Martinican E.sy Kennenga is an Author, composer and performer who keeps “reinventing” himself. At a time where respite has been imposed on artists, he is daring and innovating. Between silent concerts and conferences/concerts, he tells us what feeds his creative process.
ONAIR – E.sy Kennenga, you held your first “concerence” in Martinique in January. How did this idea of a mixing both conference and concert come about?
E.sy KENNENGA – A desire to go further came from exchanging with my fans. They wanted more information about my artistic but also philosophical and spiritual approach. It’s never easy to sit down and get to the bottom of things. It took dedicated time to do it.
OA – How did they welcome this new concept ?
EK – They responded positively! I had not expected so much support, investment, and attention from the public as well as from my team, and also from Lakou Digital, the place that hosted us for this premiere. Its success results from the synergy of trust from both the place and the people. This new adventure bodes well, especially since there have been many proposals to make the experience even richer. There will be other dates, at least in Guadeloupe for the next one.
OA – You have always had a strong interaction with your audience… What do you give them through a “concerence”?
EK – Indeed, I try to listen to my audience. It is a dialogue that evolves, as life goes on. I want to make music and work that is useful to others: Listening to them, sharing what I think, communicating and not in a dialogue of the deaf. I try to bring back a little light, the one within us. I want to show them that even if things can sometimes be hard, we can create new things, stop self-victimizing but showing some self-responsibility, self-determination … Watering the fields of possibilities and staying in these perspectives of hopes… and of union! We have influence over the current situation. We can also make it change. Society is not just a sum of us; it is also the result of a synergy. We can have an impact on it. Everything is based on the notion of “living together”. We cultivate the reasons for our divisions but we are still together so we can choose another path.
OA – Another example of synergy and even communion: long before the “concerences” you had already innovated with the Silent concert where spectators can listen to your music with headphones. What do you get from this experience?
EK – This experience allowed me to change the way I share. It is a journey in dialogue with my audience. It makes me develop more precision in the melodies, the music… and it comforted me to go even further when I write. The concept is becoming more widely accepted and I see people of all ages, from all walks of life, all origins. My music reaches a variety of people and I work in a more universal way.
OA – You initiated your “Travel diary of a Solda Lanmou”, with the release of an EP, then an album bringing together the first 2 chapters and a window on the 3rd. This project is also based on video and writing. Love being at the heart of your creative process, how do you experience the current period, often understood as conflicting?
EK – It shows us that “tout moun lan bizwen lanmou”: Regardless of the edges, the positions, we need a loving relationship. Even if we do not have a precise definition of what it is, we have the definition of what it is not. Lack of love is a lack of light, it is darkness. We are social beings by nature and without relationships we die. But we are in a situation where we can no longer wait for someone else to make a gesture of love. Today, everyone must create and bring back these gestures. Chao is going to bring that too. It is a jostling passage, but it is up to us to see if we are watering fields of possible love or fields of possible division. The documentary linked to the project will present a pool of gestures of love collected in several countries. It focused on everything that’s wrong. However, if in a relationship we constantly point out what is wrong, it will not work! But we put the spotlight elsewhere, on what is doing fine, that changes everything. We look at life through a prism and Love is mine.
Propos recueillis par : Agnès Monlouis-Félicité
