Jean-Luc Guionnet

"My musical work subdivides itself into as many ways as occasions arise for me to think and act with sound and forms. Those occasions have always to do with a strong meeting with an outside element : an instrument (saxophone/organ), a theoretical idea (what is "rumour"?), and mainly a collaborating friend (Lotus Edde Khouri, Éric La Casa, Thomas Bonvalet, Seijiro Murayama) ... or the long term adventure of a team (Hubbub, Ames Room, Jupiter Terminus ...). There then follows a collection of themes which, in turn, influence the evolution of the musical work and define the direction of meetings to come: the thickness of the air, the pidgin, the musical instrument considered as affective automaton, sound as a signature of space, signature of objects, signature of what it is not... The coming emotion is made out of all these strata and the sliding of one over the other during the act of listening. When music is giving time."

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Multi-disciplinary Parisian artist Jean-Luc Guionnet presents us a magnum opus: Totality. "Why "Totality"? I don’t know. Neither why, nor what, nor how, where, or when... You can be sure that no obvious rational issues drove any of my decisions. There are probably many secrets within this work, but no demonstrations, and not one rebus. There are neither prescriptions nor descriptions, or perhaps both compressed into a pellet, even if that sounds a little gross. Actually, if I now feel sorry for the people who were not included, I also feel sorry for those who were. I once had an old car with no stereo, so I use to sing while driving to keep myself alive, aware, awake, and sometimes I recorded those moments. One day, in 2017, while the machine was recording, I didn't sing but talked... something I never did and never do. My voice sounded like that of a stranger, as well as what I was saying. I nearly forgot about this recording until we started receiving bizarre commands, and for some reason it came back to mind. There are 83 voices, all of whom I know, some of them very well, 4 only friends-of-friends, in 20 or so languages. I’ll let you imagine the details of the whole process; your images are part of the piece. Furthermore : All sounds, all music I composed, played, recorded, mixed, commentated, sang, and so on. There are no quotations of any kind. Parts A, B & C are not to be listened to separately as 3 different pieces: they are like the 3 movements of a single composition. Knowing that the first part ("incipit cambodgien") is one of the loudest, please listen to "Totality" as loud as possible. (thanks to Lucas)" - Jean-Luc Guionnet -- Voices in order of appearence: Daravuth LyNicolas CarrascoElizabeth Saint JalmesJoe ColleyLoty NegartiAda DiaconescuPatrick GuionnetHoussam El BokeiliMattinIngrid SchmolinerSeymour WrightKlaus FilipNaomi VerdonSamo KutinLuke FowlerMarcus SchmicklerVincent BouchotÉric CordierCaroline PouzollesFrantz LoriotCyprien BusoliniSonia FleuranceShaul KohnTimothée QuostTchang YixinSacha AksinChing Ching CheungRay BrassierLaurent PascalYan JunSantiago GardeazabalLaszlo JuhaszYanik MiossecIris PoonXabier ErkiziaChristophe MacéJoel GripPavel TchikovAlexander LauThomas CharmetantAnnette KrebsJeremy KennedyJason KahnClaire BergeraultBertrand DenzlerAndrew ChoateGaudenz BadruttIban RegnierAnna GaïottiNicole KhouriLou Neva ZlatanovaEmma De LauraNatasa SerecLotus Edde KhouriÉric La CasaGael LeveugleTaku UnamiAli RobertsonXperXrFredie DecombeVéronique RusticiBarry EssonMartin MichaudAlessandro BosettiPeter KolovosMarc BaronFrançois DurifWill GuthrieClarence Pouzolles-CatelaNadia Bou AliClayton ThomasSophie DaullNikos VeliotisMarc FèvreRobert BastienRhodri DavisStéphane RivesNeil DavidsonCristian AlvéarLuka ZagoričnikMartin TétreaultMoussa SyPascal BattusSeijiro Murayama& myself

Totality – Jean-Luc Guionnet

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