“It’s like the guitar has been given free rein to play itself!”

French acoustic guitar virtuoso, vocalist, and composer Pierre Bensusan, surnamed “Mister DADGAD”, has taken his unique sound to all corners of the globe.

Winner of the Independent Music Award for his triple live album "Encore", voted Best World Music Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine readers’ Poll, winner of the Rose d’Or at the Montreux Festival for his debut album, Pierre is recognized as one of the greatest guitar players of the 21st century.

When Michael Hedges titles one of his compositions “Bensusan”, you know that the inspiration behind it must be special, and Pierre Bensusan certainly is. Guitarists from Leo Kottke to Larry Corryel, to Tuck Andress, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Andrew York, Andy Timmons, Pat Metheny, and Steve Lukather… have sung his praises, and Steve Vai released three Bensusan albums on his label Favored Nations. And it's not just guitarists who are so inspired by Pierre's music, as a recent studio collaboration with him on Donny Osmond’s latest album “Start Again” goes to show.

If World Music means the fusion of traditional, contemporary, jazz, classical, and pop music, then Bensusan is one of the most eloquent World Music musicians of our time. A pianist in his beginnings, then self-taught on the guitar, the originality of his style makes him one of today’s greatest guitarists and composers for the instrument. Also called “The Prince of DADGAD”, his story is far from trivial, and it is on stage that this artist has earned his stripes: among others, the Rose d'Or of the Montreux Festival, and being elected Best Guitarist of World Music by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine! His triple album "Encore" won the Grand Prix at the Independent Music Awards in the Best Live Album category... Since his first performances in 1974 in France, the guitarist has sold half a million albums and given thousands of concerts around the globe, both solo and through numerous collaborations.

Pierre Bensusan is an adventurer of unusual lands. His music is an intimate and orchestral hymn, a solo crossing on a multi-shell Lowden guitar subjected to the natural elements with sound molecules and finger pulp on an ebony fingerboard for open tuning - a unique and transparent technique, under the fingers of an adventurous pilgrim. 

“For me, so total is his mastery of the solo instrument, his dazzling harmony, his many innovations, and his deft command of counterpoint, the jazz idiom, folk expression, and all genres between and beyond, an entire history unfolds as Pierre Bensusan plays. But really, the emotional depth – and this is where true artistry often likes to live – of many of his songs and compositions is all, well, breathtaking. With only his steel-string-acoustic guitar – and sometimes his rich, affecting voice – Mr Bensusan can disassemble your heart and hand it back to you restored and renewed as he did to mine tonight. A true giant.”

James Volpe Rotondi (editor at Guitar Player Magazine)

"I've seen Alfred Brendel, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Lynn Harrell, Nureyev, Placido Domingo, etc., etc., perform magnificently. Tonight, in Atlanta, in the last half of the second set, Pierre Bensusan went a quantum beyond the warm, compelling, appealing, extremely accomplished guitarist whose recordings and performances I've eagerly sought for over 30 years. He's achieved the sublime -- decades of technique, creativity, intuition, passion, and intensity crashed together -- a man transformed, singular, stunning. I have so seldom had the privilege and pure animal joy of experiencing this caliber of artistry."

Rain Crow (a fan)

BIOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS

•   Born in October 1957 in Oran (Algeria)

•   Moves to France metropole, in the west suburb of Paris, in 1962

•   Studies piano from the age 6 with Madame Rosso

•   Taught himself how to play guitar at 11

•   Quit school at 16

•   Records his 1st album « Près de Paris » at 17, and wins The Grand Prix/Rose d’Or of the Montreux Festival in Switzerland

•   Releases 16 albums, the most recent being « Azwan »

•   Leader of a world approach to the guitar, in open tuning

•   Has given about 4000 concerts around the globe and sold ½ million albums since 1975

•   Has lived in Oran, Suresnes, Nice, in the USA every year, Paris, and now in the French countryside, 1 hour from Paris since 1992

COLLABORATIONS

Donny Osmond, Jacques Higelin, Yoko Kano & Cowboy Bebop, Didier Malherbe (Gong), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Bobby Thomas Jr (Weather Report), Nana Vasconcellos, International Guitar Night (USA), Bill Keith, Larry Corryell, Gingua, Andrew York, Gene Parsons (The Byrds), …

"Nevermind typical stress-relief techniques—Pierre Bensusan’s music is an underrated path to tranquility that soothes its listeners sonically. The French Algerian “Mozart of Guitar” laces folk with jazz in utterly unique, intricately rendered acoustic guitar compositions. Classical elements come into play with his music’s soothing melodies, while picking and plucking techniques layer the gentility with playful spunk that feels improvisational."
The Milwaukee Shepherd Express (Shepherd Express) (Milwaukee, US 2017)

"I had gone along to the theatre disgruntled - by too many things happening in my life. By the start of the second half I was in a state of quiet euphoria, totally at peace with the world. I was even moved to the odd tear. Music at its best is like that, isn’t it? It’s magical; it can make a difference, and Pierre Bensusan makes a difference."
Clare Brotherhood, UKTheatre.net (UKTheatre) (London, UK 2016)

"Bensusan may be known as The Mozart of the Guitar and, as such, is worthy of the title, but he takes after no-one. He is unique."
Clare Brotherhood, UKTheatre.net (UKTheatre) (London, UK 2016)

"Bensusan doesn’t play with that hand-spinning percussive flash that’s in vogue with many acoustic fingerstyle guitarists. He doesn’t need to. Instead he offers a deep, communicatory and involved playing style with a depth and complexity all of its own, drawing from his own French-Algerian-Sephardic background and broad listening, interweaving a host of simultaneous techniques from traditional to jazz to neo-acoustic, and spinning out polyphonic melodies as sun-warmed and vivid as a Mediterranean afternoon. He is a pleasure to hear..."
Dan Chinn, Misfit City Music Blog (Misfit City) (London, UK 2016)

"Pierre’s music is an example of how you can revitalise and justify the term « World Music »… Neither jazz nor folk nor Spanish classical, neither rai nor chaabi, nor flamenco (old or new), it nonetheless contains all of these – a translucent, fully-realised and seamless chamber-acoustic melange, played softly and without affectation." 
Dan Chinn, Misfit City Music Blog (Misfit City) (London, UK 2016)

"To say that Bensusan is a master of the guitar is like saying Albert Einstein was good at math. When guitarist and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Larry Campbell tells you, 'this guy is something else. He is just amazing,' you listen."
Woodstock Times, by CHARLES LYONHART on Apr 29, 2016 (USA)

"... with Algerian guitarist Pierre Bensusan,The Bridge Jazz Festival show also helped to build a bridge across musical genres. At the conclusion of his 45-minute set, there was no doubt that he had earned his slot on a jazz festival... Bensusan is a dazzling instrumentalist, as he proved most emphatically with "The Alchemist." And while not possessing a powerhouse set of pipes ... with his bottomless imagination, he was at his best when he gave himself free rein with stunning scat singing and wordless vocalizations, as on his epic, set-closer "Bamboul'ete," earning him a well-deserved standing ovation."
The Bridge Jazz Festival Live Review (USA, Review by Greg Haymes, Mar 21, 2016)

"Bensusan is very much his own animal. It’s like listening to a butterfly, to dappled sunshine coming through quaking aspens. His music flits and darts around like fish in a pool. And his compositions manage to encompass both the calmness of the pool and the flashing of the fish. It’s an entrancing, almost hypnotic thing to watch and hear, as he seems eager to share his journey, his light. I was struck by how the aim of each song was to be beautiful. Not witty, not avant-garde, not new, necessarily, but beautiful. A great craftsman plying his trade. A shepherd with his flock. As I left I felt all of a sudden that I’d been to temple after all. My own sort of temple, and by the end of the service I felt purified, cleansed, and ready for the new year."
Nyack News and Views (USA, Dan Cohen, Oct 4, 2015)

"Nearing the end of an extensive UK tour, the genial French-Algerian was on top form, and we were soon to become part of the intimate relationship he has with his guitar. They seem to be as one; blending into each other as Bensusan turns his instrument into a living thing, making it talk, making each string sing.  Switching tempos and styles with the concentration yet familiar ease of a master craftsman. At other times he made the guitar sound as if was an orchestra. And then there is Pierre’s singing: melodic, passionate, full of feeling, with his ‘scat esperanto’ a firm favourite. The audience was spellbound."
Clare Brotherwood - Beat Magazine (UK)

Best World Music Guitar Player in 2008 !
(Guitar Player Magazine Readers Choice Award - USA)

"Composition is a marathon, not a sprint, for acoustic guitarist and vocalist Pierre Bensusan, treating his pieces as something to nurture and evolve over stretches of time that can last months, years, and occasionally decades. His long-term focus on shaping pieces is reflective of his intense drive to ensure his playing and writing are captured in the best light possible,
Guitar Player Magazine (USA)

"Though the tenor of his mellifluous compositions tempers the frantic, slightly tortured beauty evident in his guitar work, what Bensusan has spent the past 30 years creating is a form of chamber-jazz that often offers nods to classical music and the pioneering work of composer Steve Reich.
BuffaloNews.com (USA)

Pierre paints diverse musical masterpieces with his latetst offering, "Vividly"
Acoustic Magazine (UK)

"Pierre’s music gives me the shakes. No other guitarist shares his strange gifts of sophistication, accessibility and downright joy. Even at its most complex, Pierre’s music only needs ears to be enjoyed."
Leo Kottke

"Listening to Pierre Bensusan is rejuvenating. Beside his extraordinary touch and tone, the notes and melody appeal directly to the tender side of our human nature."
Steve Vai

"One of the truly gifted musicians of our time - he plays the guitar as if it were the very soul of himself."
George Winston

"Bensusan gently lures his punters into a world where the sky is not just a different hue, but an entirely different texture, and fulfills a different function too. Instead of offering a roof on his world, it’s simply a springboard to an entirely different plane where three chords and the truth simply don’t cut it. With the entire audience on side, Bensusan’s inveterate pursuit of music’s less navigated terrain is still a show-stopper - and resonate long after he sounded his final note."
Siobhan Long, The Irish Times (Ireland)

"Pierre mesmerized the audience and the rhythm almost lifted the roof off the building. By the end of the night the audience was in awe and speechless after hearing one of the greatest acoustic guitar performances ever on Australian shores"
Tony Hogan Guitar Educationist Network April 4, 2009 

"Impossibly beautiful"
David Curry, The Canberra Sunday Times (Australia)

"Whenever the name "Pierre Bensusan" is mentionned to a guitarist, guitar fan, or anyone seriously into music, their response is always one of awe, reverence, and enchanted bewilderment at the man's unparallelled dexterity and creativity on acoustic guitar. He released his first album in 1975, and since then has carved a reputation as one of the most innovative guitarists there is, practically unrivalled by any acoustic (or maybe even electric) player. Pierre's music, though highly complex, is defined by melody and accessibility. You can hum a piece by Pierre Bensusan. The melodies lodge in the mind easily as well as make you wonder "How does he do that ?"
Kernan Andrews, The Galway Advertiser (Ireland)

"Bensusan, the bridge builder"
Don O'Mahony, The Irish Examiner (Ireland)

"Music which is palpable, figurative, infinitely poetic and celestial. A hymn to humanity."
L’Arche (France)

"Altiplanos is a monumental achievement; one that will surely set its place in music history."
Penguin Eggs (Canada)

"Album of the year, by a long margin.
Roots (UK)

"With Altiplanos, Bensusan demonstrates why he has become one of the most distinctive and influential guitarists."
Mike Joyce/The Washington Post (USA)

"Bensusan's remarkable technical ability has never been in question, but it's the sheer musicality and lyricism of his body of work that has cemented his position as one of the most accomplished acoustic guitarists on the planet. Altiplanos, with its combination of solo, multitracked and ensemble pieces, simply reaffirms and builds upon Bensusan's already stellar reputation."
John Kelman, Allaboutjazz.com (USA)

"A beautiful balance betwen Renaissance nostalgia and the most contemporary swing."
Le Soleil de Quebec (Canada)

"A musician in the tradition of the most famous and accesible alchemists. Simple, efficient, eclectic and exquisite, his style is able to transform any armchair into a flying rug."
Le Petit Bleu (France)

"Ten albums on, and French acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, Pierre Bensusan is about as far from autopilot mode as the Cistine chapel is from Andy Warhol's soup cans... It is Bensusan's appetite for experimentation and his bold forays into territory more usually the domain of dance maestros, that stir the listener to reach for his back catalogue. His is an acoustic architecture rather than a landscape, replete with French literary references that reek of a musical imagination that refuses to sit still. Long may this guru's itch remain unreachable. Attention deficit (dis)order never sounded so ravishing."
Siobhan Long, The Irish Times, 4 Stars (Ireland)

"Spellbinding....Bensusan the composer challenges Bensusan the guitarist displaying a reach never before attempted by a solo guitarist...and succeeds in creating a masterpiece, destined to be at the top of any short list of the great solo guitar albums of this or any millenium! Far beyond technical brilliance, this is the work of a mature artist that run the gambit from heartbreakingly romantic to edgy and dangerously exciting."
James Jensen/AcousticMusicResources.com

"What sets Bensusan aparts is the passion, soul, intensity, and rythmic complexity that mark even his quietest and most elegant pieces. Bensusan can generate real excitement and drama with his solo work through intriguing melodies, rich ornamentations, and sheer dexterous intrepidity"
The Twin Cities Journal-USA

"Spirited" is the word that perhaps best sums up Bensusan’s performance. His message is articulate and delivered with an unmistakable "joie de vivre".
Jazziz (USA) - Clare Brotherhood