Tag: classical

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Clintiss Performs “Toreador” at Studio Flagrant

Clintiss is Rennes, France-born, Montreal-based composer, pianist and singer/songwriter. He relocated to Montreal in 2012, where he started his career in earnest with stints in Charlie Dahl and the Royal Big Band and MoooN — and in both acts, the French-born, Canadian-based artist was the primary songwriting and frontperson.

Since then Clintiss has spent hundreds of hours at the piano, seeking the musical language that could reconcile and synthesize his classical training and his love of contemporary, popular music — i.e., indie rock, post rock and neoclassical, among others. “For me,” Clintiss explains, “composing a piano solo piece is the fruit of a long journey and a lot of hard work… My personal challenge was to create a piano language that I couldn’t manage to find or hear anywhere else, a fusion between the demanding classical technique and the different musical repertoires that have influenced me over the years – classical, symphonic, pop, electronic music… I hope to have succeeded in developing something unique, sometimes a little peculiar, straddling several worlds.”

The French-born, Canadian-based artist’s full-length debut Toreador was released last month. And interestingly, the 13 song album is informed by Clintiss’ own experiences straddling different cultures: The Rennes-born, Montreal-based pianist has spent about two-thirds of his life in Europe and about one-third of his life in Canada. Written and recorded over the course of the past two years, the album’s material evokes life over the past two years — a seemingly carefree and happier before, and the isolation and uncertainty of pandemic-related quarantines and lockdowns. But each composition also manages an opportunity to escape for a little bit, at least.

The French pianist, recently did a live session at Paris‘ Studio Flagrant, where he performed material off his full-length debut, including the breathtakingly beautiful album title track “Toreador.” Centered around playing that’s simultaneously delicate yet forceful, “Toreador” is a twisting and turning composition that evokes — for me, at least — brisk winter afternoons wandering in the snow until the sun sets, and looking forward to warming your cold bones.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Bulgarian Composer and Multi-instrumentalist Maria Karakusheva Performs “Lagrange Points”

Maria Karakusheva is a Bulgarian-born, classically trained pianist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, who completed her musical education at the Bulgarian National Academy — with a full scholarship. Karakusheva has won first prize at several international piano competitions including UFAM International, Bellaria Festival, Montigny le Bretonnuex and Claude Cannes.

Karakusheva has composed and recorded four albums of her own original compositions, which she has supported with six, self-produced live shows for them. And she has played over 100 solo concerts, including shows at Bulgaria Hall and Paris’ Gaveau Hall.

In her native Bulgaria, Karakusheva has composed the scores for several films, including 2018’s A butterfly landed on a shoulder, 2021’s Beaujolais and Speculators, which is slated for a release next fall. And adding to a growing profile, the Bulgarian pianist and composer has been profiled by a handful of publications nationally and elsewhere — and has made a number of appearances on Bulgarian national television.

Admittedly, I’m not as versed in classical music as I feel I should be — but when I came across Karakusheva’s latest composition off her first contemporary classical solo album Hearteclipse,the expansive “Lagrange Points,” I was immediately transfixed. Centered around Karakusheva’s delicate and dexterous playing and soaring strings, “Lagrange Points” manages to possess a lush, cinematic quality while nodding at Tales of Us era Goldfrapp and The North Borders era Bonobo.

“We all have our points of balance and it’s our own mission in life to get to know them and use them as we should. Only then we become ourselves. Lagrange points is a composition based on who I am, what I can and should be,” the rising Bulgarian-born composer and multi-instrumentalist says. “Music, family, love, the stage – these are the things that shape me.”

The rising Bulgarian-born composer released some gorgeous shot footage of “Lagrange Points” in which she’s accompanied by a full string section.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Acclaimed Malian-born, Paris-based kora player Ballaké Sissoko comes from an equally acclaimed and deeply musical family: Sissoko is the song of the late, legendary kora master Djelimady Sissoko, best known for his work with Ensemble Instrumental Du Mali. Drawn to the kora at at a very young age, the younger Sissoko was taught the instrument by his father.

Tragicaally, Djelmady died while his children were very young — and Ballaké stepped up to take on the role of the family breadwinner, eventually taking his father’s place in Ensemble Instrumental Du Mail.

Interestingly, Ballakè Sissoko has had a long-held fascination with genres and sounds outside of the scope the Mandika people — i.e., flamenco guitar, sitar and others — which has inspired and led to a series of critically applauded collaborations with a diverse and eclectic array of musicians across the globe including Vincent Segal, Toumani Diabaté, legendary bluesman Taj Mahal and Ludovic Einaudi.

Now, as you may recall Nø Førmat Records released Sissoko’s 11th album Djourou earlier this year. The album features solo compositions while continuing upon his long-held reputation for collaborating with a cast of diverse and unexpected artists including Nouvelle Vague’s Camille, African legend Salif Keita, young, leading female kora player Sona Jobareth, the aforementioned Vincent Segal and Malian-born, French emcee Oxmo Puccino among others. 

Deriving its name from the Bambara word for string Djourou can trace its origins to when Sissoko approached Nø Førmat label head Laurent Bizot with the proposition of blending solo kora pieces with unexpected collaborations. Interestingly, the label and Sissoko mutually agreed that he taake teh time to confirm enriching and challenging parternships with artists, who were also fans of Sissoko’s work. The album took a painstaking yet fruitful two years to write and record.

Over the past couple of months I’ve written about three of Djourou‘s released singles:

  • “Frotter Les Mains:” Deriving its title from the French phrase for “rub hands,” the mediative track is centered around the simple percussive element of Sissoko rubbing his hands back and forth, shimmering plucked kora and Malian-born, French-based emcee Oxmo Puccino’s dexterous and heady bars in French. While being a much-needed bit of peace, thoughtfulness and empathetic connection in a world that’s often batshit insane, the two artists make a vital connection between the ancient and the modern, the West and Africa — with an important reminder that hip hop is the lingua franca of post-modern life. 
  • Album title track “Djourou,” which sees Sissoko collaborating with leading Gambian-born, female kora player Sona Jobarteh. Centered around the duo holding a musical conversation by trading expressive and shimmering, melodic kora lines paired with ethereal interwoven vocals, the track finds its collaborations making connections with across both contemporary African borders and through time. Interestingly, Sissoko sought out Jobarteh with a specific wish to connect with the younger generation of kora players — to rejoin with their common forebears, to weave a connective thread across borders that were unknown and unimagined to the griots of the Malian Empire’s presence over much of West Africa. 
  • “Kora,” a collaboration with Nouveau Vague’s Camille centered around the electric and playful interplay between Camille’s coquettish vocals and Sissoko’s expressive yet melodic bursts of kora. The song itself is a love letter to the kora that suggests that the instrument holds an ancient, mystical power.

Djourou‘s latest single “Jeu Sur La Symphonie Fantasique 2” is an album bonus track that features Patrick Messina (clarinet) and frequent collaborator Vincent Segal (cello). This particular collaboration can trace its origins back to when the trio were all playing at the annual Berlioz Festival held in France: The trio were invited to create a piece to mark the 150th anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s death. The end result is a gorgeous re-imagining of “Symphonie Fantasique” that focuses on the composition’s “March To The Scaffold” segment that manages to draw parallels between the martial themes of the original composition and the historic battles of Sissoko’s Mandinka people. Interestingly, while being breathtakingly gorgeous, the track feels like a witty and playful conversation between three masters of their craft.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Nina Simone

Today is February 21, 2021. It’s the 21at day of Black History Month. And as I’ve mentioned throughout this series, I’ve been featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles — with the hopes that it’ll be a bit of a primer on the Black experience and on Black music.

Of course, I hope that these posts will serve as a reminder of these very important facts:

Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.

Nina Simone is arguably one of the most uncompromising and important artists of the past century. She did it her way, while being bold, brash and defiantly black.