ELPMAS
Moondog

"Masterful" - Rolling Stone (France)
 
Produced and released in the beginning of the 90’s, Elpmas is a genuine concept-album which uses the woody tones of the marimbas, numerous field recordings and borrowings from Japanese musical forms to sketch an ode to nature and a manifesto against the ill-treatment of the aboriginal peoples.
Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916 (Kansas, USA) – 1999 (Munster, Germany), is without doubt one of the most peculiar composers of this 20th century he travelled throughout. A visionary blind man, a symphonist hobo and an unknown legend, he is the architect of a unique and extensive body of work in which Plain Indians-inspired jazz, contrapuntal composing borrowed from Joan Sebastian Bach and a science of melody mingle, a work which has fascinated the world of pop.
The 91 Moondog album Elpmas was made mostly on computer with sampled sounds. In 2018, ensemble 0 has recorded a new version of it entirely with real acoustic instruments. To this day, ensemble 0 is the only group performing Elpmas live on stage.
 
Total duration: 72’
 
Personnel: Amélie Grould (marimba, xylophone), Julien Garin (bombo, marimba, glockenspiel), Stéphane Garin (marimba, xylophone, bombo, toy piano), Barbara Hünninger (viola da gamba), Vincent Malassis (electronics), Joël Mérah (zither, banjo), Julien Pontvianne (saxophones, clarinet) + Macadam ensemble, Etienne Ferchaud (choir & lead voice)
Production: ensemble 0 / Variations festival - Le Lieu Unique, scène nationale de Nantes
Co-production: La Centrifugeuse (Pau)
Past performances: Variations festival (Lieu Unique, Nantes) / La Centrifugeuse (Pau) / Festival de la Cité (La Perchée, Lausanne) / Teatro Estudio (Bogotá) / Salle Nougaro (Toulouse) / Festival Musique Action (CCAM, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy) / Festival Traversées (TAP, Poitiers) / Les Passerelles (Pontault-Combault) / SNSA (Apollo, Boucau) / Opera (Dijon) / La Philharmonie (Paris, 4 shows)

Pro