Ela-não-é-francesa-ele-não-é-espanhol/ She-is-not-French-He-is-not-Spanish is the name of a music project by Inês Jacques and Eduardo Raon. This duo of voice and harp has been developing music that is not always easy to catalogue. Despite its origins in jazz, it can’t be linked to that genre.
The two musicians met each other during the composition of Reconciliation, the 2004 album of Portuguese pop band Hipnótica, in which Eduardo Raon participated as a musician, and Inês Jacques as a critical listener.
Inês Jacques invited Raon to collaborate in a project that she had difficulties realising because she couldn’t find the ideal partner. And since that time they have been slowly developing the music of this rare combination, and the project has worked and re-arranged mostly jazz standards as well as some pop music. The outcome is not jazz, because this instrumental combination does not lead to swing, but it is precisely this point that makes their resultant music so interesting: devoid of the specific rhythm and groove that we are used to, it exhibits a crude and exposed line heavily marked by the versatility, humour and seriousness of these two musicians.
