JM-Greats – Moreno Winterstein

    JM-Greats - Moreno Winterstein

    JM-Greats – Moreno Winterstein

    Moreno Winterstein wurde in 1963 im Elsass in eine Sintifamilie hinein geboren. Der Region an der Deutsch-Französischen Grenze in der sich über die letzten 100 Jahre viele Sinti nieder gelassen haben.

    Ein Schmelztigel für Jazzmanouche also, u.a. das Zuhause von Musikern wie Bireli Lagrene, Mandino Reinhardt, Titi Winterstein und Lulu Reinhardt.

    Moreno wuchs mit der Sprache seiner Vorfahren auf, immer mit seiner Familie auf Reise durch ganz Frankreich. Er lernte das Gitarrespiel von seinem Vater.

    Auf dem Booklet seiner 2. CD beschreibt er es so: 

    „My father died when I was very young, but as far as I can remember he always had a guitar with him. My older brothers taught me all they knew.
    All I had to do was open my ears, watch and try to copy the finger positions. Sometimes they were hard with me and they would slap my hands when I made a mistake, but they quickly saw that I was talented.“

    (Moreno Winterstein)

    Moreno studierte alle Schallplatten von Django Reinhardt derer er habhaft werden konnte, aber er wurde genauso in der Musik seiner Vorfahren der traditionellen Gypsymusik unterwiesen, der den Sound der elsässer Sinti stärker prägt als den mehr Jazz-orientierten Sound der Pariser Sintimusiker.

    JM-Greats - Moreno Winterstein

    „I must say that all I thought about was playing the guitar. At night, when there would be guitar parties, I would pretend to be asleep in the camper and would watch carefully from behind the window.

    When I saw a chord I didn’t know I would quickly reproduce the finger positions on my left forearm. Then I would take my guitar that I always hid next to my bed and silently press the chords while lying in my bed. Nobody knew.“

    (Moreno Winterstein)

    Neben Django war sicherlich für Moreno sein Freund und Mentor Paul „Tchan Tchou“ Vidal für ihn der grösste Einfluss. Weiter schreibt Moreno:

    „I busked in the cafés around Toulon [a city in southern France]. One day I was playing at a terrace café when a short, well-dressed man, wearing a hat and a moustache, came up to me. He said, ‘You’re from Alsace. I can tell by the way you play.’

    (Moreno Winterstein)

    It was Tchan Tchou Vidal, a gypsy guitarist who got his nickname because of his slanted eyes.

    „I had heared a lot about Tchan Tchou and had listened to his records. And I had often dreamed of meeting him. I could talk for hours about him. The same night we met, we played together and immediately hit it off. I was nervous and very impressed by him. He played two notes for ten of my own. I quickly understood that I was nothing next to him. I was like a young puppy jumping around like crazy while he took his time to carefully place his phrases.“

    (Moreno Winterstein)

    und beschreibt er weiter:

    „So decided to stay in Toulon. I found myself a camper and accompanied him for four years. He taught me the basics, in particular the art of waltzes, the notion of measure and the musicality of a phrase.
    It is when you are separated from someone like that, you realise how much you learned from them. Today I still think of how he played and he remains a reference. I was extremely lucky to have met with someone like Tchan Tchou.“

    (Moreno Winterstein)

    Morenos Spiel ist voller Energie und Power, oft sehr schnell und ungestüm, dann wieder wunderbar ruhig, melodiös und einschmeichelnd.

    Er hat über die Jahre viele Alben aufgenommen darunter u.a. „Yochka“ oder „Django Club“ (ein Album mit verschiedenen Titeln auch aus seiner Feder). Dann die CDs „Jazz Tzigane“ und „Le fils du vent“ auf denen er und seine Partnerin Marina wunderbar auf Romanes singt.

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