Yann Tambour is originally from Normandy and is now back living near Granville. He started with the project Encre, before discovering African music and a passion for the kora, a Malian instrument reminiscent of the harp/lute, with 21 strings, which is now popular across all of West Africa. He started to build these instruments himself for his albums, Churning Strides (2007), Thee, Stranded Horse And Ballake Sissoko (2008), Humbling Tides (2012), Transmission (2013) and Luxe (2016). Folk and Anglo-American influences are transcended by this instrument of the African griot storytellers, oscillating in all directions, from sounds reminiscent of Middle Age modes to complex trans-African rhythms and Caribbean quadrilles.
In his latest multi-faceted opus, Grand Rodeo, koras and crystalline guitars take us into a cosmopolitan and contemplative world where carnal beats are the source of all the collisions and blending. Sometimes it is reminiscent of Pierre Vassiliu, Dominique A or Piers Faccini, with deceptively sombre texts that are far more pointed than you might imagine. Together with his partners Boubacar Cissokho, Sébastien Forrester and Miguel Bahamondès-Rojas, Yann Tambour has invented an organic pop that seems to flow like water to the four corners of the world, proving that ballads remain an incredible means of inspiration for travel and for redistributing the northern and southern hemispheres into a myriad of other territories.
BIOGRAPHY
> YANN TAMBOUR (France)
Yann Tambour officially launched his career in 2001 under the name Encre, working with a subtle blend of string instruments, voices, piano and sampling. After three electro albums based on sampling and harmonies, he discovered the kora and radically changed his writing. He travelled to North and West Africa, and to Central Europe, China and Japan. These travels and musical explorations undoubtedly shaped the open-mindedness that came to characterise his new alias, Stranded Horse. After two albums, Thee, stranded horse (2005) and Churning Strides (2007), he signed with the Bordeaux label, Talitres, and re-released his first record as a duo, with kora master, Ballake Sissoko (Thee, Stranded Horse and Ballake Sissoko, 2008) along with three other albums: Humbling Tides (2011), Transmission (2013) and Luxe (2016). His latest album, Grand Rodeo, has seen him switch to the label, Ici, d’ailleurs.
DISTRIBUTION
Yann Tambour (kora, guitare, chant), Anissa Nehari (guitare, percussions, chant), Miguel Bahamondes (Violon, samples, chant)
