This folkloric bent, but with Asiatic and Arabic influences, is taken one step further by guitarist Jean-Marc Hébert’s L’autre. Hébert, who studied classical guitar at the University of Toronto in the 1980s, orients his Montréal playing towards World Music-fusion in groups such as Ragleela and Africa Musique. The CD’s seven tracks temper European folksiness with harsher Third World textures. Hébert’s single-string frailing and picking often suggests the additional overtones available from exotic strings, while Marie-Soleil Bélanger, who also plays in Ragleela, is able to display splayed and flanged bow movement, whether playing erhu or standard violin. Pierre Tanguay, one of Montréal’s most versatile rhythm players, adds his drums and “body percussion” throughout, creating tunes that reference droning ragas, serpentine Arabic melodies and formal Cantonese operas as well as western sounds.

Although some of the tunes exhibit a certain sameness in theme-variation-and-recapitulation, the standout is Asie mineure, where the percussion beats could come from tablas or talking drums, the strings’ chromatic runs from a sarod and the shrill string sluicing from the Indian classical fiddle. In addition rock music-like backbeat and note spraying improvised solos are also prominent.

Ces deux enregistrements font la part belle aux cordes, et plus particulièrement à la jeune violoniste Marie-Soleil Bélanger. Son violon chante. Et son jeu, plutôt paisible, se nourrit d’influences orientales aussi bien dans son duo avec le contrebassiste Normand Guilbeault — bien que l’inspiration du duo provienne aussi du paysage breton de Guérande — que dans le quartet (ses partenaires, Jean-Marc Hébert, Christophe Papadimitriou, Pierre Tanguay y jouent respectivement de la guitare, de la contrebasse et de la batterie) d’autant plus qu’elle use aussi de l’erhu, un violon chinois. La musique de L’Autre relève aussi d’un jazz plutôt nonchalant quoique parfois plus nerveux, mais séduisant, notamment lorsque la rythmique insoufflée par Pierre Tanguay (à la batterie ou aux percussions corporelles) emprunte des chemins propres à amener l’auditeur vers un peu d’intériorité.

La chitarra elettrica di Hébert risuona con timbriche dalla notevole variabilità, tralasciando le ovvietà del rock. All’opposto della sezione ritmica, in cui basso e batteria pulsano costanti e usuali, privi di variazioni di rilievo. Hébert è doppiato da Marie-Soleil Bélanger al violino e all’ehru, strumento a due corde di origine cinese. L’autre suscita interesse per quel suo muoversi in modo pacato tra melodie un po’ ripetitive e sottigliezze malinconiche. Il suono del leader, chiaramente debitore delle culture musicali del West Africa, dell’India del Nord e mediorientali, non tenta inutili sintesi e si adatta a scorrere su un profilo volutamente basso. (7/10)

Diplômé en guitare classique et cofondateur de l’ensemble Skalène avec lequel il a fait paraître trois albums, Jean-Marc Hébert regroupe ici des musiciens de talent provenant d’horizons différents. Afin de mettre en scène une musique très personnelle à la croisée de différents styles, il s’est associé au contrebassiste Christophe Papadimitriou, à la violoniste Marie-Soleil Bélanger et au batteur Pierre Tanguay. Ces quatre comparses réussissent à faire vivre des compositions très jazzées aux influences africaines et orientales marquées.

The young Malasartes Musique label, is an initiative by Damian Nisenson, a composer and saxophonist from Argentina who settled down in Canada some years ago. The second release was a CD by a trio of Jean Félix Mailloux, called Aurores boréales. Mailloux now returns again in trio format with Cordâme. Himself playing doublebass, the trio is completed by Marie Neige Lavigne on violin and Julie-Odile Gauthier-Morin on cello. Pierre Tanguay helps out on percussion, plus Guillaume Bourque on clarinet on Au bord du Nil and Anit Ghosh on viola on Eider. All compositions and arrangements are again from Mailloux. In many tracks there are influences of folk music to be traced, especially from the middle east as title as Au bord du Nil and Valse hébraique suggest. Some of the compositions lack a own face and are a bit stereotype, others however are very good. The musicians give a dedicated and warm interpretation of the pieces. Similar in mood and atmosphere is the music on L’autre. At work is now a quartet of Jean-Marc Hébert (electric guitar), accompanied by Christophe Papadimitriou (bass), Pierre Tanguay (drums, percussion) and Marie-Soleil Bélanger (violin, ehru). All compositions come from Hébert, who studied guitar and composition in Toronto. With his group Skalène he already released three CDs. Also he participated in a project with Indian musicians. Like in the compositions of Mailloux we hear influences from other parts of the world, but, again like by Mailloux, the music breaths an unmistakably francophone atmosphere. This is due to their lyric and sensual approach Melancholy comes from the ehru, a chinese violin, played by Bélanger. We first heard this instrument on the duet cd of Bélanger and Normand Guilbeault, reviewed earlier for Vital Weekly. The playing of Hébert is sober but effective, and reminds sometimes of Antoine Bethiaume. Both Mailloux and Hébert make no drastic maneuveurs as composers. They are not into avant garde, rather they are engaged in an intelligent play with of all kind of influences in a music that always remains very accessible and enjoyable without becoming ‘easy’.