YOSVANY TERRY AND YE-DÉ-GBÉ AND THE AFRO-CARIBBEAN LEGACY

VISITS THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA JULY, 2008

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY TOM EHRLICH ©2008

Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy

Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy, Yosvany Terry's latest project, blessed the San Francisco Bay Area with a series of concerts with music that was stunningly beautiful, rhymically uplifting and culturally and historically significant. Ye-dé-gbé means "with the approval of the spirits" in the West African language Fon - from the kingdom of Dahomey (today Benin). The music of this group is based on the Arará musical tradition, originating in Dahomey and it traveled with slaves throughout the Caribbean. This tradition has been kept alive in Matanzas, Cuba by associations formed by slaves hundreds of years ago (cabildos) to preserve and express their cultural heritage. There has been very little recording of this muscial tradition and this music has been virtually unknown outside of Africa and Cuba. This project is therefore is extremely important to teach the Arará musical tradition to others, to continue it and to further develop it. Yosvany hopes to raise the funds so he can bring this project to both Cuba and Africa to perform and to interact with the masters of this great cultural tradition.

From left to right - Pedro Martínez, Yosvany Terry, Román Díaz and Tony Escapa
on Arará drums made in Matanzas, Cuba by master drum maker, Gilberto Morales

Yosvany Terry on chékere and Yunior Terry on bass

Funded by the New York State Music Fund and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Yosvany Terry - Cuba born and raised, based in New York City since 1999 - world class saxophonist, chékere master, composer and band leader, studied the Arará music tradition for one year by traveling to Matanzas, Cuba - studying with Mario Rodríguez Pedroso "Mano", one of the last living drummers initiated in the tradition and studying in the United States with others. Yosvany also commissioned a set of Arará drums, specifically crafted for the music he was to compose. After this year of study, Yosvany set out to compose music which fused the obscure rhythms and traditional songs of the Arará with jazz to create a unique and moving blend.

Yosvany on sax and Yunior Terry on bass

Yosvany has put out a CD of the project's music, but he considers it a work in progress and will record a more comprehensive version of the project soon. I intend to write a more complete article about this project and will post it when completed as well as trying to convince a magazine to carry it.

Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy's first concert in the Bay Area was at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, California on July 18, 2008. The first set of the concert was the Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy project and the second set was a descarga with the project and local heavy weights John Santos, Jesús Díaz and Michael Spiro.

Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy is

Yosvany Terry - leader, sax, chékere, percussion and vocals

Yunior Terry - bass, vocals

Osmany Paredes - piano, vocals

Pedro Martínez - percussion, lead vocals

Román Díaz - percussion, vocals

Sandy Pérez - percussion, vocals

Tony Escapa - drum set

Félix "Pupi" Insua - dancer

This band is a group of master musicians who have extensive experience as leaders and members of many other bands. What follows are photos of their first Bay Area concert.

"Pupi" Insua dancer, Yosvany percussion, vocal

Yunior Terry

Osmany Peredes

Pedro Martínez

Román Díaz and Pedro Martínez (rear)

Tony Escapa

Yosvany Terry

Félix "Pupi" Insua

Osmany Peredes piano, Yunior Terry bass

Osmany and Yosvany

Román Díaz and Pedro Martínez

Román, Pedro and Sandy Pérez

Pedro, Tony and Román

Yunior, Yosvany, Pedro

Yosvany

Yosvany

Yosvany and Pupi

Yosvany, Yunior, Tony

SERIES OF PHOTOS OF FÉLIX "PUPI" INSUA

Yunior Terry

Yosvany and Yunior

Osmany

Pedro Martínez

Pedro and Román

Pedro, Román and Tony

Yosvany on chékere, Yunior on bass

PHOTOS OF THE DESCARGA SET

John Santos, Román Díaz, Michael Spiro, Pedro Martínez, Jesús Díaz

Jesús Díaz, Sandy Pérez and Michael Spiro

Michael Spiro and Román Díaz

Yosvany, Osmany and John Sanots

John Santos, Román Díaz and Pedro Martínez

Román Díaz

John Santos, Román Díaz and Michael Spiro

John Santos, Yosvany Terry and Pupi Insua

Pupi, Yosvany, Osmany, John Santos, Yunior

Carlos Aldama legendary Cuban Rumbero and folkloric percussionist

Pupi

Pedro Martínez

Pedro Martínez

Pedro Martínez, Pupi on conga, Michael Spiro on batá

Sandy Pérez with Alisa Froman

Sandy Pérez

Sandy Pérez dance, Román Díaz conga

Sandy Pérez

Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy

I will post photos of some of the other Bay Area concerts of Ye-dé-gbé and the Afro-Caribbean Legacy as they are completed.