The Road is Long – Live at Savoy Theatre is the third album by the Finno-Beninese funk-jazz-afrobeat combo. The group aims at funding the new album with the help of crowdfunding. You can contribute on the crowdfunding platform Mesenaatti.
Known for their disarming jazz-influenced modern afrobeat, the Finno-Beninese Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble issue their third album, The Road is Long – Live at Savoy Theatre, in November. Recorded earlier this year, the album will be the first live album and vinyl release for the orchestra to date. It will be a self-released album without the support of a record label, and the group has turned to crowdfunding as a means of covering the costs. The crowdfunding campaign was launched on the online platform, Mesenaatti, and it will be ongoing until early October. The album release has been scheduled for November, seeing the ensemble return to the stage of Savoy in an album launch show on 5 November.
Founded in 2012, Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble are an eight-piece, led by the Helsinki-based guitarist Janne Halonen and the Beninese vocalist-percussionist Noël Saïzonou, that draw from a number of genres, including traditional Voodoo rhythms, afrobeat, jazz, funk and hip hop. The group took its first steps in Benin where they brought out their debut, Beacoup De Piment!, in 2013. Soon afterward, the group went on an extensive Finnish tour. The sophomore, Fire, Sweat & Pastis, was greeted with heaps of praise in the media upon its release in 2014, and was selected as the Folk Music Album of the Year. The past couple of years have seen the band tour Germany, Italy, Hungary and Norway in addition to its two home countries, Finland and Benin.
The pre-determined minimum in the campaign has been set at 3,500 euros, while the maximum sum of 6,000 euros would cover other expenses, such as costs related to mixing, mastering and cover art, in addition to the pressing of the CDs and the LPs. “After all the time spent on the road Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble sounds better than ever before,” says Janne Halonen, the guitarist and one of the founding members of the band. “We wanted to record us and our sound at this point on a live recording – after all, both us and our music are best enjoyed live.”
”Weather Report meets Fela, you might say. They are good enough.” - Rick Sanders, fRoots Magazine
”Listening to each song on Fire, Sweat & Pastis is like stopping at a sleepy, roadside town, only to discover it is the place you've always longed to be.” – Broadway World
"Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble represents the very best in afro-fusion today." –Hakeem Adam, African Film and Music classics
On the making of the album Fire, Sweat & Pastis:
Contribute to the campaign here: https://mesenaatti.me/campaign/?id=200#single/view
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www.helsinkicotonouensemble.com