France’s acoustic guitar master Pierre Bensusan is back in Guelph on May 13.
He will be hosting a workshop as well as a concert at Silence Sounds as part of his 40 date tour of the USA and Canada.
Bensusan is the winner of the Independent Music Award, in the Live Performance Album category for his latest triple live album Encore (2014), Rose d’Or of the Montreux Festival for his first album Près de Paris, (Switzerland, 1976) and Best World Music Guitar Player by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine (USA, 2008).
“He has the ability to make a single guitar sound like an entire band as he brings the audience on a mesmerizing musical journey,” officials say. “And yet, Bensusan is more than what any musician or music lover expects from a guitarist.
“He is a composer as well as a bilingual and a brave improvisational vocalist, melding whistles and resonant low notes with something like his own scat technique.”
Born in Oran, French-Algeria, in 1957, when France was decolonizing its empire, Bensusan’s family moved to Paris when he was 4.
He began formal studies on piano at the age of 7 and at 11 taught himself guitar.
Influenced in those early days by the folk revival blooming in Britain, France and North America, Bensusan began first to explore his own diverse musical heritage and then moved to the horizons beyond.
“There is a sense of something both playful and serious in his work, an unparalleled sense of freedom in his compositions and his improvisation,” officials state.
“His manner of playing defies classification – crossing world, classical, jazz, traditional, folk and more.”
Both concert and workshop take place on May 13 at Silence Sound.
The guitar workshop will take place from 2 to 4pm. It’s appropriate for guitarists from intermediate to advanced. Bensusan’s workshops are open to any guitarist, from every musical horizon, who has already attained a competent technical level and can read tablature (further details on ticket order link).
Tickets are $50 and reservations must be made in advance online at www.eventbrite.ca/e/pierre-bensusan-guitar-workshop-tickets-33816944391?aff=efbevent.
The concert will take place at 8pm. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.eventbrite.ca/e/silence-presents-pierre-bensusan-tickets-31759794400?aff=efbevent.
