MUSIC Pierre Bensusan to perform in Belmullet

MOZART OF GUITAR Pierre Bensusan will perform in Belmullet on Friday, November 2. Pic: Tina Korhonen

World at his finger tips


Ciara Moynihan

Nearly two years after his last visit, guitar maestro Pierre Bensusan is returning to Ireland and will be visiting Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet, on Friday, November 2.
Known globally as the ‘Mozart of guitar’, the acclaimed French-Algerian guitarist, singer and composer has been wowing audiences for 35 years with his genre-defying contemporary acoustic instrumentalism, crossing world, classical, jazz, traditional, folk styles and more.
His most recent album, Vividly, was released in late 2010. A multi-cultural, melodic instrumental and vocal album, it reflects Bensusan’s philosophy of quiet genius. “My hope is always to create music that becomes part of the fabric of people’s lives,” says the guitarist. “It’s there for your enjoyment and it won’t disturb you, but if you do stop and pay closer attention, you might be magically roped into something you could not have imagined.”
Born in Oran, French-Algeria, in 1957, when France was decolonizing its Empire, Pierre Bensusan’s family moved to Paris when he was four years old. He started formal studies on piano at the tender age of seven, and at eleven he taught himself guitar. Influenced in his youth by the folk revival that was exploding in Britain, France and North America, Bensusan  first explored his own diverse musical heritage before broadening his horizons to encompass other world traditions.
At 17, he signed his first recording contract, and one year later his first album, Pres de Paris, won the Grand Prix du Disque on his debut at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland. More recently, he won Guitar Player Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award as the Best World Music Guitar Player (2008) and Acoustic Magazine’s Best Album award for the hypnotic Intuite, released in 2001.
Bensusan’s visit to Ireland forms part of an extensive seven-month global tour that began in March 2012 with four performances at the Portfairy Festival in Australia. After 17 concerts in Australia, he moved on to China and Taiwan, and then to the US and Canada, where he played 36 dates, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
He took a short interlude last August – but not to rest: He hosted two week-long residential guitar workshops from his home outside Paris. Pierre Bensusan, it seems, just can’t put the guitar down. And for that we can only be thankful.