Voices that speak not with words, but through melody and dance — these are the expressive elements of orBe and VOY, two French music troupes visiting Taiwan this month.
The Marseille-based groups, which start a two-week tour of Taiwan tonight at Sappho de Base, present two different styles of music — orBe is a jazz duo and VOY is a solo singer and pianist that performs with two dancers. The groups share family ties as two of the musicians are married, but, more importantly, they have a common artistic goal: to create “dark” and “intimate” emotional soundscapes in a live setting.
OrBe’s jazz compositions are minimalist but not abstract. Olivier Baron, who plays the valve trombone (a trombone with three valves like a trumpet), creates clear melodic themes, backed by Olivier Roussel on guitar. The music sounds both familiar and new, like cool jazz but without bass and drums, and traditional French music but without the accordion.
Indeed, the pair, who have formal training in jazz and composition, aim to create a uniquely “French” music, inspired by what Baron describes as the “nostalgic” feeling of musette, the accordion-tinged dance music popular in Paris during the early 20th century.
In terms of feeling and color, he says their songs evoke the darker tones of “the sea and the sky.” They add “texture” by coaxing some unusual noises from their instruments — sometimes Baron’s trombone sounds like a distant foghorn, while Roussel makes his guitar “talk” in funky cadences.
Like orBe, unique “voices” are the centerpiece of VOY’s performances. Pianist Veronique Truffot, who is married to guitarist Roussel, sings and plays sad, introspective melodies, which are given visual expression by two dancers — Daphne Abecassis and Pauline Meguerditchian.
Truffot sounds like she sings French, but her “words” are not real. For Truffot, songs are “emotional sounds,” a universal language in themselves.
“All people feel sadness, hunger — [we all have] emotional scars,” she said. “That is why I can sing in France, sing in Taiwan … and that is why [everyone] can understand my emotion.”
Singing didn’t come naturally to Truffot. She trained as a classical pianist, but felt something was missing by the time she finished her conservatory training. “I never thought I could write music, but I needed to explain emotions without words,” she said.
She quit the piano at one point, as if “stopping an interpersonal relationship,” and studied jazz and opera singing techniques “in a search for my own voice.”
Meeting Abecassis and Meguerditchian — who teach dance in Marseille and perform together as the Item Company — helped to fulfill Truffot’s yearning for expression that transcends spoken language. In several numbers, the dancers are tethered to the piano by ropes, making them appear to be physically linked with Truffot.
“For me the body is important … I’ve always dreamed to be a dancer, interested [in] the body, all the things the body can explain without words,” she said.
The inspiration is mutual. Dancer Abecassis, who once aspired to become a pianist, said the trio was like a “dream.” “There’s a rare connection between the three of us,” she said.
“We feel … we don’t need to explain,” Truffot said of working with the dancers, who have helped her see her compositions in a new light. “Within the work, we have discovered the meaning.”
The two groups will also be performing in Changhua, Chiayi, and Tainan next week, with additional dates planned. Check orBe’s myspace site for updates.
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