The Lotus Path

About

During the Gaume Jazz Festival in August 2023, as part of his carte blanche, Manuel Hermia invited Christine Ott, a great musician who plays a little-known but hypnotic instrument: the Ondes Martenot. Their concert at the Church of Tintigny was recorded, and the magic of this live encounter has been immortalized on an album available on vinyl or digitally.

The compositions on this album (based on Rajazz*) evoke in one way or another the idea of
transformation. As the Yi Jing—or Yi King, I Ching, or Book of Changes—taught nearly 3,000 years ago, the only thing that never changes is that everything changes all the time. A reflection and pause on the very nature of change, both in our inner lives and in our perception of the outside world, is the common thread running through the compositions presented here.

The lotus is a symbol of purity, but also of a kind of transcendence, of the ability to transform painful experiences and suffering into a form of beauty, peace, and absolute perfection. “The Lotus Path” refers to this inner energy that draws on the shadows to generate light. The process is represented here in musical form.

* The duo’s repertoire is mainly composed of musical material from Rajazz:

https://manuelhermia.com/approach/rajazz/