THE NEW YORK TIMES « A master of vocal manipulation. » LAUREL GRAEBER
Roberta on the Arts “Fascinating, sometimes African, sometimes French vocals and earthy scat, the audience was treated to an impressionistic, somewhat surrealistic set.” Roberta Zlokower
RFI Musique “Sortie française de Bamisphere, le troisième opus du Camerounais installé à New York. Virtuosité et liberté en sont les maîtres-mots. L’Afrique et le jazz y servent de prétexte pour un ultime numéro d’acrobatie vocale aux messages clairs et sans complexes aucuns.” Soeuf Elbadawi
JAZZMAN “Gino Sitson s’affirme comme le plus talentueux des chanteurs africains dans le contexte du jazz. Virtuose dans l’art d’associer polyphonies pygmées, poly-rythmies et polytonalités diverses à l’improvisation jazzistique, il réussit à définir un projet décidément original. (…) Sitson tient les promesses de “Vocal Deliria” et “Song Zin”. Sensible à la pensée et à l’exemple d’hommes remarquables (Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Charles Mingus), Sitson transmet en langue medumba ses messages de liberté, de tolérance, de justice, de créativité. (…) Portés par des acrobaties vocales, subtiles et ludiques…” Francisco Cruz
Los Angeles Times “Sitson is a stunningly versatile vocalist with a cunning imagination and a seemingly endless capacity to create colorfully layered vocal sounds (…) his music has evolved into a magical blending of traditional elements from his native land and the urban swing of New York (…) the results are consistently compelling — producing more fascinating results with each hearing.” Jazz Spotlight – Don Heckman
MONDOMIX “There are few musicians who can come anywhere near Gino Sitson in vocal acrobatics and dexterity.” Daniel Brown
Time Out – NY “…is fast becoming a local phenomenon”
NAPRA Review “..Utterly irresistible…. in a heart-reaching category all by itself…”
MONDOMIX Some call him the African Al Jarreau or Bobby McFerrin, others simply vaunt his ability to modernise age-old traditions of vocal music from central Africa. But Gino Sitson has little interest in the labels that critics attempt to pin on his singular singing range. The discreet Cameroonian musician first crafted his polyphonies in the French capital, Paris, before heading off to the Big Apple for more jazz-oriented exchanges. With him he brought examples of his vocal harmonies in the form of two albums, « Vocal Deliria » and « Song Zin ».
Álbum: Song Zin’ – Artista: Gino Sitson – Procedencia: Camerún – Sello Discográfico: Piranha – Año: 2002 Ya desde “Ngoyak”, la canción que abre el álbum, Gino Sitson deja en claro que lo suyo es la virtuosidad. Desde los primeros acordes, el camerunés hace uso de sus cualidades vocales llevándolas al extremo de la delicadeza, la prolijidad y el encanto, como un artesano de la voz que utiliza sus cuerdas vocales para crear un abanico de ritmos y melodías en las que no descarta el jazz, el blues y el delicado sonido de su pueblo. En la búsqueda de algunas referencias, no estaría de más decir que Gino Sitson tiene algo de Bobby McFerrin , tanto en lo vocal como en lo musical respectivamente. Pero el músico no solo se queda allí. Él es un contador de historias.las de su pueblo. De hecho, la traducción al español del nombre del disco (“Song Zin’, en lengua medumba) sería algo como “Te lo voy a contar” (“I’m gonna tell you”) y en cada una de sus piezas hay sentimiento y nostalgia por su patria y por su gente. Nacido en el oeste camerunés, Sitson se mudó a París cuando todavía no había superado la mayoría de edad. Allí estudió etnomusicología antes de embarcarse en una carrera artística profesional. Con diploma bajo el brazo y algunos sucesos en el país galo, el camerunés llegó en 2001 a Nueva York, ciudad desde donde ha compuesto algunas bandas de sonido y participado en muestras colectivas de música y poesía. Luego del sorprendente debut en “Vocal Delira”, Sitson incorpora en “Song Zin'” una mayor presencia instrumental aportada por algunos destacados músicos, tan interesantes como su conductor. Diecieseis piezas musicales conforman este trabajo, todos ellos compuestos y arreglados por Sitson. Cada uno con una historia diferente, con una temática particular, con un sonido distinto, con sabor especial. Todos con un denominador común: la virtuosidad de su creador. Jorge Maldonado
Jazzdimensions ” Gino Sitson besitzt ein ungewöhnliches Talent, sich in dem Augenblick der Aufnahme ganz einzubringen. Ergebnis sind geschmackvoll arrangierte Songs, verziert mit Sitsons warmer Stimme, viel Perkussion, akzentuiert eingesetztem Klavier und Saxophon. – Musik, die ihre Erklärung in sich selbst trägt.” Carina Prange
Folker “Sein atemberaubender Gesang vereint die Qualitäten der weltweit besten Vokalakrobaten: die knackende Intonationssicherheit – selbst in schrägalterierten Skalen – von Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, die Inbrunst, die Scat-Qualitäten und den Farbenreichtum von Al Jarreau und die beschämende Wandlungsfähigkeit von Brian Ferry. Stellt man Sitson genügend Aufnahmespuren zur Verfügung, macht er die Musik der kubanischen Gruppe Vocal Sampling glatt alleine.” Luigi Lauer
Blue Rhythm “Er ist Vokal- und zugleich Stilakrobat.”
Cameroonian offers unique soundscapes “The first sound out of Gino Sitson’s mouth Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery was a high, piercing falsetto phrase, followed by wind-like rustling, interspersed low notes, a whispering sequence of syllables and an insistent finger-tapping on the microphone. It was a taste of things to come.” Don Heckman
The Village Voice ” Great Cameroonian-American singer Gino Sitson, who’s also adept at body percussion, is a cross between Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau with a thing for African jazz. ”
VOIR.CA – Montréal “GINO SITSON, la découverte à ne pas rater… un fabuleux acrobate vocal Gino Sitson qu’on a surnommé le “Bobby McFerrin du Cameroun. Cet homme-là parle d’or. Et il chante de mieux en mieux…” Ralph Boncy
JAZZDNES – Jazz Funky Alternative “Tato recenze je venovaná težko zaraditelnému, rekl bych i progresivnímu albu Song Zin´ Kamerunce Gino Sitzona. Jeho umelecká dráha, kterou se rozhodl venovat hudbe a jejímu studiu, zacíná v Kamerunu, kde se narodil a kde do 17 let vyrustal a studoval….” Ferdinand Valent
All About Jazz “Quick and to the Point : African jazzistic vocal lusciousness. Although seldom fully appreciated, musical expressions often evidence a remarkable bond with the cadences, inflections, harmonic and melodic character of the languages spoken by their producers and interpreters…” Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz
Los Angeles Times “Sitson is a creator of vocal panoramas (…) always fascinating…” Don Heckman
All Music Guide (**** ½) “He’s someone who loves and caresses every note. Whether you can understand his words or not, the meaning is always abundantly clear from his tone.” Chris Nickson
Roots World “the meditative virtuosity of Sitson’s solo work is clear, and his voice conveys a pristine, complex instrumental tonality” Michael Stone
JAZZ REVIEW.COM “Gino Sitson is a young jazz vocalist from Africa, singing mostly in his native Bamileke language. Born in Cameroon, he studied music and languages in Paris, France, where he also studied ethnomusicology, an important scientific branch of anthropology which focuses on the role of music in cultures. He is to Africa and Cameroon what Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau are to USA jazz. An entertaining performer with a unique style of delivery, he will find a large listening audience in the USA…”
Los Angeles Times “All the pieces are original, mostly sung in Sitson’s native Medumba language, but his gift for melody and his persuasive powers of interpretation establish an instant connection for listeners in virtually every number. In his liner notes, Sitson refuses to define his music, simply saying, “I don’t feel I belong to any style.” He’s right, but despite the great variety of sounds and rhythms present in the album, his creative vision is clear enough to bring a sense of solidarity to the tracks…”
AMAZON.DE “Was Gino Sitson auf Song Zin’… seiner Stimme entlockt, grenzt an Zauberei. Der Vokalakrobat aus Kamerun erzeugt mit den Stimmbändern und seinem (Resonanz-)Körper eine Vielzahl faszinierender Klänge und verfügt über ein riesiges Register an Ausdrucksformen. In insgesamt 16 Songs beweist der Stimmartist eine erstaunliche Wandlungsfähigkeit.”
JAZZBREAK.COM – France CD Review Gino Sitson chanteur ‘percussionniste’ d’origine camerounaise nous fait découvrir un univers de rythmes africains, d’improvisations jazz, et surtout de figures vocales assez incroyables, qui ne sont pas sans rappeler Bobby Mc Ferrin..
l’Express “This young Cameroonian melodist with smiling eyes, elegant gestures and delirious vocal scansions, inbetween jazz, gospel and African music, amazed us with Vocal Deliria, his first album. Song Zin’…, his next CD, is another jewel full of lightness and humanity, visited by trained musicians (the West Indian pianist Mario Canonge, the Venezuelan percussionist Orlando Poléo, the French cellist Vincent Ségal) where Gino Sitson’s subtle militant voice tells about his joy in life, but also his bitter sorrow at the history of Black people.”
Le Figaro “Inventive, skilful, seducing, moving, the Cameroonian author-composer Gino Sitson, with surprising vocal performances and creativity, embodies the new ways in African singing.”
ADEN (Le Monde – les Inrockuptibles) “Gino Sitson gives his voice, trained for vocal acrobatics, to the service of subtle African melodies.”
Nova Magazine “This young man from Cameroon – a revelation of the year – has an amazingly elastic voice and is as much inspired by the sounds of his equatorial forest as by the crazy scatting singers in jazz.”
Télérama “Cameroonian inheritor of Al Jarreau and Bobby Mc Ferrin, Gino Sitson engages in vocal acrobatics, somewhere between jazz, gospel and African music.”
RFI Musique “Suddenly, I heard a warm, friendly voice beside me (it was Gino Sitson), asking “So, what did you think? Did you enjoy the show?” What can I say? Like it? I loved it! And I have to admit, hearing Sitson’s incredible vocals belting out beneath the New York skyscrapers on Friday night, I almost found myself believing that yes, miracles do exist!” Myriem Wong