Sky dancers

Description

« Sky Dancers » is the name given among themselves by the Native Americans of the Northeast of North America who, thanks to their supposed lack of vertigo, build skyscrapers, especially those of New York, and who “dance” on the beams, up there in the sky.
As far back as I can remember, I have always been concerned with Native Americans. Even as a kid, I preferred to dress up as an Indian. I found it happier, more beautiful, funnier, more inventive.
With two nothingnesses, a string and lipstick - secretly borrowed from my mother for war paint - I was already in the great outdoors and I felt free.
And then, very quickly, I realized that Indians were “real people”, human beings. So I read, saw, heard everything I could find about them. I was on the lookout for the slightest authentic detail (I still am) and I could no longer bear to see them ridiculed in those stupid westerns. Ignored, trampled on, appropriated, “merchandised”.
Simultaneously with the discovery of Jazz music, I felt the poetic universe of the Native American world and above all what fascinated me, as soon as I was old enough to understand, was the absolute respect that Indians showed toward nature.
Currently, in general indifference, some states, under the pretext of the “crisis”, keep the tribes on their reservations in a state of unimaginable precariousness, some on the brink of famine, while the Indians, constrained and humiliated, signed treaties meaning the donation of their lands in exchange for the assurance of a dignified existence.
In order to pay tribute to Native Americans, I imagined new music and to embark on this adventure surrounded by faithful companions who are Sébastien Texier, François Corneloup and Louis Moutin. Thanks to our complicity, we always have the undiminished desire to explore new territories, to tell new stories.
For this project, it seemed obvious to me to go and meet musicians who had never taken part in my orchestras. Armel Dupas and Nguyên Lê are among them.
When I heard Armel Dupas for the first time, I was immediately sensitive to his universe, his touch, his pulse. The idea of playing with him one day very quickly imposed itself...
As for Nguyên, he has been on my mind for a long time. A musician of great elegance, bearer of a unique song, he touches me deeply.
And that is how the “SKY DANCERS” came into the light. “SKY DANCERS” is the name given among themselves by some Native Americans of the Northeast of North America who, thanks to their presumed lack of vertigo, build skyscrapers, especially those of New York, and who “dance” on the beams, up there in the sky. » Henri Texier