Yes, it is an arrogance to excess to want to impose the obligation to go in height, very high moreover, with a public music lover spoiled by the facility. It is thus the album of these 2 musical and artistic divinities (Regi & Dener) orchestrated under the seal of their musical group (a true school) of the name of Zafem freshly submitted to the public which entitles us to tax their risk of imposing an unheard of work and of rare range to our public-docile of ARROGANCE.
So, I’ll quickly change my mind.
It’s not arrogance that we’re talking about, but rather a precious language that transposes the two buddies from the earth to the exaltation. And at the same time, they have divinized themselves.
For only gods are capable of producing works that trample on PERFECTION.
As a poet and writer I weigh my words even if I admit that some of them may be excessive. In any case it is a privilege of literature.
The most successful literary works have always been those with the most fiction. The more inventive the text, the more poetry it has. This is evidenced by the various texts on this album by Zafem, among them the title Lalin ak Solèy.
It is exactly this text well structured and which treats of the love at a level hardly sensitive and perceptible which will be used to us as pretext to say that the composer made use, perhaps without even knowing it, of the literary movement “the Realism of the marvelous” left in heritage by the divine Jacques Stephen Alexis magnified in his work entitled “the Musical Trees”.
Let us demonstrate:
Solèy la di fò l leve li douvanjou
Lalin lan di li sou pran plezi l toujou
In these two verses, each of which is 11 feet long, and which hint at flat to phonetic rhymes (ou)(douvanjou/toujou) the composer or lyricist makes himself an external narrator and makes the sun and the moon speak.
The personification of the sun and the moon is a poetic authority that the composer gives himself to make the images jump on each other.
Further on we read:
“Zetwal yo kite syèl la toutouni
Ou ka wè jan tete lavi blayi
Tout moun ap founi je pou jwi
Tan an make lanmou ak lamitye
Moun sou latè wè tout fouk syèl la
Yo kenbe Bondye nan foure je gade”
These verses declare a rather significant poetic charm and prove that the composer is a wordsmith.
Only a poet is invested with the power to grasp God (an ideal, invisible and spiritual entity) by the hand and drag it into a physical and carnal dimension.
“Yo kenbe Bondye kap pran jòf” “God lap fon ti jwi”…
See how the text by quoting God and how it quotes him makes God, who by the way is a marvel, a real character and an actor.
If it is not allowed to a Christian (follower of Christianity) to pronounce such words without running the risk of blasphemy, we know at least that God grants to the conjurors the privilege to make fun of him!
Literary considerations
This text, Lalin ak Solèy, certainly uses the literary art that bears the name of poetry. As long as the text is composed of everyday words but arranged with the art and prowess that we recognize from poets.
The text constitutes a coded language raised to a register worthy of the poetic genre.
However it should be noted that the composer, perhaps to adapt to the requirements of the music, misses certain rules of art.
From the point of view of the poetic form:
The text is neither a “ballad” nor a “sonnet” nor a “tercet” as much to say that the composer did not care about the number of verses included in each stanza.
From the point of view of the versification :
The text is well versified.
a. The rhythm
If we count the feet or syllables of some verses we will find 11 syllables. For example: so/lèy/la/di/fòl/le/ve/li/dou/van/jou.
La/lin/ lan/ di /li /sou /pran/ ple/zil/ tou/jou
Whereas if the composer added a last foot to these verses he would have given birth to an Alexandrine which would be composed of two hemistiches of 6 syllables.
If in the rhythm the notion of caesura is not respected, the composer has highlighted the notion of enjambment by rejecting a part of certain verses on the verse which follows.
b. From a rhyme perspective:
Layout: the rhymes are flat rhymes (aabb).
For the quality of the rhymes we find that some are rich, others sufficient.
Conclusion:
The duo Dener Céide and Réginald Cangé have done a good work and propose an album of maturity at all levels. They gave themselves the challenge to distinguish themselves from the amateurs. They push the limits very far. They have made room for a learned and enlightened music. Moreover, the musical background is also a work of geniuses and great thinkers. The musicologists would be very happy to appreciate such an orchestration.
The media should broadcast and promote such an album for public interest and utility.
I recommend listening to and enjoying the different titles of this album, for the love of good music and art that tenderizes the stresses that try to make robots of us; Poetry.
Success to the musical formation Zafem.
Daniel Loriston
Poet/Writer
loriston2000@gmail.com