Creation: 8 May 2004 at Marseille
Commissioned by French State and GMEM de Marseille
Duration: 15′
Publishing: Lemoine
Aux sas, à six, …et plus is a commission from the State and the GMEM de Marseille for Les Percussions de Strasbourg, dedicated to these musicians for whom I have already frequently worked. The idea of this piece is to be found in a rhythmic series of sixteen beats (divided into 7+5+4 units) heard during a concert by the Iranian percussionist and zarb player Djamchid Chemirani. The variation linked to the very essence of improvisation in this musical tradition and the different modes of play of this digital percussion (as well as the resulting colours) are at the origin of what motivated me to write this work. It is, therefore, a whole series of variations – at first with “skins” – and then with “skins”. (struck by sticks), then with keyboards (with more or less determined heights). The role of electronics is that of a complementary character, a sort of shadow of chaos, whose discourse is sprinkled sometimes with flashes, sometimes with resonances, sometimes with reminiscences.
Jean-Marc Singier