In 2018, at the ACTe Memorial in Pointe-à-Pitre, guitarist and composer Jacob Desvarieux, pillar of the group Kassav’, brought together a group of musician friends around the project “Nanm Kann” – the soul of the cane – to return tribute to his ancestor Euphrasine and reveal his vision of the blues.
In 1999, Jacob Desvarieux released a solo album, Euphrasine’s bluesin homage to her grandmother Euphrasine. Accompanied by a handful of high-level instrumentalists, the West Indian guitarist and singer wanted to share the musical concept that was close to his heart: “nanm kann”, or “the soul of the cane” in French, a West Indian response to the blues American, with a parallel in the background between the cotton fields of the southern United States and those of sugar cane on the islands under French domination.
Sailing subtly between jazz and Creole blues, the album The soul of Cannes is a true initiatory journey. Accompanied by Mario Canonge au piano, Yoann Danier on the drums, Régis Thérèse on the bass, Jowee Omicil au saxophone, Jerryka Jacques-Gustave et Raymonia One in the chorus, Jacob Desvarieux summons the painful history of the West Indies through the titles “Sweet Florence”, “Sé ou mwen inmé”, “Ou lé”, “Euphrasine’s blues”.
The artist reveals with accuracy and emotion his vision of a zouk between blues and jazz, in the colors of his native Guadeloupe.
