Marc Ribot
Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus

In that year, 1993, the great Frantz Casseus passed away. He was born in 1915 in Port-Au-Prince, but he spent most of his years in the United States: historically, he is recognized as the father and master of Haitian classical guitar. He began playing guitar in his homeland at a young age, performing here and there in small clubs in the capital, before moving to New York and becoming more than just a nostalgic performer of his country's traditional repertoire; many decades before music started discussing "Fusion" and various "contaminations," Casseus was independently outlining a unique hybrid of Haitian sounds, euro-cultured traditions of European descent, and jazz execution techniques (in this sense, his artistic legacy can be considered akin to that of a Bela Bartók). Yet there was also a genuinely patriotic-nationalist aspect to Casseus's music that modern listeners have a duty not to underestimate: from 1915 to 1934, Haiti underwent military occupation by the United States army, effectively remaining an American protectorate for two decades; for a Haitian, playing the music of his land in the land of the foreign invader had to hold a particular meaning: more than ever, the notes from Casseus's guitar reflected the pride and dignity of someone who has behind them a centuries-old universe of culture and sentiments and is determined to keep it alive and present. His was a scornful, haughty sadness, neither humble nor melodramatic. From a notable 1989 interview: "Many have said that my music is the expression of Haitian nationalist spirit. I believe it is an artist's duty to revive in their sounds - with rigorous philological spirit but also with aesthetic sensitivity - the soul of their homeland." And it's hard not to believe these words are sincere: listen to Casseus's repertoire (now available on various collections), from joyful dance merengues to spectral and haunting guitar lullabies executed with outstanding technique, and you will hear the artistic heritage of an entire nation.

In that year, 1993, one of the most intuitive and brilliant guitarists of his generation decided to pay tribute to the Master. Marc Ribot was 11 years old in 1965 when he first picked up a guitar, like so many young people in New Jersey, captivated by Rock'n'Roll and the Stones; Frantz Casseus was a guitar teacher in his fifties. Their meeting was casual, yet decisive for the formation of the future Lounge Lizards guitarist. It's curious, one might say, to know that one of the leading figures of the New York No-Wave had his first encounter with the instrument under the tutelage of a classical musician, revolutionary in his genre, but still positioned within a tradition light-years away from the new sounds of the Sixties. "Indeed", Ribot recounts, "there didn't seem to be any grounds for that man to influence my development as an instrumentalist so much. We would meet every Sunday at one, almost like a ritual, in his apartment that smelled of coffee and cigarettes. Frantz spent most of his time in solitude, composing and transcribing music with insatiable voracity; his dedication to work was total, and nevertheless, his nature was patient, reflective, extremely poised".

By the end of the '60s, their paths had parted: Ribot went on to play Rock in various formations, Casseus (after releasing masterpieces like "Haitianesques" and "Haitiana") had significantly slowed his production, partly due to a severe tendinitis in his left hand which, over a few years, would limit his instrumental mastery. Sparse meetings followed in the subsequent decades when Ribot had become a grand figure on the international scene, amassing a series of prestigious collaborations with titans like Arto Lindsay, Tom Waits, Stan Ridgway, and especially John Zorn. There were many official recognitions for Casseus, partly rewarding a career long carried out in the shadows. And, after his death, the release of this excellent tribute album recorded by his most famous student: a collection of Frantz's compositions recorded between 1989 and 1993, confirming how the attention to "classical" sounds remained, over the years, a constant point in Ribot's intelligent and varied path of research (an ethnomusicologist like few others among guitarists of his time). There are nineteen compositions executed with impeccable, crystalline technique, showing rigorous respect for the original scores but also fully in tune with the spirit, with the different moods that each piece conveys. The solitude of the studio gives us the art of the Haitian Master in its highest essence and purity, without frills or unnecessary superficial details: notes distilled with wisdom and seriousness, for an album that enchants; especially when we consider recent years: no longer having a John Fahey or a Robbie Basho, nor (I am still heartbroken about this) the recently departed Bert Jansch, the great classical guitar - that, to be clear, born of intercultural study and research - is increasingly destined to become a rare treasure for refined palates.

An immense album, unique in Marc's discography and also for this reason worth rediscovering. Five historical and indisputable stars.