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Belkacem Drif will unveil his new album "Siempre lo mismo" on its release February 5, 2021 on Chez Oime Production / Inouïe Distribution. This new work will be presented live on stage on Wednesday September 15, 2021 at the Studio de L’Ermitage (Paris). Born in the outskirts of Paris, Belkacem Drif is the youngest in a family of 12 children. Though music has always been present in the family, nothing predestined him to become a professional musician. It was with his neighbors, a musical family of gypsy origin, that he learned percussion, discovered flamenco and became passionate about this music. A turbulent boy, he was advised by his teacher to join a music school where he would play classical percussion. At age 16, he started playing at weekend dances and decided to devote himself entirely to music. He enrolled at the conservatory in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, then under the direction of Guy Hayat, he joined the CIM school of jazz, where he studied Jazz harmony with Philippe Baudoin. He graduated from the Emmanuel Bourseault drum school and earned his degree in musicology from University of Paris 8. Belkacem Drif made his early inroads a professional musician accompanying many artists and groups. Rock or Bossanova, Soul or Jazz, Variety in the noble sense of the term, he got a taste of all flavors, nuances, sounds. He remains a lover of rhythm, of rhythms, wherever they might come from. From the music of his original Kabylia to his travels through Spain, Morocco or the United States, his meetings with musicians from all walks of life (Antonio Lopez, Brahim Izri, Julio Laks, Alain Jean-Marie, Saïd Mesnaoui and Travis Bürki, to name a few), Belkacem has maintained his fondness for sharing, for generous music, open to experiences and mixes. In short: openness towards others. SIEMPRE LO MISMO, his 2nd album, opens the door to singing and new encounters. All his compositions speak to this profound fondness for discovery and musical crossbreeding.

Trovaores is the story of how flamenco, jazz and chanson come together in the heart of the snow-capped mountains of Grenoble and Granada. Seven artists overjoyed to come together on stage to create a musical story made up of rules and transgressions, to share it with the public. Their arrangements take us from the most essential flamenco to the sounds of jazz and to the Hispanic or Galician poetic trova, which lend the performance a breath and rhythm, where each beat renders tribute to deep syncretic energy. Trovaores is a show featuring two powerful, contrasting and complementary voices backed up by musicians from various backgrounds, a kind of bridge between the different Souths, halfway between here and elsewhere. As such, it crosses two artistic and poetic universes carried along by deep voices that turn scratchy when the duende calls for it, and showing restraint when emotion is crucial. It is also carried along by the lyrics, which convey a raging forcefulness and devotion at all times. Trovaores is the duende in action and in interactions, because while the duende is the soul of "dark sounds", it is also the spirit of confluence.   Antonio Placer, Vocals and artistic direction Antonio Placer is nominated for the Victoires de la Musique 2022, best male artist category. Singer, musician, poet, composer, arranger, a Galician exiled in France, he creates world music and songs shaped by the different winds that have carried him throughout his career. What is the style, the nature of the music he makes? Hard to classify... He doesn't make flamenco, jazz, fado, tango, or classical music. His art is, first and foremost, the stage that he graces with his generous and engaging presence. He has the sincerity of Jacques Brel, the anger of Léo Ferré and the revolutionary passion of Jean Ferrat. His quivering tragedian performances have been sending up audiences on stages in France and elsewhere for twenty-four years. His words and his presence are moving and hit deep... He has composed over 20 original works on national and international stages in more than 30 countries. In so doing, he has performed over 300 songs to audiences worldwide. He has released 13 albums. His poetry work has been published in several countries and written in four different languages. He has shared his art and composed shows with great artists such as: Fernando Suarez Paz (violinist from Astor Piazolla), Renaud García-Fons, Steve Swallow, Paulo Bellinati, Carlo Rizzo, Elena Ledda, Angélique Ionatos, Amancio Prada, Rocío Marquez, Gabriele Mirabassi, Toninho Ferragutti, Jean-Marie Machado, Stracho Temelkovski, Jean-François Baez, Jorge « Negrito » Trasante, Cristina Azuma, Mauro Palmas, etc.

OZFERTI: Florian Doucet is a music veteran. Before dedicating to Ozferti entirely, he toured around the globe and in the studio with Afro-Colombian band LA CHIVA GANTIVA (Crammed Discs) and Afro-Portuguese band TERRAKOTA (Fazuma).  He had a call for modern Ethiopian music, and in 2016 released the ADDIS ABOUMBAP EP, 11 tracks of EthioJazz and electronic landscapes. The record received critical acclaim and was widely broadcasted by underground DJ’s and Radios (DJ Mellow / LOW UP, BEAT CHRONIC, Radio Nova Paris) but also on big stations (KCRW Los Angeles, Worldwide FM, RINSE fm France).  This was the beginning of the Ozferti project, an adventure wich would encapsulate Flo’s musical and visual arts skills. The music contains elements of Electronica, Jazz, Hip-hop and Bass music, while using the color and richness of East-African instruments and rythms. It is a space odyssey, depicting the story of a purple planet and a masked musician, a strange place that makes us reflect on our own world.  SOLARIUS GAMMA: Welcome to the first chapter of the OZFERTI saga. Step into an unknown galaxy, where gravity is multi-dimensional and they don’t have Netflix ; where new gods are replacing the old idols and the ecosystems are being crushed by space-mining economy. Follow OZFERTI, the masked beatmaker, in his journey to the stars, in an album inspired by East-African music and partly produced and recorded in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. The 11 track album takes you through desertic landscapes and sci-fi atmospheres, with traditionnal rythm patterns and percussions being mixed with electronic synthesisers and live electric guitar.

Sorry, this entry is only available in FR. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.David Krakauer & KathleenTagg dévoileront leur nouvel album "Breath & Hammer", à l'occasion de sa sortie le 21 août 2020 chez Table Pounding Records / L'Autre Distribution. Le duo est composé de : - David Krakauer : clarinette  - Kathleen Tagg : piano et "piano orchestral"   Le clarinettiste américain David Krakauer, nominé aux Grammy, figure incontournable de la musique klezmer du XXIe siècle, et par ailleurs soliste de Musique Classique, et Kathleen Tagg, compositrice, arrangeuse, pianiste et productrice novatrice, sortent Breath & Hammer sur leur propre label Table Pounding Records, avec une tournée européenne en vue pour promouvoir l'album dont la sortie est prévue en France le 21/08/2020 chez L’Autre Distribution. Cet album, véritable performance électro-acoustique révélant les approches innovantes et idiosyncrasiques du duo sur leurs instruments respectifs, présente à la fois des compositions originales et des interprétations très personnelles de la musique de certains de leurs amis les plus proches, parmi lesquels John Zorn et Kinan Azmeh, dans une texture qui intègre de manière transparente des boucles, des samples et des performances en direct. Breath & Hammer est à la confluence de plusieurs courants musicaux, résultant des solides références des deux artistes en tant que musiciens de concert classiques, mais aussi des années de Krakauer en tant qu'innovateur klezmer, compositeur, leader de groupe et expérimentateur d'avant-garde, ainsi que de la carrière à multiples facettes de Tagg, qui a créé et joué pour la scène et le théâtre, allié à ses compétences en tant qu’arrangeur et productrice Le Wall Street Journal déclare que "David Krakauer est un clarinettiste tellement expressif qui passe si facilement d'un genre à l'autre que l'on pourrait presque penser qu'il n'y a pas de différence appréciable entre le jazz, le klezmer et la musique classique formelle", mais la description convient aux deux partenaires et laisse entrevoir le fil conducteur de chaque projet qu'ils entreprennent : favoriser les liens humains par une musique qui transcende toutes les frontières stylistiques et culturelles. Comme pour tous ses précédents albums, Tagg a produit Breath & Hammer, que Krakauer décrit comme "une tapisserie médiévale de la taille d'un appartement, composée d'échantillons de la taille des ongles". Parmi les compositeurs qui ont contribué au projet, on trouve le saxophoniste John Zorn, le clarinettiste syrien Kinan Azmeh, le percussionniste cubain Roberto Rodriguez, l'accordéoniste Rob Curto et l'accordéoniste et spécialiste du klezmer Emil Kroitor, en plus de Krakauer et Tagg eux-mêmes. Lors des performances en direct, les techniques de jeu étendues, les boucles et les samples de Breath & Hammer sont galvanisés par un flux vidéo immersif à plusieurs caméras créé par l'artiste vidéo Jesse Gilbert, basé à Los Angeles, permettant au public de voir de près et en temps réel les styles de jeu peu orthodoxes du duo. Une conception vidéo considérablement élargie, projetée sur un hexagone translucide de grilles entourant les artistes, a été créée à la Pierre Boulez Saal à Berlin et a été présentée en avant-première avec des intermèdes sonores spatialisés nouvellement composés au printemps dernier sous le nom de Breath & Hammer II : Les liens qui nous unissent.

Sorry, this entry is only available in FR. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.Niqolah Seeva dévoilera son nouvel album "3NE", à l'occasion de sa sortie le 23 octobre 2020 chez Vlad / Absilone / Socadisc / Believe.Ce nouvel opus sera présenté le mardi 20 octobre 2020 à 20h30 sur la scène du Studio de l'Ermitage. Instrument hybride, langue hybride #Anglarabe, thématique futuriste, harmonie microtonale, instruments orientaux et traitements electro- acoustiques, "3NE" (prononcer “One”) symbolise l'unité dans la multitude.   Musicien explorateur aux inspirations multiples, Niqolah Seeva est constamment en quête d'expériences sonores et de nouvelles vibrations. Avec son instrument inventé en bandoulière (croisement entre un oud et une guitare), il s'est progressivement affranchi de toute forme de contrainte artistique, dans un inexorable exode qui l'a mené du rock'n'roll de ses débuts jusqu'à des territoires aussi divers que le Maghreb, le Moyen-Orient ou encore l'Inde. Toujours en quête de normes à recréer, l'auteur-compositeur est allé jusqu'à inventer une langue, là aussi hybride entre Orient et Occident (mélange d'anglais et d'arabe), pour décrire un univers fantasmé, comme un idéal de confraternité universelle, mais aussi comme un refuge, à bonne distance des pièges qui menacent habituellement le parcours d'un artiste indépendant dans une exploration des musiques du monde. Niqolah est un musicien que la soif d'aventures sonores n'a pas noyé dans des approximations ou des compromissions. En plaçant durablement sa création dans le champ du rêve, il donne à voir un univers singulier et intime, fait à la fois de son histoire personnelle et d'influences voyageuses. Ces influences, il les intègre dans une démarche systématique originale, plus proche de celle d'un peintre que de celle d'un photographe – observant la diversité des hommes sans jamais les traiter comme des objets de curiosité, mais bien comme des pairs.

Guitarist-singer, Amando Risueño performs the music of Argentina with poetry and depth. He echoes stories from his country, universal stories, while holding at heart the mystery and emotion of music to come and touch every fiber of the listener's body. Born in 1969 in Buenos Aires, Amando started playing guitar around the age of ten. He got swept away by this budding passion and studied classical guitar at his local Carlos Buchardo National Conservatory of Music. In this world of globalized culture, his curiosity brought him to the electric guitar and other genres such as jazz, blues, rock and pop. At around age thirty, he started questioning his cultural identity and relationship with the music of his country. He then ventured out into the musical repertoire of his hometown, the tango, working on well-known pieces while also uncovering some rare gems. In 2011, he settled in France, a new territory that led him to form a strong bond between music and landscape. Since then, he has gone on to explore more traditional repertoires from various regions of Argentina, such as zambas, vidala, chacarera, stilo, and others. His first solo album, "Tangos de mi Flor" (2013) is devoted entirely to tango. He then recorded "Campo abierto" (2018) where the repertoires of Buenos Aires (tango, waltz) gets crossed with those of inland regions (milonga, zamba, vidala). Amando plays concerts in France and abroad. His recordings and live work enjoy regular support from Spedidam, FCM, Adami, Fonpeps and the Drôme Departmental Council. With "El canto del viento", Amando Risueño takes us into the world of Atahualpa Yupanqui, in homage to both the composer and poet as well as the performer. Atahualpa Yupanqui transcended traditional Argentine music to bequeath onto us his timeless work in music and philosophy. Amando approaches it as a delicate game through a succession of melodies that give full measure to these stories about the women and men of the earth. The wind, moon, sun, mountains, valleys, plains, and animals recur throughout. Between two pieces, Amando speaks about evoking the life of the artist and quotes magnificent texts from the book written by Atahualpa in 1965: « El canto del viento ».  

Always eager for contrasts, the French violinist/violist Gabriel Bismut and the Italian accordionist/pianist Maurizio Minardi will delve into popular music from France, Italy, Argentinian tango, Latin waltzes and Baroque rhapsodies, and make them a very personal blend. They will present at Studio de l'Ermitage their first joint album, "Le Chat Brel", within their acoustic jazz quartet. "Le Chat Brel" is a reference to Chabrol and to the cinema of the 'Nouvelle Vague', coupled with the expressiveness of Jacques Brel and the elegance and carefree nature of a feline. The passion for the cinema is indeed omnipresent in their original compositions, which oscillate between a light humor and a strong intensity, while remaining, like a film of the Nouvelle Vague', sincere and without artifices. Gabriel Bismut and Maurizio Minardi met on the Parisian jazz scene at the end of 2016. Their Italian origins and their taste for the beautiful melodies of film music made them want to put together a project around their compositions. Their original arrangements paying homage to Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone and Jacques Brel. They performed more than 60 concerts in France, in Italy and Belgium and England.

Sambuca is Roberto Stimoli (7-string guitar) and Irene Amata (vocals). The duet plays Brazilian music, and is very active on the Parisian jazz/world music scene.One voice and one seven-string guitar to reinvent the rhythms of the samba: it is the ambitious goal that Roberto and Irene share, united in their passion for this music from a faraway land, that is nonetheless a part of them. In their repertoire, you will find several bossa novas that have been performed by the greatest artists: thus Sambuca chooses to reinterpret them with a fresh, yet authentic sound. The Portuguese language is truly a part of these melodies, and it is Sambuca’s deliberate choice to use the original lyrics, so as to highlight their importance in the rhythm and feel of the music. It isn’t necessary to understand the meaning of the words: it is the sweet yet powerful sound that catches the ear, captures the attention and opens the senses. One voice and one guitar: yet there is nothing missing. The seven-string guitar carries the bass-line, and the voice is full of rhythm. Both musicians improvise in a playful mood of mutual appreciation. One voice and one guitar fill the space, capturing the audience’s attention. Creating a new way of listening to Brazilian music is Sambuca’s challenge and passion. Sambuca’s first album was recorded in Italy in 2019, its title is « Luz » (Portuguese for ‘light’); it will be released in mai 2020 (with a launching concert on May 13th. in Paris). With Luz, Sambuca offers a reinterpretation of 10 songs (8 Brazilian pieces, 1 Italian song and 1 French song). The arrangements are very personal, new and intriguing. Roberto and Irene utterly transform bossa nova classics with their unique vision and interpretation, yet never betray the original harmonies. And when the duet revisits sambas, the dialogue between voice and guitar enhances their beauty —the voice’s timbre and the audacity of the guitar creating an ideal combination. The material in Luz is a mix of world-famous songs (e.g. Garota de Ipanema, Chega de Saudade de A.C.Jobim/V.Moraes) and tunes by others Brazilian composers that audiences are less familiar with (e.g. Luz negra by N. Cavaquinho, Vera Cruz by M. Nascimento). A wide-ranging repertoire, that shows Roberto and Irene’s passion for the rich and vast Brazilian musical heritage. A repertoire the duet usually performs on stage and have now chosen to record. Improvisation is an essential part of this dialogue between voice and guitar, and reflects Sambuca’s distinctive blend of jazz and Brazilian Popular Music (MPB). Two songs on Luz are little tributes. La Javanaise is a tribute to France—Roberto and Irene’s adopted country, where they are building their musical career— and Estate pays hommage to Italy, their homeland.  

Anahita is the musical opus born of the friendship and artistic collusion and intellectuel of two Franco-Iranian women Ariana Vafadari that composed the music and Leili Anvar that imagined the story and wrote the texts. THE STORY A young women dreams of the time her village was still green, she wakes to see the dying trees and senses her empty belly. She has traversed deserts and lands on fire, in despair, she prays to the goddess with whom she shares the name : Anahita. This divinity of the waters, fertility and wisdom, is the one that dispenses water for all rivers and streams and thus to all peoples. She is the healer and the source of wisdom. It came to pass that the cult of the feminine fell into disuse and her countenance was effaced from human memory, causing the gradual retreat of the waters from the rivers and aquifers. After a mystical exchange with the goddess, the young Anahita departs on a quest for the water of immortality and finds Love. Ariana Vafadari was exposed from an early age to the poetry and philosophy of Zoroastrianism thanks to her father, she has undergone a growing longing to bring back to life the ancient scripts of Zarathustra, as collated in the Avesta, the writings founded on the tenets of wisdom, spirituality and a profound faith in the natural goodness of mankind. Thought these prayers to Anahita, the will of Ariana et Leili is to bring back the place of felinity in the world. Ariana works in the company of a throng of fine musicians from many cultural origins or inclinations — some are masters of traditional Iranian music but others come from backgrounds in jazz, Moroccan music and, indeed western classical music. They journey between spheres with ease. The textes are in persan, french, in avestic language, the ancien language of zoroastriens and in italien.

Vangasay, singer Gwendoline Absalon’s second album is above all an initiatory and vitalizing immersion into the island of La Réunion. Come closer: the warm and clear voice of this young pathfinder invites everybody to assert their identity, in an astonishing Creole poetry. Between pop and world-music, the musical arrangements by the pianist Hervé Celcal, are not only a tribute to tradition but also a fountain of youth that perfectly serve this upcoming artist’s philosophy. With this second album embedded in La Réunion, Gwendoline delivers the fruit of her own introspection: a world made of sounds, scents, wishes, consciousness and Creole. She will chant to our ear the desire to create a link, in a masterful introduction-immersion (Binda). We will encounter a paradox, an awareness of the island’s great vitality of traditions (Modernité). A citrus-fruit with medical virtues will spread its virtuous sourness throughout the world reminding us that one should maintain a bond between generations (Vangasay). We will furrow towards Cape Verde with a reverence to the profound Cesaria Evora (La Diva de la morna). On our way, a soul-groove from La Réunion will tell us about healthy love (Fo pa kwrar). And finally, like two waves that meet, Maloya will embrace Martinique’s Bèlè as a tribute to the “masters” (Béliya)... Vangasay: a cure to enlarge our imagination About a year ago, Gwendoline opens a French- Creole dictionary and comes across “vangassaye” (vangasay in Creole) which designates some kind of citrus fruit, originally from Vietnam and Madagascar. It is known to cure influenza, a sickness that com- pels our body to take a rest. Gwendoline sees it as a strong signal. It will become the title of her second album. Gwendoline composed eight titles on the album and signed all the lyrics. Only “Modernité” is from the guitarist Fabrice Legros. Hervé Celcal [see boxed text] composed three titles (Filao, Béliya and La Diva de la morna). Gwendoline chose him to do the musi- cal direction on Vangasay, after their meeting in June 2019, at La Réunion. Hervé listened to a lot of her musical universe (sometimes simple vocal memos), in order to fully integrate her personality. Five months later, he offered made-to-measure propositions. They all scored! Gwendoline says: “I’m a rooted singer that is un- rooted”! Cape Verde calls, she goes for it (La Diva de la morna, AKA). India inspires her quite instinctively (Vangasay, Paliaka). Her voice is undeniably soul and her groove refreshes the genre (Fo pa krwar). Jazz is heard in the placements, in the intonations. And yet she embodies perfectly the Maloya like the great masters of her island would do (Binda, Filao, Moder- nité, La Diva de la morna). The young singer takes it all and invites us to extend our imagination. This leads to twelve titles that float between acoustic arrangements, tributes to tradition (Binda, La Diva de la morna, Filao, Béliya, Moderni- té...) and something that sounds more like pop-mu- sic (Vangasay, Paliaka, Inveja, Fo pa kwrar, Ti fi la).

Sorry, this entry is only available in FR. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.Les Fils Canouche seront de retour le vendredi 14 février 2020 avec leur nouvel EP "Transhumance", qui sortira chez Vlad Productions / Believe Digital (L’Autre Distribution). En invités, le grand Minino Garay aux percussions et le troublant oudiste Hussam Aliwat viennent ornementer avec magnificence ces nouvelles compositions hybrides entre jazz et musiques du monde. Quatorze années d’étincelles scéniques pour quelques 700 concerts à travers l’Europe ont forgé chez ce quartet une âme d’explorateur du jazz ! La rencontre d’une rythmique sauvage aux envolées virtuoses d’une clarinette basse et d’un accordéon empli d’émotion nous invite au voyage entre orient et occident. Migrant sans relâche aux quatre points cardinaux, Les Fils Canouche s’entourent désormais de prodiges internationaux dans leur nouvel et 5e opus « Transhumance ». En invités, Le grand Minino Garay aux percussions et le troublant oudiste Hussam Aliwat viennent ornementer avec magnificence ces nouvelles compositions hybrides entre jazz et musiques du monde. Le Quatuor s’ouvre désormais à l’élégance des musiques orientales et aux timbres des percussions d’Amérique latine. En disciples fougueux d’un Django moderne ou d’un Piazzolla ressuscité, ils brouillent les frontières musicales et temporelles pour le pur plaisir d’un jazz hétéroclite. Un nouveau métissage sonore étourdissant qui signera un spectacle interculturel pour 2020.

Born as a saxophone / drums duo in Berlin in 2009, Electric Vocuhila has become an electric quartet in 2011. The band mixes rhythms inspired by several urban African musics like sébène from Congo, ethio-jazz or tsapiky from Madagascar, to an orchestral conception from jazz and more precisely from Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic music. On an obstinate rhythmic base always moving, alternately hypnotic and frantic, their music is freely built around repeating units. Seeking both melodic succinctness and a kind of overflow and trance, the quartet is developing long sequences made of dazzling themes, sinuous phrasing and sharped & explosives riffs. A cheerful and urgent call to dance! Electric Vocuhila is part of the Capsul Collectif, located in Tours (FR). PRESS: « The audience wouldn’t let Electric Vocuhila go until they’d played four encores of their spirit-raising African beats. Sometimes the groove shifted imperceptibly, always keeping the African feel. The band had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of music that left the audience wanting more and more. » - London Jazz News – Jazzdor Berlin Festival 2016 « [...] the strange and cheerful band Electric Vocuhila. Those musicians come from free jazz and play African music as if it were rock. African music from today, with a preference for Malagasy tsapiky : electric guitar melodies and mad rhythms, for a kind of trance music close to the greatest rock.. »                - Les Inrocks – oct. 2017 « Electric Vocuhila starts with a cheerful calypso (when was the last time we heard this kind of music on a contemporary jazz stage ?). A guitar, an electric bass, an alto sax and drums are enough to make everyone dance and forget the late night tiredness [...] Through a celebration of hypnotic black musics from Africa and America [...] Electric Vocuhila will lead an ecstatic audience almost until the end of the night. » - JazzMagazine – Jazzdor Berlin Festival 2016