Jacobito

Depuis 2 ans que je suis de retour en France, il serait peut-être tps de commencer a ecrire en Français!
Alors voilà une petite biographie, un peu sérieuse mais bon...
Après avoir étudié le piano dans son enfance, Jacob Chaudeurge commence son apprentissage des percussions en autodidacte à 17 ans. Il acquiert alors une paire de bongos, puis un djembé et enfin une paire de congas, qu'il commence à étudier avec l'aide d'un professeur.
A 20 ans, il part en Colombie rejoindre son père pendant 16 mois avec l'aide duquel il fabrique un clavecin, tout en agrandissant son univers musical à la cumbia et au joropo. A son retour en France, il joue avec divers groupes.
A l'automne 1999, Jacob réalise son rêve et part étudier les congas et les tambours Batà à Santiago de Cuba pendant 8 mois. Il prend alors des cours particuliers quotidiens de congas avec Manolito Semanat Bell et des 3 Batà joués simultanément avec Juan Baùte du Grupo Folklorico de Oriente.
A l'automne 2000, c'est à Glasgow, en Ecosse, que Jacob s'installe et que sa carrière de musicien professionnel débute.
Pendant 6 ans, il constituera un élément majeur de la scène percussive écossaise.
Il développera sa culture musicale aux rythmes brésiliens au sein de Samba Ya Bamba , et mandingues au sein de Ayawara.
Sa facilité à s'adapter lui permet de collaborer à des projets et enregistrements de genres très divers, allant de la Pop/Rock (Callum Macdonald, Malcolm McCluskey), au Reggae (Sweet T & the Section) en passant par la Drum 'n Bass (Bebadô) et la House (accompagnement de Dj en club).
Mais c'est au sein de ZUBA , que sa carrière s'épanouira le plus. Formé en 1997 par un chanteur du Libéria exilé et un collectif de musiciens écossais, basques et africains, Zuba a déjà 2 maxis et 1 album à son actif quand Jacob rejoint le groupe en 2002.
Au long des années à venir, s'ajoutera au simple rôle de percussionniste ceux de manager, tourneur, représentant à des expositions professionnelles internationales (Womex 2003, 2004 et 2005) ainsi que graphiste (conception de pochettes d'album et de sites internet).
Zuba a joué en première partie de, entre autre, Manu Chao, Femi Kuti, Papa Wemba, Salsa Celtica, Martyn Bennett, Ifang Bondi et Abdul T-Jay.
Sweet T & the Section de Culture, les Skatalites, Mickey Dread.
SambaYaBamba a participé a de nombreux carnavals et festivals, notamment les showcases de Brighton et Cardiff et a voyagé en Europe à Coburg (Allemangne) et Toulouse
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English biog... or some kind of a start...
Percussion for me is a love story.
I started playing , or missing around should I say, when I was 15 in Paris. At the time it was easy to find some drummers jamming on the Seine bank... Got bongos for Christmas, then a djembe and a bit later... a pair of CONGAS! Oh man...
After a few years banging around, I finally took some lessons and had to unlearn all the bad habits accumulated over the years and try to get some proper sounds!
And then a dream came to birth... go 'n study in Cuba.
It took a few years and the construction of a harpsichord in Colombia (I know, strange idea!) for the dream to come true... 8 month in Cuba, mainly in Santiago, the gem of the east. I took tumbadora lessons everyday with my maestro Manolito Semanat Bell focussing on ritmos popular and learnt to play a few toques on 3 bata drums with Juan Baute.
After my return in Europe in 2000, I moved to Scotland where I live for almost 6 years now. I started playing professionally with the Malcom McCluskey band and then joined ZUBA .
Zuba soon became my main focus, source enjoyment and sense of achievement! I think a had never been in a project where I felt so much in harmony with the music and the people, where the sense of musical freedom was so strong...
Touring intensively in the UK, we've played on the same bill as Manu Chao, Femi Kuti, Papa Wemba, the Bhundu Boys...
In all the gigs we did I can't remember a single one where nobody danced and that's the most rewarding!
Our biggest achievement and pride is our last 10 tracks album "Allez!" out in 2005.
"ALLEZ!" was awarded BEST AFRICAN ALBUM in the 2006 JPF AWARDS after the song "TOMAYZIYI" got ZUBA in the TOP20 FINALISTS of the UNISONG contest (World/Reggae category) and an HONORABLE MENTION in the final of the INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION 2005 (World Music category).
You can listen to the full album for free on www.zuba.co.uk and of course if you wish you can also buy it here or on cdBaby
But all this time with Zuba, I learnt much more than playing music... management, web and cd sleeve design, music conference delegate, promoter stuff... thankfully I still found time to play a wee bit and even join other projects!
My influences were to grow further when I joined Samba Ya Bamba , Glasgow's very own carnival bateria. Different drums, different grooves...
From Samba to Drum 'n Bass, via Maracatu and other Afoxe SYB repertoire is varied and original.
Having been offered to play the showcases at the famous Brighton Carnival Encontro 2004 and Cardiff 2005, it pushed us to write with rapers and Dhol drums, doing a maracatu cover of Rage Against the Machine...
I guess, it gave us the opportunity to get better and have our own and unique style.
An long-awaited album was recorded in April 2006 and launched in June 2007.
It's called "Mad Bongos 'n' that" and is available on Samba Ya Bamba's profile , on their website or at cdBaby
"the most innovative and striking World album of the week-and no doubt, for many, many weeks to come.” - CD Baby