(from the album taxidoscopio)
Montreal, Canada, July 2000, 21st International Jazz Festival
The Windham Hotel is a skyscraper in the center of Montreal, which hosts, every July, the musicians and bands performing at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. In the rooms of the upper floors, all day long musicians can be heard warming up their instruments, while at night, when the concerts are over and the city streets empty, the musicians gather in the hotel’s lounge, they get to know each other and jam. I sketch the view from the big window of our room on the 12th floor.
I hear a saxophone
from the corridor’s end
and I come out of the room
there’s a party on the ground floor
Drinks and jam sessions
with the musicians of the world
all kinds of feelings
tangled within me
How did I get here
in the corridors of the Windham?
in a musical cauldron
in the streets of Montreal?
Young, old and children
Βlacks, Whites and Asians
dance to the musics
from the corners of the earth
And their hearts are open
their bodies loose
in front of open air stages
with electrified speakers
The whole city is here
reveling in the festival
in French and English
people speak to me
«You played well the other night
when will you be coming back?
And if you like in our houses
come and stay
Bring us the music
from your country
So that we all become one village
the time is finally here!»
A global village
in the centre of Montreal
and like the Windham tall
grew the tree of music
Translated in English by Alexandra Alexandri