2009 SIMBI FRANZ CASSEUS HAITI GUITAR

SIMBI 12 YEAR OLD studying a Casseus piece:
Frantz Casseus was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1915. His childhood fascination with the guitar was mystically fused with the death of a young aunt who had helped raise him. It was the custom in Haiti to discard the belongings of those who died from illness. The sight of [Aunt Andrees] mandolin perched on what seemed a pile of garbage—alongside the memory of her music—has never ceased to haunt meI burned with desire. (Marc Methalier, ed., Essai Bibliographique sur la Vie de Frantz Casseus, Mathel Productions, 1995) By the time he emigrated to New York, Frantz had already established himself as an important guitarist in Port-au-Prince cultural circles. But he had ambitions beyond the repetition of a traditional classical repertoire for Haitis cultural elite.




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Frantz came to New York for roughly the same reasons James Baldwin left it. Both needed to write about the place they were from and both needed to leave that place in order to do so. Frantz came here with the ambition to compose a distinctly Haitian classical guitar music, to fuse the European classical tradition with Haitian folk elements as Heitor Villa-Lobos had done with his native Brazils and as Béla Bartók had done with Hungarian folk songs.

Frantzs assumption of what was to be a lifelong musical mission followed the occupation of Haiti by the U.S. military (191534), when its cultural integrity must have felt threatened. An editorial he wrote titled Our Méringue Is Dying describes this: Some with indifference, others with an indignant sadness, have witnessed the disappearance of one of our most delicious national dances which is like a precious pearl ornament of our folklore. The Haitian Méringue invites [one] to dance, contains a subtle and delicious melody. [Its] character, its simple and limited form, made it a dance with noble stature, and even a classic. (Frantz Casseus, Notre Méringue se muert,Haiti Journal, 1944) Love and loss again, this time on a national/cultural level.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• FRANTZ
• CASSEUS
• GUITAR
• SPANISH
• HAITI
• flamenco
• brasil
• argentina
• peru
• chile
• colombia

[ednoisin]

Franz Casseus!  Haitian prodigee. Peace and Shalom,

[jacquillo]

hello thank you for commenting

all the best

[ednoisin]

It would be nice to hear the rendition of "Merci Bon Dieu" also played by Franz Casseus. I love Haiti because THE MOST HIGH YHWH revealed to Me that We "slave" descendants are LEVITES from the lost tribes of Yisrael. Be Blessed Jacquillo for keeping the Spirit of the LEVITES alive with your guitar. Shalom,

[DenMarkus]

great job!

Casseus' work is very unique!

Bon travay!

[webbydobby]

Thank you Simbi for keeping the spirit of Frantz Casseus alive.

[Randy06600Rock]

Bonjour Jacquillo, je passe souvent sur ton site et à chaque fois je découvre une nouvelle et très belle video, celle cie est très belle et je suis étonné de la grande qualité avec la quelle tu joue et j'ai vu que tu sais parfaitement lire une partition.

Toutes mes félicitation et bonne continuation

Randy

[hackersage]

Cuida los tiempos es muy importante, sigue practicando, vas por buen camino

[Pbensusan]

Ich ziehe meinen Hut, Jacquillo, toll!

[Gloverlee]

excellent！

[robbourassaguitarist]

Great job.