We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

"Serious Fun" was one of the first songs I wrote trying to incorporate Martinique's tanbou bèlè drum into a band setting. I've stolen a fragment of a bèlè song, "Panni pasé lamen oswé-a," for the bridge. This means "we don't pass the hand tonight" — that is, we're serious, we're not just fooling around. Bèlè is a playful dance but in Martinique even a happy tradition carries the sadness of history. In that spirit, on the bridge I switch from the bèlè rhythm to danmyé, an African-derived martial art with overtones of resistance (similar to Brazilian capoeria). The solos are by Eugene Uman on piano, Jon Weeks on sax, myself on tanbou, and in the coda Ben James on drum set.

credits

from Music for the Exploration of Elusive Phenomena, released June 18, 2021
Julian Gerstin, music, tanbou bèlè, percussion
Don Anderson, trumpet
John Wheeler, trombone
Jon Weeks, saxophones
Eugene Uman, piano
Jay Cook, bass
Ben James, drum set

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Julian Gerstin image

Julian Gerstin Brattleboro, Vermont

Julian is a percussionist and composer whose music reflects his experience with musicians in and from Cuba, Martinique, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Bulgaria, and Egypt as well as jazz from trad New Orleans to experimental.

contact / help

Contact Julian Gerstin

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

Julian Gerstin recommends:

If you like Julian Gerstin, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now