Majakka… “The lighthouse” in Finnish

It was during a tour in the Baltic countries that Jean-Marie Machado discovered this word and its beautiful sound. The “j” is pronounced “ya” and you have to leave a very small space before the double “k” which gives it a very singing form.

This new project evolves around melodies invented during his career as a composer, they are like lighthouses that guide and illuminate his journey until today.

These songs speak about the different stages of his musical journey, about poetic reveries. They are revealled and shared emotions.

The musicians gathered around Jean-Marie Machado represent these different moments :

Vincent Ségal, met at the very beginning of the road with Naná Vasconcelos

Keyvan Chemirani, with whom he has shared the stage many times in very different contexts

Jean-Charles Richard, with him for ten years in the Danzas Orchestra

A crossed music, with Latin colors that are defended by master musicians opened to the world and its plural music.

Ⓒ Cecil Mathieu

“Jean-Marie Machado has brought together an orchestra composed solely of percussion on stage. All that strikes, rubs, collides, pinches, scratches itself, is scraped on the stage. We are in the paradise of percussion. There are: marimbas, xylophones, glockenspiel, vibraphone, cymbals (each percussionist has one or more), bells (bamboo or shellfish, or other) Tibetan bowls, and multiple drums. These percussions bring together skin, wood, metal, which give a mix of sounds, tones and textures.

The music goes through several states: moments of intimacy and other moments that summon the full power of percussion.”

Jean-François Mondot, Jazz Magazine