Die Musik von »Gato Gótico«
Nativism is an ideological reaction against acculturation. Jazz in connection with nativistic movements is a phenomenon of the so-called »black« community of the United States. This combination seems to be impossible within white communities, but it turned a new musical feature on the Canary Islands. The basic fact is the Berber descension of the Guanches, the first settlers of the archipelago. Through the mediums of fusion and crossover the group Gato Gótico from the island of Tenerife refers to the music of the Berbers in northern Africa for the purpose of rewinning the musical roots of their own ancestors and to create a new unification of African and European music apart from the Afro-American developments.
The main cast of the group founded in 1982 is Mariano Luis, tp; Olga Luis Rivero, ss, ts; Roberto Cabrera, b, tb, ud, kora; Jose Juan Lopez, dm, perc. In concerts and record sessions various guests take part. The odd name Gato Gótico = »Gothic cat« is taken from a text of the Cuban poet Lezama Lima intending to evoke a non-topical, timeless feeling. Beside insular jobs the group gave concerts in Algier and Dakar and got an invitation to the Jazz Plaza in Havana.
The musical concept is a Jazz Rock based mix of Oriental, Berberian, West African and traditional Canarian elements of Guanche roots, which remained on the small islands of Gomera and Hierro. The musical fusion is supported by the use of non-European instruments like the Oriental lute Ud, the West-African calabash harp Kora and a sample of percussion instruments of Oriental and African origins. Gato Gótico expresses the affection for the Berbers optically by writing the titles not only in Spanish but also in Amazigh, the language of the Tuareg. In addition the characters of the old Tuareg script Tifinakht (-finakh- = phoinik-) are sometimes used for cover design.