Angelo Branduardi

A troubadour against the tide

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About

Although her hair has turned white, her curls and her passion for music haven't aged a day. For he who answers to the title of last of the minstrels defies time in his never-ending quest for musicality. Now exploring the rhythms and sounds of the beginning of the last millennium, he readily defines himself as an anachronistic, niche artist, despite the thousands of albums sold on our side of the Alps.

Because the creations of Angelo Branduardi draw their inspiration in forgotten times as much as they tell distant memories, of the time of the folk dances. For him, these chords inspired by the Middle Ages are "the roots of music [...] and the deep roots never freeze". With his violin clinging to his body, he most often tells a lyrical and romantic prose in French, adapted by his lifelong companion Etienne Roda-Gil, then, more surprisingly, by Carla Bruni after the latter's death.

Not very fond of interviews, he becomes inexhaustible when he is asked about shamans, whose music was created to speak to God. A pursuit of this almost elusive art, which he describes as "the most abstract, the closest to the absolute" and which has led him to draw inspiration from the great French singers such as Jacques Brel or Georges Moustaki as well as international artists such as Donovan, Cat Stevens or Bob Dylan.

An amazing mix that the last of the bards completes today with more spiritual acoustics, such as those of Arvo Pärt. All his genius resides, as it has since his beginnings, in the subtle alchemy between heritage and modernity.

Highlights

1966

Soloist and gifted violin player

Originally from the north of Italy, it is in Genoa that the young Angelo Branduardi studied violin at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory. At the age of 16, he graduated with a First Prize and began his musical career as a soloist in the orchestra of the Conservatory. Already at that time, he was already exploring and drawing his inspiration from Mediterranean or Yiddish folklore.

1980

Favourable winds

Angelo Branduardi will wait the thirty years to make himself known in the hexagon with two gold discs. In 1979 with La Demoiselle but especially with Va Où Le Vent Te Mène in 1980. Solitary and non-conformist artist, his albums are poetic and dancing UFOs in a world then swallowed up by the disco wave.

1993

Back to the future

More discreet in the 80's when he mainly devoted himself to film music, he came back to the forefront with a series called Futuro Antico. I told myself that we could have an old future. A step backwards to take two steps forward. " explains Angelo Branduardi. Originally thought as a musical review in ancient language, the success surprises the artist who finally makes an album of it. It will be followed by three other opuses that give the beautiful part to the sounds of the Renaissance.

2019

Religion as inspiration

At the beginning of the years 2000, Angelo Branduardi had already realized an album-show on Saint Francis of Assisi. He said then "devotional music is not what I like. But it was rather a question of doing something for everyone, believers or non-believers". At the age of 70, far from resting on his laurels, the troubadour continues this spiritual quest with an album entitled Les Chemins de l'âme, in which he explores the writings of Saint Hildegarde de Bingen through music.

Testimonials

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Angelo Branduardi has a real gift for music and poetry. It was a superb show, intense and full of emotions. The musicians were at the top, the communication with the public too. A superb evening!

Gaël, after a concert in Strasbourg in 2015

Angelo Braduardi is the very definition of an atypical artist. Poet, musical genius, exceptional violinist, all the strings were hung on the lyre of this bard of modern times. Disregarding conventions and trends, he is charting his own course in the French musical landscape and we are very happy to walk alongside him.

The minstrel with melodies from another time returns to the French stages after an absence of more than twenty years. He embodies the baba cool era of folk dances and medieval ritornelli. But Angelo Branduardi is especially a demanding composer, a mad scientist of the music, who deconstructs his songs with jubilation.

The Progress