Dettmar Quartet will unveil their new album « Escales » on its release May 6, 2022 on Musique et Équilibre / InOuïe Distribution. This new work will be presented live on stage on Thursday May 3, 2022 at Le Studio de L’Ermitage (Paris).
In this new adventure, Guillaume Dettmar’s music is influenced by the aesthetics of Avishai Cohen, Ibrahim Maalouf, Dhafer Youssef, Anouar Brahem and even Orner Klein and Chai Maestro, among others. It is dynamic instrumental music with harmonies enriched by jazz, drifting through improvised music and dreamlike vocals, one that encourages travel and uses different Mediterranean languages (Arabic and Hebrew).
“Escales is a creative project, a journey through the different influences that have shaped me since I started dedicating myself to music. Viscerally, I carve out a part of Mediterranean culture associated with my work as a classical and contemporary musician and fill it with an overture to jazz and improvised music.” Guillaume Dettmar
Having formed bands with klezmer and Mediterranean influences (Manguina, Paris Klezmer Band, United Colors of Méditerranée), Guillaume Dettmar has incorporated jazz into his compositions for this new quartet. The “Escales” project has grown out of the composer and violinist playing together in rhythmic improvisations and melodies. They are accompanied by three artists from the world of jazz and improvised music: Alexandre Jouravsky on piano, François Laizeau on drums and Bernard Cochin on double bass. Guillaume creates original compositions halfway between Mediterranean music (Spain, Maghreb, Greece, Middle East) and jazz. He has integrated two types of song into his repertoire – a medieval one (in the Muwashshah tradition), which dates back to between the 8th and 13th century, in Arabic: “Lamma bada yatathana” and to continue in this Muwashshah tradition, he has added a self composed song in Hebrew: “Hasahmaïm bakhou bishvili” featuring the same themes, also in this tradition of poetry.
The techniques employed on the “Escales” project are based on series, rhythms, suites and ornamentation. Also inspired by Middle Eastern maqām (quarter tone mode), this music is based on poly-rhythms, irregularly composed measures. Beyond the groove, influenced by the music of North Africa (Algerian Chaabi) and the Middle East, the style of play uses opposition, confrontation, overlapping and contrasts. Improvisation lies at the core of these musical pieces.
Structured around a highly crafted, chamber music style of songwriting and backed up by a singular beat, the themes let themselves drift along more or less slowly in the ever-evolving improvisation or simply in the interaction between the musicians, and then circles back to a theme or an expansion on the theme.
“Escales” combines music that speaks to the body (dance, song, celebration) and music that encourages travel (melancholy, nostalgia, appeasement). In this new adventure, Guillaume Dettmar‘s music is influenced by the aesthetics of Avishai Cohen, Ibrahim Maalouf, Dhafer Youssef, Anouar Brahem and even Orner Klein and Chai Maestro, among others. It is dynamic instrumental music with harmonies enriched by jazz, drifting through improvised music and dreamlike vocals, one that encourages travel and uses different Mediterranean languages (Arabic and Hebrew).
