Jean-Francois Charles

Shadow Play Across the Arts + Humanities

2026-04-16T15:58:00.002-05:00

Tonight at 5:30pm, Ramin Roshandel and I, i.e. the Jamshid Jam duet, are playing new music to an excerpt of Lotte Reiniger's wonderful movie The Adventures of Prince Achmed, at the invitation of film and media historian Michael Cowan and the organisers. Come if you are available! If not, stay tuned: we are working on more music for this film! To be continued...

Arrangement of songs with string quartet

2025-12-04T17:42:00.000-06:00

This year, we are fortunate that Gabriel Kahane is visiting the University of Iowa several times and meeting with the composers. Given his experience with orchestral writing and arranging songs, we are excited that he is going to coach students on arrangements of songs for singer (optionally playing guitar or piano) and string quartet. Gabriel Kahane shares some of his ideas on arranging on this post, including some song examples.

Favorite arrangements featuring strings

Among my favorite song arrangments, I want to first highlight the work of Stefan Malzew for Ute Lempper. Their collaboration on the 2012 album Paris Days, Berlin Nights is masterful. In Stefan Malzew's string writing, we can hear his love not only for the songs but also for the string quartet and its history. Here are two excerpts:

First, two Kurt Weill songs: Surabaya Johnny, from Happy End and Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, from Die Dreigroschenoper (i.e. Mack the Knife, from The Threepenny Opera).

Second, the beautiful Oblivion, by Astor Piazzolla:

My favorite album by The Roots might be the 2014 ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. It includes wonderful string arrangements crafted by D. D. Jackson, as in the song The Coming:

From Jacques Brel to Scott Walker

String arrangements may seem special today, but at some point in the history of music, there was no electronics: any song was arranged to be accompanied by a small or large acoustic ensemble.

That's the case with the powerful songs of the Belgian star Jacques Brel. For instance, I like a lot the nice violin line in dialog with the voice in François Rauber's arrangement of Le prochain amour:

Scott Walker was a Brel fan and sang several of his songs, translated in English. The arrangements in his first albums were signed by Angela Morley under the name Wally Scott.

In the 1967 album Scott 2, hear Jackie, this English version of Jacques Brel's Jacky:

In the 1969 album Scott 3, I love the colors of It's Raining Today:

Finally, in the same album, let's hear If you go away, a version of Jacques Brel's "hit" Ne me quitte pas:

Other flavors

A well-known arrangement of a pop song featuring strings is The Beatles's Eleanor Rigby (follow this link for a version with the score transcription).

Prince has worked throughout his career with arranger Clare Fischer. Their first collaboration dates back to The Family's album in 1985. Listen to The Screams of Passion:

Rosalía's 2025 album Lux includes several arrangements penned by composer Caroline Shaw. Here is the second track of the album, Reliquia:

Montagne Pelée, for baritone saxophone & optional Rubens tube

2025-11-30T10:09:00.000-06:00

This is the video of the premiere of the piece Montagne Pelée, for solo baritone saxophone, with optional Rubens tube.

Montagne Pelée was inspired by saxophonist Kenneth Tse’s interaction with the flames of a Rubens tube built by Dale Stille at the University of Iowa. It is also an echo of the 1902 catastrophic eruption of Mount Pelée in the Island of Martinique. The diﬀerent parts of the piece trace a story from early fumaroles and eruptions to the pyroclastic surge to the remaining ashes and light.

I composed the multiphonic sounds on a Yamaha baritone saxophone, model YBS-62ii. In the score, the pitch notation of the multiphonic sounds is approximative; in most cases, only two pitches are written even if more may be heard. The performer may adapt the fingerings if necessary.

The piece was premiered on October 6, 2025 at the University of Iowa, featuring an introduction by Professor of Physics Frederick Skiﬀ.

Interesting: the Rubens tube was invented in 1905, 60 years after the invention of the baritone saxophone!

The score is available for purchase on gumroad.

Who are the Tortured Poets?

2025-10-14T15:22:00.001-05:00

The Tortured Poets Department Taylor Swift	Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème Anika Kildegaard

Composed & produced by Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, and Taylor Swift	Composed & produced by Jean-François Charles
Fortnight, written by Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Austin Post The Tortured Poets Department, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, written by Taylor Swift Down Bad, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff So Long, London, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner But Daddy, I Love Him, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner Fresh Out The Slammer, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff Florida!!!, written by Taylor Swift & Florence Welch Guilty as Sin?, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?, written by Taylor Swift I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can), written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff Loml, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner I Can Do It with a Broken Heart, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner The Alchemy, written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff Clara Bow, written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner	Introitus (instrumental) Kyrie, Inscription mise sur la grande porte de Thélème, written by François Rabelais, English insert by Jean-François Charles Gloria, Veillée, written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore Credo, Le ciel est par-dessus le toit, Asperges me, written by Paul Verlaine Offertorium (instrumental) Sanctus, Le Mal, written by Arthur Rimbaud Benedictus, L'Examen de minuit, written by Charles Baudelaire Agnus Dei, Ballade des pendus, written by François Villon Ite, Missa Est (instrumental) Benedictus (Radio Edit) Agnus Dei (Saint Bridget's Remix)

Interview on Metaclassique

2025-10-13T08:13:00.002-05:00

David Christoffel is a composer, an author, and a radio producer. I was thrilled to be invited on his classical music program Metaclassique. We met in July in Paris. The program is now available (in French): Metaclassique #349 - Allier - electronic & acoustic music.

We discussed the music from Jamshid Jam (duet with Ramin Roshandel) and my Electroclarinet series.

On the program

Collaborations between electronic and acoustic music are laboratories for musical forms that are invented through timbre alloys. A three-part journey with Patrick-Astrid Defossez, Jean-François Charles, and co-composers Olivier Delevingne and Benoît Menut.

From Polarity to Plurality Concert

2025-10-02T08:49:00.000-05:00

Monday, October 6, 7:30pm, Voxman Building, Opera Studio

My colleague professor Matthew Arndt emcees the first of seven presentations of an intergalactic music poetics. As he says: "Drawing together ancient wisdom and modern science, this poetics aims at transmuting one’s experience of everything as music and living joyfully even as we work confidently toward an abundant future."
I am thrilled that Matthew Arndt invited me to curate the second part of the evening with compositions of mine. I am also thrilled that brilliant minds and artists from Iowa City are joining me on stage!

Program

Matthew Arndt presents the première of a video episode produced by Rabalais Productions with artisan animation by Auden Lincoln-Vogel.
Legit, for trombone & live electronics, with Jonathan Allen
Jamshid Jam & guest, for setar & live electronics with guest spoken word artist, with Ramin Roshandel and Jhe Russell
Première of Montagne Pelée, for solo baritone saxophone with Rubens tube, premièred by Kenneth Tse, with Dale Stille operating the Rubens tube, and with a special introduction by Professor of Physics Frederick Skiff

Tenebrae nominated for German Quarterly Critic’s Choice

2025-06-11T14:02:00.000-05:00

The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik is a prestigious non-profit organization dedicated to awarding prizes to the best new releases in recorded music. I am thrilled to see that our album Tenebrae was nominated for the Quarterly Critic's Choice in the category Electronic & Experimental Music.

Check the complete list of nominees in all 32 categories.

String Quartet & Clarinet by the Center for New Music

2025-06-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

I'm very thankful to David Gompper and the musicians who performed on April 20, 2025 my composition Nigritella nigra:

Sayyod Mirzomurodov, clarinet
Yestyn Griffith violin I
Michael Klyce, violin II
Kylie Little, viola
Hanna Rumora, violoncello

Workshop at Music Hackspace: ABL objects in Max 9 to get a better sound

2025-01-26T22:20:00.000-06:00

Music Hackspace is an online hub to learn hands-on how to work with art & technology. On Saturday, I was invited to give a workshop on the topic Max 9 - Get a better sound in Max using ABL objects.

It was a great pleasure to meet musicians and share with them some of my experience with Max. If you are interested, there is a workshop on February 8 on a very close topic: Max 9: Adaptive audio fx systems with ABL and preset mixing. Although the technical concepts in Jordan Tyler Munson's and my workshop are almost the same, I'm sure we are presenting them in a different way. With Max, there's always another way of getting to the same goal, or a different way of using the same objects!

Monnet and Dusapin with Ligament

2025-01-11T09:31:00.000-06:00

This week-end, I am playing with LIGAMENT a house show in Minneapolis and a concert at Constellation in Chicago (tickets).

Anika Kildegaard: voice
Will Yager: double bass
Jean-François Charles: bass & contrabass clarinets, electronics

Program

Chansons Imprévues - Marc Monnet

II. Décapeur
IV. Mon mour teur meur

An Alphabet for Grant Wood (Nattie's Air, excerpt from the opera Grant Wood in Paris) - Jean-François Charles
Changing Light - Kaija Saariaho
not of longing - Paul Novak
Petrified - Jean-François Charles (Minneapolis only)
Benedictus (excerpt from the Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème) - Jean-François Charles (Minneapolis only)
Anacoluthe - Pascal Dusapin

Flannau Duo

The Chicago concert will start with a set by the Flannau Duo: Jonathan Hannau and Kyle Flens with their program Oops! All Toy Piano:

Nobility of Homophones II - Olivia Kieffer
Outdifference - Ben Zucker
Music for Amplified Toy Pianos - John Cage
Clammelheim - Olivia Kieffer (World Premiere)
Sugarhocket - Alex Temple

Tenebrae: a 21st century reverberation of Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae responsories

2024-12-30T05:40:00.000-06:00

Over the years, I've been blessed to make music with incredible artists. Today, I am thrilled to annouce the release of the Tenebrae album, created in collaboration with eleven unique musicians and poets.

Tenebrae by Jean-François Charles

The album is a 21st century reverberation of Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae responsories. Like the ship on the album’s cover, the music is suspended between the physical and the spiritual world. Two poetic bonus tracks, La bête and The sea, invite to meditate further on the place of life on planet Earth.

First nocturne

On the Mount of Olives, with Ramin Roshandel, setar
Ramin Roshandel and I created the Jamshid Jam duet in December 2019. We released Jamshid Jam as an album and performed it across the United States. Together, we have also played soccer, enjoyed Persian food, and listened to a lot of music while traveling.
Sorrowful is my soul, with Nicolas Sidoroff, trumpet & objects
As students, ">Nicolas Sidoroff and I spent time organizing a jazz festival, making music for silent movies, and attending many concerts. We have played in the streets of Lyon, in malls and concert halls, on desert shores in Bretagne and at a community center in Ainsworth, Iowa.
We have seen, with Franck Cottet-Dumoulin, double bass
When it was time for me to start playing an instrument, Franck Cottet-Dumoulin, my first music teacher, suggested I try the clarinet. He taught me about breathing, introduced me to conducting, and gave me precious feedback on my first compositions. We performed together on stages from Strasbourg to Geneva and Krakow.

Second nocturne

My friend, with Céline Rivoal, accordion
In 2015 and 2016, Céline Rivoal and I improvised new music around Brest in places such as a public library and the Coin de la Rue café. In the summer of 2021, we shared a musical afternoon along with Nicolas Sidoroff and Krystian Sarrau at the Logelloù artistic center.
Judas, with Stéphane Sordet, saxophone
Stéphane Sordet, a trailblazer of new music, created the baritone saxophone version of my composition, Petrified. In 2016, at the invitation of the late Philippe Arrii-Blachette, we took part in a series of exciting performances of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mikrophonie I with the Ensemble Sillages.
One of my disciples, with Henri-Pierre Deroux, violo-dan-bau
I worked with artist and educator Henri-Pierre Deroux in 2015 and 2016 to create an Improbable Orchestr’A of grade schoolers in Brest. Stéphane Sordet and Céline Rivoal also took part in the project. Henri-Pierre has created countless musical instruments that continue to open the minds of workshop participants and audiences.

Third nocturne

Like a lamb, with Isaac Dubow, trumpet
Isaac Dubow and I started playing together a few minutes after we met in the fall of 2023.
One hour, with Will Yager, double bass
I treasure the memory of a basement house show performed with the trio Wombat in Kansas City, one of many performances of improvised music shared with Will Yager. Later, we played Pascal Dusapin’s Anacoluthe with vocalist Anika Kildegaard. Will is a featured soloist on my album Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème.
The elders, with Krystian Sarrau, modular synthesizer
A saxophonist and jazz educator, Krystian Sarrau built his modular synthesizer based on open-source modules. As part of a trio with Nicolas Sidoroff, we composed and performed a soundtrack to Dziga Vertov’s Kino-Pravda newsreels during a residency at the Logelloù artistic center.

Bonus tracks

La bête, with Alice Gervais-Ragu, spoken voice
Alice Gervais-Ragu danced in my composition, Wu Jú Sè, choreographed and sang in our Rêver collaboration, and wrote the poem La bête for my Electroclarinet album. Together, we met with Labanotation specialist Jacqueline Challet-Haas, attended underground dance shows, and held rehearsals in artist-occupied squats.
The sea, with Jhe Russell, spoken voice
After Jhe Russell and I performed together in Iowa City, he played a lead role in the premiere of my opera Grant Wood in Paris. Jhe performed on the Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème album and danced in my Agnus Dei music video.

Recording with live electronics

We recorded the Tenebrae tracks were performed and recorded as live duets, both musicians listening and reacting to each other in a classic situation of improvised and chamber music. I sampled and remixed the other musician's sound in real time with my custom set-up and software Spectral DJ. Some of the tracks were edited, but no electronic sound was generated after the initial duet takes, and no overdub takes were made.

A boat

This boat, floating at the frontier of the physical and the spiritual realms, was photographed by Ramin Roshandel in the spring of 2024. Is it inhabited? Is it an ex-voto? Are people around?

Clarinets in Dan Moore's Baby Bossa Nova

2024-12-21T12:42:00.000-06:00

Here is for great holiday music: Baby Bossa Nova, written by Mike Simpson for Dick Schory and the Percussion Pops Orchestra in 1963. Percussionist Dan Moore invited me to play clarinets on his album The Long Way Home. I play the small Eb clarinet, the Bb, the basset-horn, and the contra-alto clarinet. He wrote the arrangement and performed all of the percussion parts. He also shot and edited the video!

Check out the album, it features great tunes and great musicians. Happy Holidays!

Contra-alto Clarinet Multiphonics

2024-12-01T10:33:00.000-06:00

Here is a video that I shared in 2021 with composer Davide Ianni while he was composing Dedalo Nero, a solo for contralto clarinet. The instrument is a Leblanc paperclip contra-alto clarinet in Eb, known as model 350. The instrument I have used might have been made in 1967.

Davide was looking for pale multiphonic sounds. All of these sounds are preferably played pianississimo to piano. Some can be played forte. The basic technique to look for multiphonic sounds on a clarinet consists in playing different partials/pitches on a given fingering - using throat shape and air pressure variations. Then try to play these different partials at the same time. I learnt all of these techniques from working with clarinetist Armand Angster.

Writing for the contralto clarinet: presentation with composer Davide Ianni

2024-11-24T17:59:00.000-06:00

You might remember the premiere performance of composer Davide Ianni's Dedalo Nero, for contralto clarinet. With Davide Ianni, we had the great pleasure of sharing behind-the-scenes details about the piece during the International Clarinet Association New Music Weekend 2024. You will find below the video of this masterclass:

Interview with Mike Viola

2024-11-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

I loved meeting with Mike Viola, a passionate musician. We had an enlightening conversation with great questions from the audience. I think that a fan made a video of the interview, but I'm not sure it's available online. Don't hesitate to link it if you stumble upon it!

Steven Schick in Iowa

2024-11-14T09:22:00.000-06:00

I met Steven Schick when I attended the Centre Acanthes in 2000. Among other pieces, he had performed Bone Alphabet, which Brian Ferneyhough had written for him. Steven Schick was a guest at the University of Iowa in October: he was born in Iowa and got a Bachelor and a Masters at the University. It was a treat to hear him perform Bone Alphabet again, but I also enjoyed a lot hearing two performances of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Zyklus, a wonderfully playful piece.

Steven Schick also conducted a beautiful rendering of Varèse's Ionisation, a sensitive piece of percussion chamber music.

I had the pleasure of performing with the Center for New Music conducted by David Gompper. The most important piece on the concert was George Lewis's Soundlines, a piece during which Steven Schick tells the story of a walk he took from San Diego to San Francisco. During the summer, I re-built the live electronics set-up designed by George Lewis; I took care of the live sound performance and projection. I loved the performance, and I think the audience loved it too!

Walking in Iowa City's City Park with doctoral student Kevin Swenson and Steve Schick, a few minutes before the performance of John Luther Adams' Inuksuit.

Agnus Dei: music video official selection at International ScreenDance Festival

2024-09-22T18:24:00.000-05:00

If you live neat Iowa City, consider attending the International Screendance Festival at FilmScene on September 28 at 6pm. Our Agnus Dei music video, a musical setting of François Villon's Ballade des pendus, has been chosen in the Official Selection!

Tickets are available at FilmScene.

P.S.: the video is also online: Agnus Dei, musical setting of François Villon's Ballade des Pendus.

Petrified, for cello & live electronics

2024-08-05T07:26:00.002-05:00

Following-up on a great 2022 concert, Timothy Gill and David Gompper recently released the album Exchanges on Albany Records. They included my composition Petrified, for cello & live electronics (link to score & Max patches).

I love how the amazing Timothy Gill made the interpretation his own. He really contributed his original creativity in the three improvised cadenzas.

This work fits in the long tradition of compositions for cello and electronics. A classic one is Kaija Saariaho's Petals for Solo Cello and Electronics (1988). Listen here to a recording by cellist Madeleine Shapiro on Albany Records.

Brian Ferneyhough composed Time and Motion Study II for cello and live electronics (1973-76). The piece uses tape delays and ring modulation, very much in the tradition. Here is a recording showing the score.

Dai Fujikura's The Spirit of Beings is composed for cello and fixed electronics (backing track). Here is a live recording.

Composer Karlheinz Essl likes to perform the live electronic component of his works. Here, you can see him play Sequitur IV for cello and live-electronics with cellist Tom Flaherty.

George E. Lewis composed Not Alone for cellist Seth Parker Woods. Here is a live version of this piece for cello & interactive electronics.

For more recent repertoire, check out the pieces for cello & electronics composed for the wonderful cellist Marie Ythier: Le geste augmenté. The album is a collection of compositions by Alireza Farhang, Antonio Juan-Marcos, Aurélien Maestracci, Vittorio Montalti, Núria Gimenez-Comas, and Jean-François Ducher.

Hybrid Reggae

2024-07-21T16:01:00.000-05:00

Like most genres of music, Reggae is a hybrid. I was lucky this year to add to my collection the 3-CD edition of Bob Marley and the Wailers's Catch a Fire - an album to listen to!
Then, reggae has been hybridized with other genres, for instance from pop or hip-hop cultures. Here are a few tracks from 2001 to 2016 that I find interesting, enjoyable, and very well crafted!

Jay-Z: Hola' Hovito, in The Blueprint, 2001
Produced by Timbaland

Britney Spears: Showdown, in In The Zone, 2003
Produced by Bloodshy & Avant

Lady Gaga: Dancin' In Circles, in Joanne, 2009
Produced by Jeff Coplan, Robert Ellis Orrall

Rihanna: Man Down, in Loud, 2010
Produced by Sham, Kuk Harrell, Bobby Campbell

Madonna: Unapologetic Bitch, in Rebel Heart, 2014
Produced by Madonna, Shelco Garcia & Teenwolf, BV, Diplo, Ariel Rechtshaid

Beyoncé: Hold Up, in Lemonade, 2016
Produced by Diplo, Beyoncé, Ezra Koenig

Jamshid Jam at the Stanley Museum of Art - Part 2

2024-07-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

When we performed at the Stanley Museum of Art, there was quite a bit of ambient noise. This pushed us to create music like we had never made together yet. Especially, the second part of the concert ended with an incredible constellation of sonic stars. Here is the video:

You could already listen to the first part of the concert.

Jamshid Jam at the Stanley Museum of Art - Part 1

2024-07-12T14:31:00.002-05:00

Ramin Roshandel and I were invited to perform for the release party of the book In a Time of Witness - the event took place on September 22, 2023. We were super excited to play for the first time as the Jamshid Jam duet at the Stanley Museum of Art. Plus, we were super lucky that Negar Soufi showed up with two cameras and her friend from Cinematic Arts Malik Ford.

Here is the first part of the concert:

If you like the music, have a look at our Jamshid Jam Tiny Desk Contest video!

Indiana Jones and the Abbey of Thelema

2024-03-28T08:58:00.001-05:00

In his talk A Missa brevis for Jumping Timelines, Dr. Matthew Arndt proposes to listen to the Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème (sung by Anika Kildegaard) synchronized with the drama Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Here is a playlist with the first part of the movie synchronized to the nine movements of the mass: Indiana Jones and the Abbey of Thelema on youtube.

A Missa Brevis for Jumping Timelines - Video

2024-02-29T10:29:00.000-06:00

On Feb 21, 2024, Associate Professor of Music Theory Matthew Arndt gave a presentation on my Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème. This presentation opened the roundtable event organized with poet and author Christopher Merrill, and Professor Kristy Nabhan-Warren.

Dr. Arndt sets his analysis of the mass in resonance with the writings of Philip K. Dick (Graphics by Dr. Arndt).

He also proposes an analogy with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and a synchronization with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

I hope you enjoy!

A Missa Brevis for Jumping Timelines

2024-02-11T11:44:00.002-06:00

I'm glad to invite you to this upcoming event:

A Missa Brevis for Jumping Timelines: On Music, French Poetry, Dance, and Faith
Wednesday February 21, 4-5:30 pm
Voxman Music Building, Opera Studio
An event organized with the support of OVPR, CLAS, and the School of Music.
Refreshments will be served.

Roundtable discussion inspired by Anika Kildegaard and Jean-François Charles's Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème and music video Agnus Dei, featuring

Matthew Arndt (School of Music)
Christopher Merrill (International Writing Program)
Jean-François Charles (School of Music)

Q&A moderated by Kristy Nabhan-Warren (Departments of Religious Studies and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, Office of the Vice-President for Research)

Anika Kildegaard sings the Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème

2023-12-09T12:28:00.005-06:00

This missa brevis is part of the tradition of musical masses, from Guillaume de Machaut to Gabriel Fauré and Pierre Henry to cite French composers. I was also inspired by Mozart's short masses - I conducted one of them when I was a student. Six French poets are contributing major texts to the ceremony. The works gives voice to many musical styles: you might hear the influence of Pink Floyd, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Albert Ayler, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mylène Farmer, La Gale, Keny Arkana, or Lady Gaga.

Introitus Instrumental
Kyrie feat. Jhe Russell
François Rabelais, Inscription mise sur la grande porte de Thélème
Gloria
Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Veillée
Credo
Paul Verlaine, Le ciel est par-dessus le toit, Asperges me
Offertorium Instrumental
Sanctus feat. Jhe Russell
Arthur Rimbaud, Le Mal
Benedictus
Charles Baudelaire, L'Examen de minuit
Agnus Dei
François Villon, Ballade des pendus
Ite, missa est Instrumental

Bonus Tracks

Benedictus Radio Edit
Agnus Dei Saint Bridget's Remix

Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème by Anika Kildegaard & Jean-François Charles

Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème, preview and stream on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Pandora.
Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème on Qobuz
Missa brevis Abbaye de Thélème on Deezer

Voice: Anika Kildegaard
Spoken Word: Jhe Russell
Guitars & choirs: Carlos Cotallo Solares
Saxophones: Justin K Comer
Trumpet & flugelhorn: Kenken Gorder
Double bass: Will Yager
Bass: Jay Bratten
Drums: Christopher Jensen

We created the instrumental titles with the unique Wombat trio: Justin K Comer, Carlos Cotallo Solares, Will Yager.

Voice recording: James Edel, Christopher Jensen
Mixing: Frédéric Apffel
Mastering: Jean-Charles Herrmann
Photography: Elisa Sutherland
Graphic creation: Marc Dannenhoffer

In the footsteps of François Rabelais, Anika raps against bigotry and profiteers of all kinds. She is candide with Desbordes-Valmore Where did we come from?, she grooves with Verlaine Say, what did you do with your youth?. She fervently sings Rimbaud and reveals herself to be mischievous and sensual with Baudelaire, whose tragical-satirical verses are as hot as ever. This album is a rebellious and incisive prayer, an invitation to reflection and action rather than genuflection.

And of course, we have François Villon. When in 1463 he wrote the Ballade des pendus from his prison cell, he launched a poignant appeal to his fellow human beings. Speaking on behalf of those found guilty by the courts – imprisoned or put to death, he implores his neighbors to have heart and not to condemn them a second time through their contempt and ignorance. Sadly, this call is still highly relevant more than five centuries later.