European Quartet

            Think “music” then “Europe” and there's a chance you'll come to hear Charpentier's Te Deum ringing some bell in your ear. Thus let's leave the trumpeting massive song leading Eurovision’s joy, and take a closer look. Borderless exchanges that have been taking place in European music over the past few years. This transnational quartet, imagined by Clément janinet with Arve Henriksen (NOR), Ambre Villermoz (FRA) and Robert Lucaciu (GER), is a fine example of cross-border inventiveness. Very active in Europe (International Jazz Platform, Jazz Ahead, Scandinavia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Germany), the violinist extends aesthetics of previous projects, such as Ornettte Under the Repetitive Skies and La Litanie des Cimes, to bring musicians from other cultures together. And make them discussing the bonds between free improvisation and classical or popular repetitive music. This formula, in which the violin dialogues with trumpet, accordion and double bass, also frees itself from the limits of repertoires. Gesualdo and Dowland debate with Swedish nickelharpa, virulent improvisation with microtonal, contemporary chamber music with folk dances and songs from the oral tradition. If the name wasn't already taken, Parliaments would perfectly sum up this new endeavor, definitively of its time.