly began performing in school settings, and by 1985 was appearing professionally in Mexico City. She studied privately with many teachers among whom Manduka who initiated her to Brazilian music and songwriting. Between 1988 and 1997, she continued her higher musical education at the jazz workshop at Escuela Superior de Musica in Mexico City, the Iacp in Paris with Alan Silva and  Didier Petit, and a master in ethnomusicology at the University of Paris VIII with Francois Jeanneau and Ricardo Canzio.

In 1996 she founded Tritonia, an experimental jazz ensemble from México city which recorded three albums - Cirrus (1997), Prisma(1998) et Aramat (2000) - for the independent label Ars Flventis. Along with countless performances in Mexico City, Tritonia also appeared at festivals and jazz clubs in Paris, Tours, Lyon, New York, Berlin,  and Havana on Albert Mangelsdorff and Chucho Valdés’ invitations.

From 2000-2003, she was a founding member of the Mexico City-based company Bacaanda. Géraldine created the music for their multimedia production of El sueño, which also included the collaboration of visual, dance, circus, and theatre artists, such as Minerva Hernandez, Karen Bernal (Cirque du soleil), Adolfo Ramos (Orquestre Symphonique de México), Ricardo Cortés (Centro Mulimedia-Cenart). During this period Geraldine participated in sixty scenic and multimedia performances throughout the capital and around Mexico. (www.bacaanda.org.mx).

In 2004, she was commissioned by The Kitchen, a New York City multimedia arts venue, to write and perform new music for the Kitchen House Blend Orchestra as part of the Mexico Now Festival.  As featured soloist on voice and guitar, she has worked with many groups ranging from duo, trio, string quartet and quintet. Her musical journeys have been colored by encounters with such artists as James Newton, Michaël Attias, Reut Reyev, Igal Foni, Nioka Workman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, J.D Parran, Agustin Bernal, Mark Aanderud, Armando Cruz, Aaron Cruz, Pilar Sánchez, Yuriana Sobrino, Rodrigo Castelán, Sébastien Champagne, Ryan Molzan, Alex Morissette among others

Géraldine Célérier has chosen to sing the music of composers such as Hermeto Pascoal, Luciano Berio, Maurice Ravel, Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Arturo Marquez  among others; she has set to music texts by Federico Garcìa Lorca, Pablo Neruda and most recently Samuel Beckett.

In parallel to her work as musical practitioner, from 1995 to 2005, Géraldine Célérier  conducted research in musicology at the Cenidim (www.cenart.gob.mx/cenidim). She founded the Mexican Jazz Collection, an archive with four thousand documents, testifying to the history and current state of Mexican jazz. The archive is available at the Biblioteca del Centro Nacional de las Artes (www.cenart.gob.mx/bibart). As a musicologist, Géraldine has published many articles, participated in colloquiums and conferences in various institutional contexts. Exercising an original approach to music education, Géraldine teaches private lessons, workshops and seminars on music history, performance, improvisation, musical creation and interdisciplinary work.

In 2006, she moved to Québec, where she is currently pursuing her Master in Interpretation at Laval University and continuing research at the Faculty of Superior Studies and Lantiss (Laboratoire des Nouvelles Technologies des Arts de  la Scène). Since her arrival, she has also produced two albums, Verbe aimer(2006) and Cœur (2007), yet to be released. She performs regulary at Salle Henri Gagnon, Théâtre de la Cité Universitaire, L`Agitée, le Fou Bar, le Largo among other venues.

English translation by Michaël Attias

Contact :
Tel : (418) 651 96 45   
gcelerier@sympatico.ca
http://geraldinecelerier.tripod.com