15TH LONDON AFRICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL PRESENTS GINO SITSON (CAMEROON)

Presented by: Vortex Jazz

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0	LONDON: Vortex
P	Saturday 30th September, 2017
N	8:00pm

Event information

Don Heckman – Los Angeles Times

Cameroonian-American vocal stylist Gino Sitson comes with a vocal programme that will leave you breathless. Gino Sitson forges an eloquent vocabulary capable of communicating far beyond any limits of language or custom. Through his vocal wizardry, he stunningly creates an endless range of sounds and atmospheres by using all parts of his body to create music. Gino Sitson is joined by cellist and vocalist JODY REDHAGE-FERBER to give a master class and a concert to remember.
Gino Sitson is a pioneer of a new generation of multi-culturally influenced African musicians who are integrating into their musical styles their own exciting yet bewildering welter of “in-between” living experiences (north/south, tradition/modernity, 20th/21st century). His daring musical project combines in a most innovative way jazz, gospel, blues and traditional African polyphonies, polyrhythms and melodies. By freely combining his trademark vocal acrobatics with a breathtakingly creative command of oral and body percussions and miscellaneous effects, Mr. Sitson forged an eloquent vocabulary capable of communicating far beyond any limits of language or custom. Through his vocal wizardry, he stunningly creates an endless range of sounds and atmospheres. Sitson’s seamless four- octave range travels from a soulful, resonantly masculine tenor with woodwind-like overtones to a high-soaring, nearly genderless spiritual wail, a feat that recalls Brazil’s Milton Nascimento, another deep-rooted yet restlessly protean, jazz-inflected shape-changer. Gino Sitson’s four-octave vocal range plus his skills as a composer and arranger put him in high demand for recording sessions and for commercials and radio / television jingles (Danone, Dim, Peugeot, Vahine, etc). The versatile young vocalist performed in a musical and co-composed part of the music (Jeanne et le Garçon Formidable). He has laid down tracks or shared the stage with Manu Dibango, Ron Carter, Papa Wemba, Wally Badarou, John Scofield, Geri Allen, David Gilmore, Haruko Nara, Bobby McFerrin, Frank Wess, Ray Lema, Craig Harris, James Hurt, Antoine Roney, John William, Mario Canonge, Wallace Roney, Brice Wassy, Oliver NGoma, Exile One, Steve Potts, So Why? (Featuring Youssou NDour, Papa Wemba, Wally Badarou, Jabu Khanyile & Bayete, Lourdes Van-Dunem, and Lucky Dube) and La Compagnie Creole, among others. In 2008, Mr. Sitson was invited by Bobby McFerrin to take part in a special project that took place at the Carnegie Hall (“Instant Opera”). He appeared in the 2009 PBS documentary film “The Music Instinct: Science and Song”, featuring Bobby McFerrin, Daniel Levitin, Oliver Sacks, Daniel Barenboim, and Yo-Yo Ma. A member of Chamber Music America, he is regularly engaged for movie scores and commercials. He has also appeared several times on TV and also composed music for the noted children’s TV show, Dora The Explorer (Nickelodeon).