The meeting and juxtaposition between the music of Matthieu Letournel, played by the quartet, and the text and voice of actress, singer and slam poet, Claire Laurent, typify the work of the group over the last ten years or so, from “Fabrik” (2009) to “Matzik Experience” (2011). It was therefore a logical next step for MATZIK to delve into the world of radio, a media that synthesises musical and vocal sources into a single time continuity. TRANZISTOIR is a concert performance that combines three aspects – a tribute to the radiophonic world, a quartet that mixes jazz-rock with brass band music, and text carried by the voice of a singer, storyteller and slam poet. This imaginary night-time road-trip movie mixes sounds, formats, interwoven stories and atmospheres to gradually carry the listener into another world that is both dreamlike and sensual, intimate yet far away.
A woman receives a telephone call and immediately leaves in her car to go and see a dying loved one 900 kilometres away. She drives all night without stopping, with the radio on, awaking many of her inner demons. Under the watchful eye of actor, storyteller and director Yannick Jaulin, MATZIK follows the journey in a concert story theatrically staged with a table and microphones symbolising a radio studio. News flashes on the stock market, traffic information and a real/fake Radio France weather update from Joël Collado are interspersed with a fusion of jazz, rock and classical music influences. Matthieu Letournel on tuba and trumpet, and Jean-Baptiste Tarot on sax, blend with the drum playing of Pierre-Yves Prothais and guitar from Benoît Bachus. The profusive language and words of Claire Laurent guide the spectator in this imageless journey that reinvents the rules with humour and truth.
For Tombées de la nuit, this epic radiophonic journey, TRANZISTOIR, will be performed for the first time in public space, with a simpler stage set-up, in the old Kronenbourg brewery on Rue St Hélier, hot on the heels of a working residency at the Fourneau de Brest in June.
BIOGRAPHY
In 2004, The Théâtre de l’Aire Libre of St Jacques de la Lande gave free reign to Matthieu Letournel, tubist, trumpeter, music arranger and composer from the Sergent Pépère band. This gave the brass band enthusiast and member of Out of Nola and Michel Aumont’s Grand Orchestre Armorigène, the opportunity to develop his own musical experimentations. He was joined by Pierre-Yves Prothais on drums (Olivier Leroy, Makida Palabre, Soig Siberil, Bertran Obrée) and Benoît Bachus on guitar (Tahrgi Nushma, member of the company, Ocus) to create MATZIK. In 2008 they met saxophonist Jean-Baptiste Tarot and slam poet/actress Claire Laurent (Ocus, Winner of the 2006 French Slam Championships), taking the group in a new musical direction. The fusion between Matthieu Letournel’s compositions and Claire’s texts opened a whole new field of possibilities for MATZIK’s music, which led to MATZIK EXPERIENCE, a production around the voices of Claire and Solène Diguet (operatic singer) in 2011, and the release of their first album in 2012. SABLEGA PELGA (2012), a production with African artists Koudédé (Touareg blues) and Burkinabé singer and rapper, Wendlamita Kouka, took them to Burkina Faso. TRANZISTOIR has been touring theatres in Brittany since last year and it is now being adapted for public space.
DISTRIBUTION
Ecriture : Claire LAURENT / Musique : Matthieu LETOURNEL / Regard dramaturgique : Yannick JAULIN / Voix : Claire LAURENT / Souba, trompette : Matthieu LETOURNEL / Guitare, basse : Benoît BACHUS / Saxophones : JB TAROT / Batterie : Pierre – Yves PROTHAIS / Son : Manu LEDUIGOU / Lumière : David BOURTHOURAULT / Avec la voix de : Joël COLLADO / Production : PATCHROCK, TOURNE – SOL
COPRODUCTIONS
Centre culturel Pôle Sud à Chartres de Bretagne / Centre culturel Le Kiosque à Mayenne / Coglais Marches de Bretagne / Musique Expérience à Ducey / La Péniche spectacle
AVEC LE SOUTIEN DE
Centre culturel Bleu Pluriel, Tregueux / Centre culturel L’Estran, Guidel / Centre culturel Jacques Duhamel, Vitré
