September 26, 2024.
Allysha Joy was in France for a single date in Paris, at New Morning, during a two-month tour in Europe, Canada and the United States, following the release on September 13, 2024 of her splendid album “The Making Of Silk”.
The singer and pianist from Melbourne arrived from Brighton in England before leaving for Amsterdam. For the European part of her tour, Allysha Joy is performing alongside Yusuf Ahmed on drums, Matt Gedrych on bass, and Margo Mool on choir and small percussion, three artists based in London. She thus performs a tighter quartet version of her album recorded in Australia, in which she composed arrangements for string quartet and harmonies for choir.
Sitting behind her Fender Rhodes, surrounded by her musicians dressed in white, she plays the first pieces and makes this space her own, discreetly burning incense at her feet, incense that she makes herself, she says. later. His charisma is immediate, his powerful, sinuous, scratchy voice is full of soul.
When she speaks, Allysha Joy says a kind of prayer, in reference to her Australian homeland and indigenous peoples: “I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to all First Nations People. » “I recognize that this music was written and recorded on stolen land. I pay respect to Elders past and present and to all First Nations peoples. I recognize their ongoing battle for sovereignty. It is a privilege and a blessing to share this music. »
The most beautiful songs from the album follow one another: Raise up, stretched out in length with a bass chorus; David that she tells us she wrote to heal herself from a situation of insecurity, a song that she lives deeply on stage, inhabited, holding notes for a duration that triggers cheers from the audience. After speaking again to tell us that she self-produced this new album and that it is not nothing, Allysha Joy demonstrates her love for poetry, referring to the poet Hafiz to introduce the song Dropping keys, prolonging its vibratos until the end of the breath.
An hour of concert concluded by the very beautiful Stay seemed too brief to us, but the New Morning programmed the French singer and guitarist Hyleen in the second part of the evening. Announcing an album called “Majestic Land” for the end of the year, Hyleen was surrounded by Swaeli Mbappé on bass (Victoire du Jazz with the group Monsieur Mala), Nicolas Viccaro on drums and Mickael Joseph on keyboards.
Text and photos: Alice Leclercq
