Team Up For Excellence
What is the link between the land of cognac, jazz, blues and hip-hop?
This is the question posited to us by multi-Grammy Award winning dance floor behemoth Usher in the opening to Rémy Martin’s ‘Team Up For Excellence’ short.
There is an indomitable zest for life shared by the respective proponents of cognac and music. When called upon to articulate this visceral attunement, the answer will depend entirely on who you ask. Some call it soul; others will simply reply “je ne sais quoi”. The great irony is that its defiance of description is precisely what makes it so special. Miles Davis lost most of his voice to polyps in 1955 and yet the tones of his trumpet were universal. It wasn’t abstract sound he created but the sound of feeling itself. The same goes for the earth-shattering bawl of B.B. King’s guitar or the caterwauling opening to NWA’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’. Primal instincts are being stoked – instincts reaching back before language constrained them.
Cognac triggers a sense even more vital and ancient than sound – albeit one that compliments it immeasurably. Taste. Honouring this timeless combination, Rémy Martin has teamed up with director Jake Nava to create a short film. In it, Usher narrates a storied journey that begins in the war torn France of 1917 and takes us through the evolution of the music so synonymous with the tipple that fuelled the phrase joie de vivre.
“Rémy Martin has been at the center of celebration for centuries, and the celebratory nature of Music is synonymous with our history of honoring communities and culture,” said Amaury Vinclet, Global Executive Director of Rémy Martin,
“Acknowledging this collective success has been at the heart of Rémy Martin since 1724.”
The short film encapsulates the inexorable link between cognac and music that moves the soul. Pour yourself a glass and see for yourself.
