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* A TEASER OF THE NEW ALBUM!!! *
Please watch this teaser about the current recording of my new album, "Vividly". There will be more info to come about release dates... Enjoy!
Watch Teaser
VIVIDLY
Release Dates
UK, Ireland: Sept. 27, 2010 - distribution: Discovery
Italy: Sept. 27, 2010 - distribution IRD
France, Switzerland: Oct. 4, 2010 - distribution: Rue Stendhal
Germany, Austria, Scandinavia & Benelux: Oct. 4, 2010 - distribution: Sunny Moon
USA, Canada: Oct. 26, 2010, Favored Nations, distribution: Sony Red
Following his 9th solo guitar instrumental album
Intuite, that won several awards, and
Altiplanos which made Pierre the 2008 Reader's Choice of Guitar Player Magazine Award winner (USA) for
Best World Music Guitar Player, Pierre Bensusan celebrates his 35th career anniversary and is now offering a 10th solo album, entitled
Vividly.
Similar to the previous 9 albums, the title of this new opus is contained in one name, one word, one vivid image, that evokes a feeling of contentedness in the world.
It indeed takes almost a world of life between each of Pierre's albums, a reflection of an artist in constant, rapidly-moving diversity and transition... an artist who each time offers a touch of blue sky, who constantly proposes new music of a different color and nature.
Pierre's new album is a showcase of his rich and multi-cultural world, where guitar instrumentals share the spectrum with songs (in French and English). Most lyrics are written by his wife, Doatea Cornu Bensusan, who also shares with Pierre the production of this album, as in his previous albums. The words that Pierre sings are about freedom, tolerance, human interactions, fears, challenges, initiation and transformation, combined with original music that covers a vast ground where spirituality and geography are always combined in unique tapestries.
Pierre's process is almost always the same. Ideas come to maturity after years of incubation, and find their way to the fretboard and into written scores. All the music of "Vividly" is original, and arrangements will be available from this website, in the original DADGAD tuning, but also gradually in Standard tuning, transcribed by Roland Gallery.
Pierre's instrumentals
"Mille Pattes", "Kiss Landing", "Dadgad Café", "Veilleuse", "Pirogue", "Coup dans l'Eau" & "Astres & Gnomes" display the signature of a composer who continues to astonish us by the pertinence of his musical, orchestral melodic and open vocabulary, and rich depth -- where virtuosity disappears behind pure emotion.
For the first time, Pierre signs and sings the lyrics of a song called: "La Java du Concessionaire" (a story of misfortune with a car breakdown), music coming straight from his "Musette" heritage, the Paris accordion music that his father's generation used to listen to, and on which he grew up, among other sounds.
Les Places de Liberté is a call to remind what France has always stood for, welcoming others and opening to the world, freedom, tolerance, compassion, equal chances for all. Pierre has invited the female singers Mah Damba, from Mali, and French Canadian Claudette Deslonchamps to sing with him. It is also no coincidence if that song is dedicated to the Algerian writer, Djemila Benhabib, a brave woman speaking out for the cause of women in the Arabic world.
Pas Sage (The Wise Step), is a reflection on transformation in music reminiscent of Tango.
The In Between, a love song in English, on relationship and inner feelings, whose lyrics are written by Nina Swan, a friend in Los Angeles, and former background vocalist for Camilo Sesto, and many international acts.
In Vividly, Pierre plays on his brand new Signature guitar model,
The New Lady, designed by Northern Irish luthier Georges Lowden, on his original Lowden guitar,
The Old Lady .
Pierre has invited a few guests such as the Chinese ErHu master, Gan Guo playing on 2 songs (the ErHu is the traditional 2-string violin), Franck Sitbon on keyboards on
The In Between, and Michel Benita (up-right bass) and Hector Gomez (Percussion) to join him in "Les Places de Liberté". Pierre, at times, plays also the bass, percussion and sings harmonies.
"Vividly" has been recorded by Stephane Lecyn, in Pierre's home studio in the French countryside, near Chateau-Thierry, between December 2009 and August 2010, and mixed in Los Angeles (USA) by Rich Breen
* CELEBRATING HIS CAREER'S 35TH ANNIVERSARY *
PIERRE'S 10 CDs BACK CATALOGUE "COMPLETE WORKS 1975-2010"
IS RE-RELEASED ON DADGAD MUSIC
THE SET BOX "COLLECTOR'S EDITION" CONTAINING ALL 10 ALBUMS IS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM THIS WEBSITE!!!
See all the details & Go to the shop
will take place from July 27, to August 2nd, 2010. (Session now full)
After having performed and recorded on his "Old Lady" Lowden guitar since 1978, Pierre and Northern Irish luthier and long time friend
We are pleased to inform you that a documentary film on the life and music of Pierre is currently being produced by award-winning filmmaker
of Florentine Films, New York. We are currently in the fundraising portion of the feature-length movie that will eventually be shown on PBS. We invite all of Pierre's fans to participate in the underwriting of this exciting new venture. Thank you for donating $25 minimum. For US residents, all checks must be made out to "International Documentary Association", which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation; all donations are tax deductible, for U.S. donations only. For questions or donations in larger amounts, please contact Martha Ferguson of Devi Productions, 970 372-2770, deviproductions@sopris.net. For these, all checks should be mailed to Florentine Films, 136 East 56th Street, Suite 4B, New York, New York 10022. For donations worldwide, please use this link to donate directly; we accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover as well as PayPal:
All donors will receive credit by name at the end of the film. $100 donations or more will receive priority credits at the end of the film.
Please enjoy our short trailer of selected scenes featuring Pierre's mentor, banjoist Bill Keith. We hope you will be able to participate in the creation of this dynamic film project.
All donations from fans, as well as larger funding and grants from arts underwriters and endowment funds will be used to pay for early, mid and end production costs. This film is being made under the fiscal sponsorship of the International Documentary Association.
At last, THE set of strings whose every DADAGD tuning afficionados was dreaming of:
* PIERRE'S NEW SIGNATURE GUITAR MODEL BY GEORGE LOWDEN *
