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Blending musical traditions

The ‘fusion’ phenomenon is not recent nor is it limited to world music. All of the world’s musical traditions have continuously rejuvenated themselves by drawing from multiple sources. The present festival takes us on a journey along diverse trails of discovery through a particularly bold and inventive musical world. Far from being some sort of cultural patchwork, the programme instead throws light upon the fascinating creative processes that help to shape rich, coherent soundscapes.

From the Mandinka guitar to the Ottoman cello, from Arabic-jazz maqâm and the popular polyphonic vocal traditions of the Mediterranean to imaginative Mongolian overtone singing and the ritualistic origins of The Rite of Spring, this programme calls on us to question some of our aesthetic divisions or categories.

These concerts and moments of interaction between the audience and musicians create a special time and space for dialogue and sharing.

Fabrice Contri
Director
Ateliers d’ethnomusicologie