Voyage of Dreams

Jephte Guillaume | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 29, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Spiritual Life Music
• ASIN: B00006IU6L
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,937 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Across The Sea

2. Prayer

3. Ibo Leie

4. Go Tell Them

5. Go Tell Them

6. Daughter Of The Sun

7. Tribute To Ernie

8. Dwet Djaz Fredo

9. Courtyard

10. Rara Shout Outs

11. Where Are The People

12. Kote Moun Yo (Where Are The People)

13. Pouki (Why)

14. Voyage Of Dreams

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Jephté's solo career was launched in 1994, with the release of his first hit single "Onè Respè." His next hit single, "The Prayer (Priyè- a)," found its way into DJ rotations around the world, emerging from New York clubs like Body and Soul, "Little" Louie Vega's Dance Ritual, The Shelter and Brooklyn's Bang the Party as an instant underground success. This success was cemented with a stunning performance by Jephté Guillaume and the Tet Kale Orkestra at Body & Soul's Central Park Summerstage celebration in the summer of 1999. His critically acclaimed self-produced debut album "Voyage of Dreams" was released to universal praise and astonishment, following the international success of several 12" singles for Spiritual Life Music, which helped to establish the label as a global musical force to be reckoned with. And his work has already appeared on a host of compilations on labels such as Nuphonic, Island/Hannibal, React, JVC Japan, Wave (Body & Soul compilation Volume 1 & 2), Sony/Rhythmix France (Trip do Brasil I & II), Avex/Japan, Polygram/Motor, Chrysalis/EMI France, Virgin/France, Life Line/Japan and Flower/Japan.

The many releases of Jephté (including "Love Light" & "Rhythm of the Rain") are filled with substantial themes of struggle and liberation, but driven by the elements that make us dance: drum loaded tracks, and lots of live bass. Enticing keyboard melodies, seamless flute riffs, supernatural vocals, and the occasional flamenco-like guitar seem to emerge naturally from his festive rhythms. The result is a new sound - one that integrates a revolutionary Haitian spirit with an electronic groove for the technologically astute.

Jephté has spent the last few years on the club circuit, making his mark on the electronica movement. A sought-after bassist and multi-instrumentalist who has played with a wide range of major artists from R&B (Groove Theory),nu-soul (Mary J. Blige), Hip-Hop (Refugee All-Stars Band, Slick Rick), Acid Jazz (Abstract Truth), Pop (98 degrees, No Mercy, Sting & Jermaine Jackson), Haitian Raggamuffin (Papa Jube), French Reggae (Tonton David), French Hip-Hop Reggae (Real Kila), and Gospel (Timothy Wright, The Daughtry Singers of the House of the Lord from Brooklyn), he is obviously serious when he says, "Wherever there is music, I am there."

Born in Haiti, but uprooted to Brooklyn with his family during the Duvalier regime, Jephté Guillaume is a unique addition to the trajectory of Haitian musicians such as Boukman Eksperyans, whose music transforms Vodun spirituality and African ancestry into something universally understood. "Everywhere go, people ask me about the spirituality in my music - they may not know Kreyol, but they sing along." True to his roots, Jephte's lyrics come from Haitian folk and devotional chants, offering praise to the ancestors and calling for the listeners to get up and connect to their spiritual homes. Like Nigeria's Fela Kuti and Cameroon's Manu Dibango did in their ways for their cultures, Jephté Guillaume does for his by building a bridge between American Soul, Jazz, and music traditions that come directly from the Haitian experience. "The Haitian drums are everywhere, just like the Spirits themselves," he says. It is these Spirits who pervade the Tet Kale sound.

The infectious mixture of diverse elements in Jephté Guillaume's music comes as no surprise, when one looks at his eclectic career. He is known within the Haitian community as a former founding member of the renowned roots-rock band Rara Machine, which toured worldwide. While in the U.S., he has developed a committed international dance audience, released his own vibrant recordings as well as produced successful remixes for a diverse collection of artists including Amel Larrieux, Clara Moreno, Pushim, Toni Braxton, Wild Magnolias, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Calyn and Glen Scott.

Product Description

"Voyage Of Dreams", produced by Jephté Guillaume, provides a delicate balance between modern rhythms & expressions with the traditional ancestral elements of Jephté's Afro-Hatian-Latin heritage. A musical ambassador for the spiritual messages of both the Haitian revolution-reconstruction & the New York diaspora of today, Jephté embodies in his music the body & soul of Haiti - his songs, all sung in Haitian Kreyol, often take the form of incantations to a superior being (The Prayer) & renew the ancient beliefs of Vodou. This album is a concept album in its theme & structure, awashed in images of displacement, travel & the search for unity and spiritual fufillment. Jephté's songs offer prayers, ask for spiritual guidance from the elders, challenge the madness of oppression & misery, and offer the hope embodied in images of home, family, country & liberation. But anchoring almost all of this is the persistant beat - the groove - to inspire dance. The most powerful influence of Vodou on Jephté's music is the realization that the most profound questions & the most soul-wrenching quests need not be divorced from the joy of dancing. In a world where almost everyone seems to be in motion, where everyone seems to be a migrant or a traveller, and where families are seperated by oceans, Jephté's quest may just be our own....

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Music, October 21, 2008

By 

K. A. Morris (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voyage of Dreams (Audio CD)

Voyage of Dreams takes you on a journey from the shores of Haiti to the big city of New York. Jephte' Guillaume's masterful arrangements and soulful mixture of traditional african rhythmns merged with american jazzy danceable tracks should be apart of any world music lover's collection.