The following article was written by Janine Charles-Farry and published in The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper, May19, 2013.<\/p>\n
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Music lovers across T&T can look forward to May 25, for the launch of Imbizo Moyenne, the new album from Moyenne, touted as one of the best Caribbean jazz bands to come along in many years.<\/strong><\/p>\n The band, led by Chantal Esdelle, will be giving a concert performance of music from the album at the Little Carib Theatre on the corner of Roberts Street and White Street, Woodbrook.<\/p>\n In fact, the Zulu South African phrase Imbizo Moyenne was the inspiration for the band\u2019s name. In an interview with the T&T Guardian, Esdelle reminisced on the spiritual inspiration behind the band\u2019s choice of name: \u201cI was given the phrase by Thabo Letsattle, a friend of mine at college.<\/p>\n \u201cI had asked him how I could describe a piece I had written that symbolised people coming together in response to the call of a shaman. The piece Imbizo Moyenne has gone through several changes since then and is the title track of our new album.<\/p>\n \u201cI took the word Moyenne to mean that call, our call, to create and perform music.\u201d<\/p>\n This call to music has led the band to perform in the category of Caribbean jazz, which incorporates influences across several genres including calypso, son cubano (a style of music that originated in Cuba), reggae and zouk.<\/p>\n The band was formed in 1998 after Esdelle returned to Trinidad from attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston where she studied jazz composition.<\/p>\n In Moyenne, Esdelle plays keyboards and is the vocalist as well as a composer.<\/p>\n The journey began with Glenford \u201cKevin\u201d Sobers, an accomplished panman, arranger for the steelband New Age Trendsetters and pan ramajay solo winner.<\/p>\n \u201cI had just returned home from Berklee and my long-time friend Kevin Sobers had just come home as well from performing for an extended period in Japan. We did our first two gigs as a duet.\u201d<\/p>\n Next came Donald \u201cJunior\u201d Noel, percussionist and master drummer of the Northwest Laventille Cultural Movement. In 2003, Moyenne\u2019s resident bassist Douglas Redon, long-time and recognised member of Phase II Pan Groove and resident arranger for Woodbrook Modernaires, joined the group followed by Darren Sheppard, leader of the band Fusion and the Darren Sheppard Project, who has been the drummer since 2009.<\/p>\n<\/div>