Duo Salque-Peirani

Vincent Peirani, accordion
François Salque, cello
Jean Boucault & Johnny Rasse, bird singers

Woven together by the thousand voices of birds from five continents, this show transports the listener beyond time and space, immersing them in a soundscape where mystery and wonder coexist. Without bird calls, drawing inspiration from traditional techniques such as breath voice, diphony, aspirated voice, trilled singing, high-frequency whistling, drone whistling and percussive singing, the bird singers reinvent the primitive song of a magnified nature. As for Vincent Peirani and François Salque, they set the standard. Their sensitivity, breathtaking virtuosity and mastery of different musical languages bring a touch of magic to this unique show.

Just as birds are inspired by the songs of other birds encountered during their migratory stops, composers have always been inspired by the music they discover during their travels... From Sibelius to Piazzolla, via Messiaen and Takemitsu, this unusual quartet invites you on an astonishing musical journey, reinventing a melody of exile...

A simple chord (C-E-G) repeated by Vincent Peirani, a beautiful melody by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, sketched by François Salque, then Cantus Arcticus by Finnish composer Rautavaara. Behind them, the singers, as if watching from a mist-shrouded pond. Or near a lake, Lake Baikal. So when they play a piece by Rimsky-Korsakov, The Rose and the Nightingale, one of the ‘bird singers’ plays the rose. And then, through the magic of imaginary travel, we find ourselves in Argentina. When the Salque-Peirani duo tackles Astor Piazzolla's Armageddon, they let loose. Jean Boucault and Johnny Rasse join them, suddenly transformed into Amazonian birds. Among them is the ‘indicator’ bird, whose cries guide men to beehives, allowing them to harvest honey and the bird to enjoy the larvae and wax.

'A favourite at La Folle Journée de Nantes' Culturebox
‘A unique journey with distant or familiar sounds that will enchant young and old alike’ Toulouscope
‘Much more than mere bird imitators, these two artists aim to sublimate the raw material of birdsong into a true living art form’ France Inter 
‘A true symphonic concert!’ Sud-Ouest