WECC PRESENTS PIERRE BENSUSAN, FRANCE’S GUITAR MASTER IN CONCERT

After releasing ‘Azwan’, an album about our oneness and interconnectivity in the midst of a unifying global crisis, world renowned French-Algerian acoustic guitar master, vocalist and composer, Pierre Bensusan, returns to the USA and Canada, completing the second leg of his 2022 North American Tour. One of his early stops will be in Winnipeg where on Saturday evening September 24th, the West End Cultural Centre proudly welcomes him to perform a concert on their stage. Says Bensusan of this tour: “Even if I loved staying at my home, near Paris, for two years; playing, writing, taking the time, stopping running, sometimes locked down in Heaven… I felt a real relief to be able to play live again. The first part of my North American tour, this Spring, left me with an immense feeling of gratitude for the public who came to the concerts. There is nothing stronger than getting together around the music played live, especially when many were walking into a concert hall for the first time in two years. Also, in Las Vegas, I met my new friend, Donny Osmond, after playing on his last album and there was a lot of emotion. After spending the last three months back in France, I am pulling out all of the stops and embarking on the second leg of a mega-tour with over 60 concerts and guitar workshops, that will take my stage manager/sound engineer, Xaina Lerner, and myself through the entire northern part of the USA and southern Canada, from the West Coast to the East Coast. I look forward to finally seeing you again and thank you warmly for your continuous support and all of the inspiration, light and strength you give me.” ABOUT PIERRE: When Michael Hedges titles one of his compositions “Bensusan”, you know that the inspiration behind it must be special and Pierre Bensusan certainly is. Guitarists from Leo Kottke to Larry Corryel, to Tuck Andress, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Andrew York, Andy Timmons, to Steve Lukather… have sung his praises, and Steve Vai released three Bensusan albums on his label Favored Nations. And it’s not just guitarists who are so inspired by Pierre’s music, as a recent studio collaboration with him on Donny Osmond’s latest album “Start Again” goes to show. If World Music means the fusion of traditional, contemporary, jazz, classical and pop music, then Bensusan is one of the most eloquent World Music musicians of our time. A pianist in his beginnings then self-taught on the guitar, the originality of his style makes him one of today’s greatest guitarists and composers for the instrument. Also called “The Prince of DADGAD”, his story is far from trivial and it is on stage that this artist has earned his stripes: among others, the Rose d’Or of the Montreux Festival, and being elected Best Guitarist of World Music by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine! His triple album “Encore” won the Grand Prix of the Independent Music Awards in the category Best Live Album… Since his first performances in 1974 in France, the guitarist has sold half a million albums and given thousands of concerts around the globe, both solo and through numerous collaborations. Born in French Algeria, Pierre Bensusan is an adventurer of unusual lands. His almost “sacred” music is an intimate and orchestral hymn, a solo crossing on a multi-shell Lowden guitar subjected to the natural elements with sound molecules and finger pulp on an ebony fingerboard for open tuning – a unique and transparent technique, under the fingers of an adventurous pilgrim. Big emotion guaranteed. ” “For me, Pierre can only justly be compared to someone of the stature of Keith Jarrett; so total is his mastery of the solo instrument, his dazzling harmony, his many innovations, and his deft command of counterpoint, the jazz idiom, folk expression, and all genres between and beyond. An entire history unfolds as he plays. But really, like Jarrett, the emotional depth – and this is where true artistry often likes to live – of many of his songs and compositions is all, well, breathtaking. With only his steel-string-acoustic guitar – and sometimes his rich, affecting voice – Mr Bensusan can disassemble your heart and hand it back to you restored and renewed. As he did to mine tonight. A true giant.” (James Volpe Rotondi (Editor at Guitar Player Magazine) “I’ve seen Alfred Brendel, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Lynn Harrell, Nureyev, Placido Domingo, etc., etc., perform magnificently. Tonight, in Atlanta, in the last half of the second set, Pierre Bensusan went a quantum beyond the warm, compelling, appealing, extremely accomplished guitarist whose recordings and performances I’ve eagerly sought for over 30 years. He’s achieved the sublime — decades of technique, creativity, intuition, passion, and intensity crashed together — a man transformed, singular, stunning. I have so seldom had the privilege and pure animal joy of experiencing this caliber of artistry.” (Rain Crow, a fan) Listen at: http://www.pierrebensusan.com