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Writer, composer, performer, producer... China Moses is a passionate, captivating, exhilarating and disarmingly natural artist. This Saturday, March 29, she will open the jazz section of the festival, performing three times. A few minutes after leaving a recording studio in New York, the woman who loves nothing more than to spend her life on stage agreed to answer a few questions from JSB. Between two bursts of laughter, of course.
Your presence at the Saint-B'Art Livre et Jazz Festival comes almost at the start of your tour.
It's not a tour, it's a way of life! I'm a live artist. I spend my life on stage. My repertoire changes in small steps. It's not as if you go on tour with one repertoire and suddenly move on to something else. I simply play my music. And as the albums come out (His seventh, "It's complicated", will be released in June, ed. note), I perform new songs, but I've been playing them for some of them since at least 2019. So it's not the start of the tour, but rather the start of the year! The first concert took place on January 31 with a symphony orchestra, in tribute to Nina Simone, and it was wonderful. The first in my repertoire was on March 7. Saint-Barth is on the way to my lifestyle, and I'm very happy about that!
What can festival-goers expect?
A good time, I hope! A concert is a bit like a date. You never know what's going to happen, if it's going to go well! Even if we all arrive with the desire for it to go well. I've come to discover your audience. We'll be looking for each other, looking at each other, and I hope people will take away with them a little pleasure and joy in these times, which are sometimes a little complicated. On stage, I like to present and represent the songs. You know, when you play a song for someone, something they've never heard before, and it's a great pleasure to make them listen to it, to discover it, at the end of the day. to make them listen to it, to discover it, to the point of wanting to be in their shoes to relive that moment of discovery that you'll never see again? Well, that's what I do, and what I love.
Which musicians will be accompanying you?
I work with some great artists, both in the studio and on the road, who help me shape my vision by contributing their talents. I'm a bit like the conductor of my artistic vision. I'll be coming to Saint-Barth with my guitarist, saxophonist and singer Jérôme Cornelis, bassist Laurence Insula, who is the musical director for the likes of Rita Ora and Kelis, and young drummer Lox, who is just starting out on his career and has just released his first EP on Jazz Refresh. His father is a great master percussionist, and he's got the kind of mad talent he's been taught.
You've always been able to blend all your musical influences. What inspires you today?
The music I make is inspired by black American culture. Soul tinged with jazz, funk, R&B, hip-hop... I don't separate musical genres, because it's all part of me and my heritage, my culture. For me, music isn't an inspiration. It's a vocation. Without music, I wouldn't be here. Music is sacred. I come from a family of artists. I often think of those who came before me, who created paths that I can follow. I often think of those who can't do what I do, who dream of it, of those who would give their lives to have freedom of speech and expression. So I don't take it lightly. It inspires me deeply. It's an extraordinary and normal life at the same time. It's a great joy, a great source of pride. It's curiosity that inspires me. To be able to ask questions, to be alive. It's a matter of passion.
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Three China Moses concerts
The artist will open the jazz festival with a concert at L'Esprit restaurant, in Saline, on Saturday March 29 at 7:30pm. She will then perform with her musicians at Le Manapany (Anse des Cayes), on Monday March 31, also at 7.30pm. Finally, she'll be at Le Tropical, Saint-Jean, on Tuesday April 1 at 7.30pm.
All Saint-B'Art Livre et Jazz Festival events are open to the public. Thanks in particular to the financial support of our main partner, Richard Mille, and that of the Collectivité territoriale.
Full program available via the QR code below, and also on www.saintbartlivrejazzfestival.com
