RFI Musique : Why did you call this album Mitan ?
I’m 50 years old, and "mitan" (half-time) symbolises the middle of my life. In my head, I consider that this second half will be the richer part; it will be full of projects, I’m sure. I want to improve, progress and grow even more. I don’t regret the years that have gone by, I’m proud of the path I’ve taken, but I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me. Here we go; I can see myself at 75/80 years old, on top form, still playing the piano, still bitten by the musical bug. I’m certainly not at the beginning of the end, I’m still on the way up! All around me people seem to be in a hurry to retire, to stop working, to watch TV and do the gardening…Not I! I just would like my music to take me as far as it can... At the heart of this quest, there’s a kind of dizzy philosophical dimension; with every step we take, the horizon recedes. With the piano you can never go too far...

Entre La Pelée et l'Ararat Mario Canonge Mitan (Rue Stendhal) 2011 Listen

Exactly, let’s take the piano... Five years ago, you went back to study it again seriously...
Yes, I started to play my instrument again seriously at home, something I’d been neglecting for far too long, even if I’ve always played a lot. I’d just stopped being motivated to sit in front of the keys and work on it for hours daily. I was riddled with guilt, and always put off the hard work until the next day. And then one day, a friend of mine who’s a pianist, found the right words, he touched a sensitive chord in me... It was the middle of the holidays. I went back to Paris, just before the 31st of December. As soon as I got home, I started to bang on the keys. It was hard at first, but then it became essential, a necessity, like a drug.

What has this work given to your performance?
After two years, I realised that different areas were being affected. I was still myself, but I had a broader range at my fingertips. My vocabulary expanded; let’s say I went from a hundred known words to a thousand. I’m more present, I create more beautiful phrases, I’m better at expressing what’s inside me... And whereas before I’ve always worked within a tight deadline to get my albums produced, I think that this disc is the fruit of these five years of solid hard work. But as I was saying; the horizon just keeps on moving back…It’s endless! And that’s what’s so exciting.

Over the last few years, you’ve been reading a lot too; authors like Glissant, Césaire, Chamoiseau...
I came to reading quite late in life, apart from what I had to read at school of course. Between the ages of 40 and 45, I devoured a huge number of books. I gorged myself on words. This last decade I’ve been experiencing a kind of literary initiation; underneath I must be a late-bloomer!

In the track, Entre la Pelée et l’Ararat, you’ve added an Armenian musician, Norair Kartashyan, on the duduk and on the bloul to your piano-bass-drums trio. Why did you do this?
This track has lots of Caribbean overtones. I wanted to show how there can be musical bridges between very dissimilar cultures; the Antilles, Armenia, and jazz of course. And then, at the same time, it was a way of acknowledging Edouard Glissant’s concept of the literary revival of creole.

Biography Discography

Does your music reflect this revival, such as Edouard Glissant defines it?
Yes, of course! My previous disc, Rhizome (2004), also reflected these infinite crossover points. In music, much more than in any other domain, sounds, rhythms and notes combine naturally, because musicians don’t need to speak the same language to be able to play together. The contact and mixing happen straightaway.

How would you yourself define your music? As a skilful mix of jazz and Antillean influences?
I have a hard time with labels, even if they’re necessary. Whatever it is I’m playing, I love. The music I really love has to be jazz, even if I’m not American. My background is Antillean, I grew up with latino music and I listened to Salut les Copains, Johnny Hallyday and Charles Aznavour. I really get a kick out of playing jazz, biguine, salsa, and even zouk! Nowadays you can call music whatever you like. Personally I like the word "jazz", as it refers to what is created in the present moment. And that’s what I do; with my ten fingers I recount what I’m living “in the moment”, I give expression to my emotions, my thoughts, and I’m always, I hope, one beat ahead.

Mario Canonge Mitan (Rue Stendhal) 2011
Translation: Caroline Preller

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