Grégoire Maret & Edmar Castañeda - Harp Vs Harp (CD)

Release Date: 06/14/19

You'll rarely find a more harmonious pairing.' Nate Chinen, NPR Music / WBGO

Harmonica player Grégoire Maret, born in Geneva in Switzerland and harpist Edmar Castañeda from Bogota in Colombia are two remarkable musicians. The strong musical affinity between them that comes across so vividly in 'Harp vs. Harp' is no accident, not least because their backstories are so uncannily similar. Each of them came from his respective country as a callow teenager, and settled in New York. They have not merely survived, each individually, in the often unforgiving creative cauldron of New York's musical life; each has established a reputation at the absolute top of the game, working on a regular, long-term basis with the best in the business. By the time Maret and Castañeda decided to record, they had already done several performances as a duo, so the choices of repertoire fell into place easily. There are themes running through the album. Three of the eight tracks, 'Blueserinho', 'Manha de Carnaval' and 'Santa Morena' (with star guest Bela Fleck), are inspired by Brazilian music. 'I grew up with the blues and fell in love with Brazilian music,' says Maret. There are spiritual themes too: 'Acts' with guest vocalist Andrea Tierra, and 'No Fear' are a pair of tunes inspired respectively by strong religious faith and the need to conquer fear. There are two quiet, nostalgic numbers. Maret says of his composition 'Hope': 'There was a lot of fire, I wanted to help us settle.' Another gentle song is Charlie Haden's 'Our Spanish Love Song', with strong associations to both Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Pat Metheny. Castañeda describes the tango 'Romance de Barrio' affectionately as 'a song Andrea Tierra just loves to sing.' Castañeda says he thinks of Maret above all as a 'Una persona segura', and the total empathy, confidence, trust between the players is in evidence throughout this album. On every track, the ease with which tunes settle, the common sense of pacing, and that sixth sense of when and how to land and to end together are completely palpable.