Gratien Midonet – A Cosmic Poet From Martinique 1979-1989 (Full Vinyl Spin)

I do not own this music. All rights belong to the original copyright holders.
2020 Vinyl compilation, Time Capsule records.

I´ve been posting clips of me playing my collection on instagram, and finally decided to do it here, in full album spin, the sound comes directly from the mic on my cellphone mounted on a tripod, so the sound isn´t perfect (very far from it actually), catching all the inherent imperfections of vinyl records, which I don´t dislike that much except when records are too noisy. I don´t have a high end equipment but I do enjoy listening records with what I have. I´m making this to add an extra step to the already full of steps ritual of playing a record, I´m cutting out the cleaning and the turning of the record so the music speaks by itself, not the perfect sound nor the perfect experience listening a record on a youtube video recorded with a cellphone, but I think the lofi adds a different charm, I know thats insane, but as long as the music is the main focus it should not matter if we listen with a potato as long as its enjoyable, every listening experience is up to the listener. I do encourage to support the artists by going to their live shows, buying their records and of course listening to this record in the flesh in its pure undiluted perfection.

Creole poetry, folk mysticism and heavy-grooving cosmic synths combine on this unprecedented survey of spiritual Martinique polymath Gratien Midonet’s first four albums.

“I always broke free from the rules, from codes being too narrow,” says poet, musician and sonic shaman Gratien Midonet. “I have always had this sense of peaceful knowledge that there is no separation between genres, beings and universal things.”

For Midonet, pushing musical boundaries was less a choice than an extension of his spirit. A self-taught guitarist and composer, drawing on his childhood memories of bélé and beguine rhythms, Midonet’s musical life developed in parallel to his academic and spiritual pursuits. Studying philosophy and psychopedagogy in France, it was his fascination with pan-Africanism and animism which fuelled the transcendent energy of his music.

Although Midonet honed his sound in France, the four albums he released during the late ‘70s and ‘80s were heavily inspired by diasporic nostalgia, or what he describes as the “smells and colours… subliminal noises… fruity notes, the memories of funeral wakes, the bombastic organ of the cathedral and the gasps of the drums” of his childhood home on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

Fittingly, it’s there that Midonet achieved cult status for the title track of his 1979 debut, Van An Lévè, which became a protest anthem for the island’s independence movement, and was briefly censored by the French authorities. Look no further than ‘Mari Rhont Ouve La Pot’, which opens this collection, to hear the propulsive mix of cosmic synths, acoustic folk, and Creole lyricism that became the essence of Midonet’s sound.

Released on Martinique label Touloulou, Van An Lévè was followed in 1980 by L’inité, whose tropical acid folk (‘M’en ka Monté Mon’) and majestic, violin-led melodies (‘Kannaval Sakré Pou Tout Z’Heb Poussé’) confirmed Midonet’s unique and intuitive approach to composition.

Not content to skip effortlessly between genres and influences, Midonet also began pushing the boundaries of the album form itself. His third album, Bourg La Folie, released in 1984, was a soundtrack for a lost film about the mysticisms of carnival, while his fourth, Fô Ou Tchimbé, took the form of a ‘conte musical’ (a narrated story accompanied by music) presented at the Pompidou Centre, and spoke to Midonet’s literary prowess as a fierce proponent of the Creole language.

Like Fô Ou Tchimbé’s iridescent ‘Antille Ô Cristal’, with its sparse synth stabs and rubbery bassline, Midonet’s music has found a new home on psychedelic dance floors like Beauty and The Beat, where resident Pol Valls first brought Midonet to curator Cedric Lassonde’s attention.

As Lassonde writes in the liner notes: “Midonet’s musical world is cosmic, mystical and he has created his own idiosyncratic style around it: not plain folk, not bélé, chouval bwa, beguine or gwoka, but rather a transcendental fusion of all these and a true reflection of his personality.” Now based on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia, Midonet and his message of musical unity are ready to resonate once more.

A1 Mari Rhont Ouve La Pot
A2 Ven En Levé
A3 Zandoli Leve Doubout
B1 M'en Ka Monté Mon
B2 La Point' Dé Nég'
B3 Kannaval Sakré
C1 Osana
C2 En Ti Sapotiye
C3 Kerosin' Jamb' Fin'
D1 Antille O Cristal
D2 Maché Kochi
D3 Roulo
D4 La Reine

I blind bought this record, and what a surprise, I really love world music, jazz, percussions and got all that and more, the pressing by Time Capsule is great.

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