As part of the Tour de Scènes festival, which is entering its second week, Nice Première recommends two concerts you shouldn’t miss: Dupain and Guem.
It’s on Wednesday that Dupain will take over the Cedac de Cimiez while Guem will enchant the Lino Ventura hall on Friday evening.
Dupain: Made in Marseille
With just two punchy albums, Dupain has forged an image of unruly and turbulent life among the children of the global sound of the 90s. In the melting pot of Marseille, the La Plana neighborhood gave birth to Dupain, a perpetually boiling living organism, which today releases a third album: “Les Vivants” (The Living), undoubtedly a manifesto title.
The ears alive: While the foundation remains the same (heavy-duty drums, a haunting hurdy-gurdy, “in-your-face” bass), the strings are so emphatically saturated that one would almost forget they “mandolin.” Explosive and fully charged, the boys. The Persian percussion of Bijan Chemirani, the deep voices from Chor de la Plana, or the accordion of Christian Maes sway on the wave, flexible in their hips, eyes to the ground.
The word alive. The Occitan singing, an integral part of Dupain’s identity, stemmed from brotherhood with the rebels of all sides. Nations without land and disruptors of round consumption. Not a gram of regionalist rigidity in the speech of our Marseille friends. Thus, it would be pointless to seek any change of direction in the French-speaking discourse that opens the album and punctuates many of its songs. No turning point, but a complete openness to the world as it is, should be, or will never be.
Poetry alive. To the question “Does poetry have a place in 2005?” Dupain answers unflinchingly: a verb as hard as rock, a language soaked with sun, a beautiful and lyrical revolt, a realism tempered by dream. Dupain tells us about the world as it turns.
Dupain:
Samuel Karpienia – Vocals
Samuel de Agostini – Drums
Pierre-Laurent Bertolino – Hurdy-Gurdy
Noël Baille – Bass
Daniel Gaglione – Mandole
Guem: From Africa to Brazil…
An undisputed reference in the world of percussion, Guem remains a complex artist interested in rhythms from all over the world and mastering nearly all percussion instruments. A descendant of Nigerien slaves brought to southern Algeria in the last century, Guem was immersed from a young age in the world of percussion. A family tradition centered around trance music delivered to him the great secrets of the diwan. Arriving in France in the 60s to start a career as a professional footballer, he quickly realized that his future was intimately linked to that of skins. After a stint at the American Center in Paris which allowed him to perform with the elite of French and American jazzmen (Michel Portal, Steve Lacy…), he decided to start a true career not as a side musician but as a true maestro of percussion.
In 1973, Guem recorded his first album “African Percussions”, but his first great success came in 1978 with the album “Guem and Zaka”, recorded with his students from the American Cultural Center. During this period, he composed his most famous piece: “The Serpent”, re-recorded in 1996 for the theme of the show “Ca se discute”.
With more than thirty albums released since the mid-70s, thousands of dance and percussion classes, concerts all around the world, Guem always maintains the same goal: to give percussion a true melodic place in the musical universe (and not just rhythmically). Between strength and gentleness, melody and rhythm, joy and sadness, spiritualism and passion, Guem remains a unique character in the world of percussion who approaches his art as a perpetual learning.
Invited to Brazil in the early 80s for a unique concert, following his success, Guem stayed there for nearly 6 months to tour the entire country but also to record this magnificent album with Brazilian musicians. During this trip, Guem had the artistic intelligence to adapt his music to Brazilian culture to create an exchange with this culture. The result of this work is this disc, which allows Brazilian percussion and rhythms to find their African roots.
O UNVERSO RITMO GUEM was originally released only on vinyl and is reissued today by Nocturne with 2 new exclusive tracks recorded in October 2004 and never released. Throughout the year 2005, the year of Brazil, Guem will participate in many festivities organized as part of the year of Brazil.
