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50 years after
the death of Django, Manouche Jazz is still going strong and evolving
in the Manouche tradition owing to the fact that it is a style that
takes its elements from around the world.
For Titi Demeter, it is his Russian Romani heritage that gives him his
particular colour.
The Demeter family, as Kalderash Romanis, originated from Bakou in
Azerbaijan. After traveling through Moscow, the family arrived in
Parisduring the 30s. There, the grandfather Rouwa often encountered
Django and still carried with him the melancholy and the zeal of the
Russian Rom.
Everyone in the Demeter family plays an instrument. The musical
tradition is passed on from generation to generation.
If jazz offers to Titi the space of freedom and expression that is
improvisation, he gives to this music the particular colours and the
phrasé which are his gipsy musical inheritance.
Titi Demeter, his brother Santino and his cousin Steeve, actually
don't hesitate to play in some of their concerts tzigane music along
with jazz manouche.
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| Titi Demeter's success and
popularity is likely to continue to grow over the coming years, as they
continue to demonstrate technical and interpretive ability rarely seen in
jazz music today, establishing themselves as prominent figures in the field
of jazz guitar, keeping alive the same elements which ensure that pioneers
such as Django Reinhardt remain legendary today.
What the press says about
Titi ....
"Improvisation features heavily in his
interpretation, and ranges from the explosive to extreme subtlety."
“He shook me up! I had never heard anyone play that fast. Guitarists to
this day have been trying to perfect it to the extent that Django had.
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“Titi’s a master improviser; he’s got a great Gypsy talent and a
love for jazz. His playing has surprise, unpredictability, moments of
gentleness - then all of a sudden some fantastic, fiery run in the middle of
everything.
It ‘s very passionate, Gypsy feeling.”
" Today, with guitar players, one will have the technique but no
feeling, one can pick fast but can't play slow, the other is slow but
doesn't have any speed, another won't have the fire of Django. Titi's
probably one of the very few guitarists who has most of this together ......
Nowadays there are a million guitar players but the geniuses still remain
few - guitarists who can make the instrument talk. “
“His playing of ballads with such warmth and sensitivity and his
tremendous technique on up-tempo performances are truly unbelievable. “
“Titi can play for you any of Django's tunes ! But the great thing is
that he doesn't copy; if you ask him to play a song ten times he won't play
it the same twice. He can find unlimited ways to play the same tune.”
Compositions
:
The trio
Titi Demeter,
lead guitar
Steeve Demeter, rythmic guitar
Stephane "PICHTO', doublebass or Santino Demeter,
bass
The quartets
Titi Demeter,
lead guitar
Steeve Demeter, rythmic guitar
Stephane "PICHTO', doublebass
+ violin
Titi Demeter,
lead guitar
Steeve Demeter, rythmic guitar
Santino Demeter, bass
+ Keyboards
The quintet
Titi Demeter,
lead guitar
Steeve Demeter, rythmic guitar
Stephane "PICHTO', doublebass or Santino Demeter,
bass
+ violin or accordion
The sextet
Titi Demeter ,
lead guitar
Steeve Demeter, rythmic guitar
Santino Demeter, bass
Stephane "PICHTO', doublebass
Mimi and Volia, vocals
Etc
(more compositions are possible) ........
 Discography & Audio Extracts :
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"Dikave Les
Romens"
(2001)
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"Jazz
Manouche"
(2004)
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