Telegrams

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, Moriarty’s songwriting sessions with Christine Salem & her musicians. Palaxa, Saint-Denis de la Réunion, 07.03.2012.

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, Moriarty’s songwriting sessions with Christine Salem & her musicians. Palaxa, Saint-Denis de la Réunion, 07.03.2012.

On the road, moving from one Saint to the other, along the Route du Littoral: Saint-Gilles to Saint-Denis;
Moriarty songwriting sessions with Christine Salem & her musicians. Saint-Denis de la Réunion, 07.06.2012.

Moriarty songwriting with Christine Salem & her musicians. La Saline, Ile de la Réunion, June 2012.

He stepped into the Ocean and the black sand turned into white foam, gigantic waves crashing on the shore with the sound of thunder. Arthur Moriarty, Etang Salé, Ile de la Réunion, June 2012.

Early sunday morning, Waro and his musicians perform for the Sakifo’s « Risofé » (riz chauffé) in Terre Sainte, at the edge of the great Ocean. The Moriarties hitch-hike a good 20km to reach the place. And finally stand in awe in the middle of the audience, under the blazing sun, with shivers down the spine listening to Danyèl’s songs and creole poetry. The crowd is pretty mixed up:...

6pm: Moriarty sings with Salem for a TV show on a stage facing the Indian Ocean and its coral reef; some believe it’s an amber spotlight shining there but it’s actually the setting sun. 7pm: The big stage is called La Poudrière and the audience is quite explosive indeed. Night falls during the gig as the sea blows a warm salty air over the instruments. At the end of the show Christine...

Rehearsal with Christine Salem & her musicians, while the trucks are cleaning up the market of St-Pierre with a deafening racket, and the afternoon sun is burning skin and instruments. Moriarty on tour: Sakifo Festival, St-Pierre de la Réunion, june 2nd 2012.

Ten-hour flight from Paris to the Reunion Island. A Boeing 777 filled with musicians due to perform at the Sakifo Festival flies above Egyt and the Nile Valley, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia. On board it’s a tower of Babel. The musicians of Patrice speak german, Saul Williams speaks american english, Flavia Coelho speaks french intermingled with brazilian portuguese. Upon arrival the bus does an...

Moriarty sings and plays along haïkus and poems written by Jack Kerouac, with sounds and voices from Lowell, Massachusetts. Portrait of the great Jack and his Beat gang in positive/negative: pros and cons, praise and criticism, futility and relevance. In the end it’s just good to play in the presence of the writer’s ghost, inside that deep dark studio unchanged since the fifties...