Vicente-Gebruers-Govaert

Portugal/Belgium/Netherlands

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Although I’ve never met one, I suspect there are some folks who have no interest in enlightenment. Most of us sentient beings are in pursuit of the concept of enlightenment (aka awakening). Some are attuned to a spiritual practice and/or religion, others are dedicated to training in a physical discipline or an artistic one. I suggest this idea because you are holding in your hands a recording by some highly evolved musicians, and I presume that by listening to this music, you are interested in such endeavors. 

While Buddhists pursue enlightenment, modern science investigates epigenetics. Research tells us that humans can modify their own gene expression, actually alter their DNA, through thoughts and experiences. Listening to the trio of Luís Vicente, Seppe Gebruers, and Onno Govaert may be just one of those DNA-altering experiences. 

Stick with me here. Both enlightenment and epigenetics turn on the concept of non-duality, or the realization that there is no “us and them”. We are all one. Free improvisation, like this trio’s performance at the Sound Disobedience Festival, makes no distinction between silence and sound, rhythm and entropy, and well, performer and witness. The performers’ DNA is encoded by many generations of music makers. Consciously (most probably unconsciously), Luís Vicente draws on jazz from its origins: Satchmo’s slurs, Miles’ murmurs, and Raymond Scott’s toy trumpets. Seppe Gebruers’ piano imagines what Chopin would summon if he were to meet Evan Parker, and Onno Govaert’s pulse takes a New Orleans parade route into the concert hall. Their music is that of equanimity, or the wisdom grounded in freedom, one not dependent on duality. There is no distinction between beauty/ugliness, good/bad, or noise/melody. Everything they play here comes from the subtle body and is infused with a certain bliss. 

 

(Corroto)