VIDEO PREMIERE | María Grand, "Now, Take, Your, Day"

The new all-encompassing ethereal jazz school of María Grand; photographed by Carolina Mama.

The connection to the natural world, one another and the organic power of playing caretaker to the earth and its inhabitants is an intrinsic and sacred bond that dates back to the ancients (and long before recorded, documented time). The spirited cycles of birth, rebirth, rejuvenation and so forth serve as the subtext for NYC composer, tenor saxophonist, singer María Grand’s new album Reciprocity with a first look at the revitalizing visual for the carpe diem jazz anthem "Now, Take, Your, Day". The follow-up to 2018's Magdalena was recorded when María's son Ayni was still in utero, to whom this album is dedicated, joined by harmonic voices and the rhythm section talents of Kanoa Mendenhall and Savannah Harris. A testament to the expansive and treasured bond between the maternal figure, their progeny, the earth, mystic constructs from traditions of the kabbalah, emanations of the sefirot and other influential mythos pertaining to holistic ideas of creation and the origins of our shared ecology.

Presenting the debut of the visual filmed by Pedro de las Rosas with Luis Zavala, edited by Robert Suarez, production by Cliffords Hubby and self-directed by María Grand — “Now, Take, Your, Day” finds the artist joined by María Grijavla and María José Poeta in an interpretive dance ritual that celebrates the eternal power of the self. A reclamation of the body, the elements of earthly soil, water from a running creek and the fire of the sun's incandescent light; Maria trades in the tired concepts of post-partum loss and the mechanical notions of producing for an artistic statement of being that is autonomous and omnipotent. Filmed on location in the terra rica of Mexico sporting ZORAOBER knit jumpsuits and necklaces by Índigo Carrillo, María and company partake in their own earth day ceremonies that delights in the rich dried leaf strewn paths, the replenishing baptism of a midday swim in an exotic tributary to busting dance moves in time to brass, drum and bass jazz pop portraits of sound. The gospel word according to María Grand is to take back the day, make it yours, to take joy in your shared environments in the perceptive processes of discovering perpetual thanksgiving in the spiritual and material connections that we find to be self evident in our eclectic global village. The message is we are the earth. We are the day. We are the night. We are the sun. We are the moon. And they in return are an integral part of us.

Candid reflections by María Grand; photographed by Carolina Mama.

María provided some illuminations behind the track “Now, Take, Your, Day”:

In motherhood, I’ve experienced a loss of identity that doesn’t just pertain to childbirth and childrearing, but to pregnancy as well. As my body became visibly pregnant, I sometimes felt that my body became not only my child’s body but also everyone’s body, as a tool of motherhood, a tool of reproduction.

The holistic spiritual pop realm of María Grand; photographed by Pedro de las Rosas.

To combat this feeling of loss of my own body I’ve created the hand motions we use in this video. They’re mainly a touching of the body, a caressing, a connecting, of the self by the self. We were taking them back for ourselves (as in, Now Take Your Day). In a world fraught with injustice of all kinds, being able to choose the way one experiences what is happening inside is very precious, if fleeting.

María Grand’s Reciprocity will be available May 14 via Biophilia Records as a double sided origami styled album comprised of FSC-certified materials, including the use of plant-based inks for the artwork and liner notes.

María dressed in ZORAOBER and jewelry from Índigo Carrillo; photographed by Pedro de las Rosas.