OK LISTEN!

“Hope” is our 1st single as “Manuel ∞ Tincrès Projekt” It is an International collaboration. The musicians are Reunionese, French and 1 Indian: Me ☺ I wrote this particular tune and Allan (Tincrès) arranged it and brought in some of the Islands best young Jazz-fusion musicians to collaborate with us. Allan is a dear old friend of mine. When I first met Allan back in August 2009, little did either of us imagine that 11 years on we’d be part of another collaborative duo!

 

Around then (’09) my former band “Adil & Vasundhara” had released an EP. We were very lucky to have gotten the opportunity to play at a festival in France. The only glitch was that the organizers couldn’t fly down our band so I mailed/messaged a bunch of people who were either living in France or remotely had a French connection. One thing led to another and we ended up with the brilliant, juicy rhythm section of Allan Tincrès (Drums & Percussions) and Joe Jungle (Bass). Allan is one of the most infectious drummers I have played it. Owing to his Reunionese roots, he packs a huge punch by blending traditional rhythms with Afro and modern styles.

Over the years we’d probably exchange a message or two on Facebook, talk about music in general and exchange some YouTube links: that’s about it. Nothing happened till mid April 2020 when he messaged to check on me during Lockdown. Something clicked! We further took this link exchange and started talking about grooves. This led me to ask him to record two separate drum grooves. I immediately latched on to one and sent back a melody over some fun harmony. That was it! Our Reunion and the beginning of “Hope”! The single released on May 15 on all major streaming platforms and has already made it to some playlists on Spotify. The music video link is in the smartURL below. We are now currently working on next single, which is going to be another international collab and should be out but the end of June 2020.

 

“Hope” is a well paced feel-good hook based instrumental. The percussions and traditional folk rhythms of the Reunion Islands and their strong African influences combined with the core’s jazz-fusion/world music influences bring out a unique sound to the fore. If you’re not humming the tune out by the end of it or start imagining hearing voices singing the last chorus on the track, the drinks are on me post Lockdown :)