Transcendance is just the desire to make music without having to worry about categories and labels, going beyond names, transcend standards and express all my love for music, artists and musicians from all over I had the chance to meet along my way. I love a certain rhythmic sophistication linked to my roots and when I play, my whole being goes in an internal dance and plunges into the mysteries of trance. Transcender Transcending one’s fears, taboos and ego and indulging in unrestrained experimentation of love allows humans to taste their freedom. Whoever does not fall in love will never be free. He will never free himself from family ties, from the codes of society. It is only the day we fall in love that we leave everything without knowing where we are going, without knowing what will happen next and that we do not even ask ourselves the question. Ray Lema
Jazz Mag **** – by Lionel Eskenazi “For his third jazz record with his quintet” VSNP “, Ray Lema made some changes by replacing bassist Étienne Mbappé with bassist Michel Alibo and added a sixth member in the person of Brazilian guitarist Rodrigo Viana. The band has nevertheless not lost none of its unity, its rhythmic impact or its ability to interpret the beautiful melodies written by Lema, according to an impressive range of colors and genres. This collective identity forged in six years does not either suffers from the eclecticism of its repertoire which sails happily from Afrobeat in tribute to Féla Kuti to the Caribbean zouk through Congolese rumba, funky rock and the art of the jazz ballad. The alchemy which seals the perfect unison between saxophone and trumpet is propelled by the bass-drums couple in a tremendous groovy and dancing euphoria, while Ray Lema’s piano becomes more and more free thanks to the rhythmic contribution of the guitar . A beautiful sensory journey that ends in the splendor of wild flutes evoking the equatorial forest.