GYPSY REPERTOIRE FROM TURKEY AND THE BALKANS

Balkan swing

with Laurent CLOUET and Wassim HALAL

A versatile clarinet player, Laurent Clouet’s musicality was formed during his travels and musical encounters in the Balkans. Today he is considered one of the leading clarinet players of gypsy Balkan music in France; he is a member of the Cok Malko Collective and collaborates with numerous other projects.

A percussionist who specialises in the music of Turkey and the Middle East, Wassim Halal is equally inspired by jazz, improvised and contemporary music, along with Iranian and Indian percussion. These multiple influences create a style of extreme diversity, both in rhythm and in sound.

In this workshop the two musicians introduce the gypsy repertoires of Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. Open to all percussive and melodic instruments, the class will be driven by learning relevant themes, different systems of ornamentation and developing rhythms in 7, 8 and 9 time. Each class begins with rhythmic vocal exercises, after which the students will be divided between the two teachers in order to explore several paths of improvisation, before playing together as one group.