Mosera

Bert Gagnon: Ok, I'm impressed...nice clean sound, great variations of sounds and nice production. If this is your first time around the block, then you learned your lessons well and the second time around will most likely be awesome. What I found are a lot of influences here with also a prog rock attitude,
Interesting.

- Bert Gagnon

Magnetism at work

The voodoo you do, is the title of his record, which now is finially available. Mosera’s music which he played for us in the intimacy of his recording studio, is firmly established among the avant-garde of contemporary caribbean creation, as with his expressionist’s paintings. His music will never be a pale ersatz of current trends, like we so often hear on the radio. No. Here, we are in the presence of a scientist of creative art who searches, expresses and invents, who melts the whole caribbean spirit in fact the entire world energy really.

The bewitching texture of a deep voice, mellow and colorful yet unstructured hormonies, cultural crossbreeding, rock and reggae influences, melodic often-mystical connotations, electro-acoustical accents... as with his paintings, Mosera propounds a very contemporary picture of the caribbean world. A record, recorded in collaboration with the singer Lavaune Henry, whose sensual voice singing the Higher range brings hormonious light to his music as with a panting endowed with an unctuous coating... like a Mosera painting, in summary. This timeless and unique music is now available at Axum Art Cafe, Mosera’s artistic den. You already know Axum with it’s reputation for weekly jazz concerts. But you can also go there during the day between 10.00am and 5.00pm to view Mosera’s art work. He has exibited alone on more than twenty occasions and has also exibited at colletive showings, his painting appear in numerous private collections and galleries around the world. Mosera’s artistic life could not be resumed in these few words, but here we chose to present his music. Art has a therapeutic merit according to him, which nourishes our consciousness. Weather through his music or his art, Mosera offers us a reflection on the complex and surrealist story of the caribbean man. Apart from that, we think he pokes fun at man’s vanity with irony and detachment. That’s what talent is about.
- Delphine Gavar

Never stand still; never let anyone else define you. Never let anyone see you coming. Until of course you have arrived on your own terms. With the debut of his first CD "The Voodoo You Do," Ras Mosera has crossed over. Not so much the way we speak about art appealing to various audiences, but more in a way an artist defines himself. Mosera, a spectacular painter never allowed himself to be pigeonholed as merely a visual artist. Music presents its own canvas and its own challenges and nearly a decade after he first flirted with the idea of recording , Mosera has delivered on his own promise. No superstition . The 13-song CD, which Mosera essentially self-produced and composed, are in some ways perhaps more personal and less representational than his paintings but still touch on the same themes-- life in Babylon, female sensuality both as trap and inspiration, social and racial ethics, rebellion, the poisonous legacy of Colonialism and the artist 's ongoing questions about life and existence and the need to never silence that inner voice. What bursts forth here is fresh creativity and originality in an era of Caribbean music which has basically been reduced from its heights to a-techno-aural onanism. Listen to Fancy, one of the original cuts on this CD, and you'll understand that this CD has been well thought out and well integrated; it is a mature but timeless musical effort. The song titles tell it, the music bears it out. Mosera's music, like his visual art, defies a simplistic categorization. One could call it jazzy Reggae with other influences. But that would fall short. With both his paintings and the establishment of The Axum cozy empire has a sort of clearinghouse for artistic projects and a gathering place for those who wants change, “The Voodoo” You Do” seeks to create a Caribbean brand that defies stereotypes and easy definitions...Though Mosera is aware that some of the schizoid islands of the Caribbean could be unforgiving places for real artists ...for artists who believes in change and see change as tantamount to growth . It was a while ago that Mosera promised he would complete a CD and give his nonchalant, almost Peter Tosh-like voice a chance to be heard. It has taken him a while, but the promise has been paid in full. You may have never seen this one coming, but for Mosera, there was never any doubt. Congratulations to a friend who has never stopped being himself and to a Caribbean artist who has always wanted more and refused less. Now, go listen and enjoy “The voodoo you do.” - Gross, somewhere warm (not Hell), January 2006