Still Point

The encounter between  the ensemble Des Equilibres  and  Ray Lema  seemed inevitable. Drawing strength from their diverse styles, the artists wanted to bring this project to life, blending chamber music with jazz and even African sounds. Ray Lema ‘s composition   for  the Des Equilibres ensemble  in its string quartet formation, and for himself, transcends boundaries. Still Point  will be presented in a new production on December 19, 2023, at the Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

“  This resting point, which T.S. Eliot calls ‘ Still Point ,’ resonates particularly strongly with me, a musician of Central African origin. It perfectly expresses the trance-like state in our traditional music. Situated outside of time and space, it is the present moment, the fragile point of equilibrium, constantly renewed in order to maintain an apparent stillness in stark simplicity, the fruit of the highly sophisticated rhythmic knowledge possessed by the Old Masters. Like a tightrope walker at the crossroads of the horizontality of African rhythmic wheels and the verticality of Western harmony, the compositions I created for my encounter with  the ensemble Des Equilibres , directed by  Agnès Pyka  in its string quartet formation, are in search of this particular point, where souls emptied of the incessant chatter of the intellect find themselves in the present moment of music, nothing but music…”

Ray Lema