- Gabriele Filippi
- Jan 2021
- 2 min
- 630 views
Through his ballets, his film and theater soundtracks, his compositions for his ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists, Javier Rodriguez is an artist who has a deep grounding and connection with today’s contemporary music.
An affable talented pianist and composer, Javier Rodriguez was born in Cordoba (Spain) and studied piano with Rafael Orozco, one of the most recognized pianists of the 20th century, and Rafael Quero at the Cordoba Conservatory.
After finishing his studies, Javier spent several years composing for ballet and film, while working as a piano teacher at the conservatory.
Traveling around the world, and performing with various orchestras, Javier was able to literally open his ears to new ideas from world music, jazz, minimalism, and contemporary classical music.
In December 2014 he was appointed Music Director of The World Ballet, and behind him he boasts collaborations with renowned musicians such as Ravi Shankar, Sura Susso, Yaroldi Abreu, Jansen Santana, Mutsumi Abe, Helio Delmiro, Modou Toure, and Maria de Juan, just to name a few.
Javier continues to create workshops and perform piano performances all over the world. In the wake of his artistic career, his most recent nine-track album title “Àṣẹ.”
Today Javier continues to create workshops and represent piano performances all over the world. In the wake of his artistic career, his most recent nine-track album, “Àṣẹ,” proves to be the most advanced synthesis of his creative evolution.
The album draws inspiration from anonymous tribal voices as well as excerpts from signature speeches that have shaped humanity. From Nelson Mandela, to Fela Kuti, to the contemporary African writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rodriguez captures a transversal sense free from preconceptions, to remind us of our personal ability to be able to generate change, even only through the spoken word. What you say can happen.
The flagship pinnacle of the album is the second track, the exquisite composition of contemporary classical music titled “Le Griot”.
Led by an evocative and ethereal piano, the piece opens with a mix of some of the most important voices of the most recent African history: Here we find the voices of Patrice Lumumba, Haile Salassie, Zulu King, Francisco Macías Nguema, Mohammed Al Gadafi and Rwanda RTLM broadcasts during the genocide in 1994. While the end of the track includes an extraordinary excerpt of Fela Kuti´s interview talking about colonial mentality.
A tribute to African music and to the power that the spoken word has to change the world, “Le Griot” is an empowering uplifting piece. It’s about the power to create and make come true what you say. It’s about the potency to bring about change. It’s about the exclamation you might use to ignite collective purpose through your personal fire.
Pristine food for thoughts, which we increasingly need to feed on. 
Listen now to "Le Griot," the latest Track by Javier Rodriguez, available to stream on Spotify.
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<\span>- .: Nova MUSIC blog // January 2021