Jacques Burtin (born 10 November 1955) is a French composer, writer, producer and filmmaker.
Biography
After studying Literature and Art at
La Sorbonne
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
(Paris), he was introduced to the
kora by brother Dominique Fournier at the Abbey of Bec Hellouin (Normandy, France) and by brother Dominique Catta, composer and choirmaster of the Keur Moussa Monastery (Senegal). He began to compose for the kora, solo pieces as well as duets with Western instruments.
His works are inspired by poets like
Grace Schulman and
Christian Bobin
Christian Bobin (24 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a French author and poet.
Bobin received the 1993 Prix des Deux Magots for the book ''Le Très-Bas'' (translated into English in 1997 by Michael Kohn and published under two titles: ''Th ...
, spiritual authors like
St. John of the Cross or
Etty Hillesum, writers like
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Early life and education ...
or
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
, painters like
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
or
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.
Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...
, or photographers like
Nan Goldin
Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...
or
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...
. He collaborates with artists, dancers and poets and conceives interdisciplinary performances.
Jacques Burtin is also involved in improvised music and has given concerts based on improvisation with harpist
Susan Allen (musician), French
panflute
A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...
player Jean-Claude Mara, Japanese koto player Damien Harada, and French saxophonist Tullia Morand.
In 1997, Jacques Burtin meets
Susan Allen (musician), harpist, professor of harp and improvisation at
CalArts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bot ...
(California Institute of the Arts). From their meeting until Susan Allen's passing in 2015, they see each other on a regular basis to improvise, give performances and exchange on musical pedagogy. In 2007, they release the CD ''Renaissance''. After the death of Susan Allen, Jacques Burtin pays tribute to the American harpist by creating a dedicated website with unreleased testimonies, musical creations specially written by composers of all horizons and unpublished videos of their Paris sessions (harp and kora improvisations).
Between 2002 and 2012, Jacques Burtin gives seminars on Improvisation and Interdisciplinary Creation in the Faculty of Fine Arts School of the ''University of Basque Country'', Bilbao, Spain, in collaboration with Spanish Choreographer Alicia Gómez Linares.
In 2004, he is invited by the ''Paul Verlaine University'' (Metz, France) to participate to the ''Colloque sur l'Art du Peu'' (''Seminar on the Art of the Few''): he gives a solo kora performance based on
haikus and writes an essay: ''La Tentation du peu'' (''The Temptation of the Few'').
On 12 May 2006 his music is featured among the works of twelve composers from around the world in ''Sonic Channels'', a concert hosted by the
New School University
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
and the ''Lower Manhattan Cultural Council''.
Since 2006, Jacques Burtin also plays the
gravi-kora
The Gravikord is a 24 string electric double bridge-harp invented by Robert Grawi in 1984, which is closely related to both the West African Kora (instrument), kora and the mbira. It was designed to employ a separated double tonal array structure ...
and composes for this instrument. He gives kora and gravi-kora master classes and works on kora pedagogy.
Jacques Burtin writes, produces and directs poetic and experimental short films as well as documentaries on contemporary artists. His films ''What damns me saves me'' and ''The Dialogue of Shadows'' were screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2011 and 2012. ''The Child of La République'' was screened at the Bilbao Short Film Festival Zinebi in 2015.
Burtin is currently working on a multidisciplinary project based on the twenty-two Major Arcana of the Tarot of Marseille. An homage to his late colleague, harpist
Susan Allen (musician), this project explores the creative act via improvisation.
Musical works
* 1986 – ''Ballade de l'île d'Yeu'', for solo kora
* 1988 – ''L'Annonce à Zacharie'' ''(The Announcement to Zacharias)'', for viola and kora
* 1989 – ''Tant et tant d'amour (A Love so great, so deep)'', suite for flute and kora inspired by
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Early life and education ...
's autobiography ''Mémoires intimes''.
* 1989 – ''La Passion selon saint Jean (The Passion according to Saint John)'', oratorio for tenor, kora and two narrators
* 1990 – ''Le Maître du Haut Château'' ''(The Man in the High Castle)'', suite for piano, kora, saxophone and synthesizers inspired by
Philip K. Dick's novel.
* 1991 – ''Le Jeu des perles de verre'' ''(The Glass Bead Game)'', suite for flute, viola, guitar and three koras inspired by
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
's novel.
* 1992 – ''Ave Maria'' for soprano a capella
* 1993 – ''Les Nus bleus'' ''(Blue Nudes)'', suite for solo flute inspired by the paper cutouts of
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
* 1996 – ''L'Amour – Musiques pour Thérèse (Love – Music for Thérèse)'', suite for kora, recorder, cello and
koto
Koto may refer to:
* Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group
* Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument
* Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana
* Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women
* K ...
* 1997 – Music for
Michael Lonsdale
Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes named as Michel Lonsdale, was a French actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is best know ...
's play ''Vous m'appellerez Petite Thérèse''
* 1998 – ''La Traversée de Bilbao'', dedicated to
Nan Goldin
Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...
, for voice, saxophone and tapes.
* 1998 – Music for Benoît Lardières's play ''Les sept vies d'Homère Petitbois'' ''(The Seven lives of Homère Petitbois)''
* 1999 – ''Où est ton coeur, est la musique (Where is your Heart, is Music)'', for accordion and kora
* 2001 – ''Eloge de la Lumière'' ''(Praise for the Light)'' for kora, violin and electric guitar
* 2001 – ''Apuntes de Eduardo Chillida'' ''(Eduardo Chillida's Notes)'', for a violin, a kora, a dancer and a narrator
* 2001 – ''Six chants syldaves'' ''(Six Syldavian Songs)'', for cello and kora
* 2002 – Music for Algis Arlauskas's film ''Carta a mi madre (A Letter to my Mother)''
* 2002 – ''Lumière du monde (Light of the World)'', improvised suite for synthesizer, sampler and a Tibetan bell
* 2003 – ''Nouveaux chants syldaves (New Syldavian Songs)'' for viola and kora
* 2004 – ''Your Shadow Will Shine – Requiem Notebook'', electroacoustic music – a Tribute to Victims and Survivors of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks
* 2006 – ''One Thousand Sources'', for solo kora, dedicated to
Susan Allen (musician).
* 2006 – ''Days of Wonder'', suite for solo kora, inspired by the Book of Poems by
Grace Schulman
* 2007 – ''L'Or jeté au fleuve (Gold thrown into the River)'', Kora Sonata No.1, in memory of
Yves Klein
Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...
* 2007 – Music soundtrack for seven art documentaries by Vincent Gille (on the works of
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...
,
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...
,
Sophie Calle
Sophie Calle (born 9 October 1953) is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement known as Oulipo. ...
,
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
, the
Menil Collection
The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of approximately 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawing ...
...)
* 2008 – ''Le Chant de la Forêt (The Song of the Forest)'', suite for kora, gravi-kora, flute and viola
* 2010 – ''Une clarté, une voix, un parfum... (A Brightness, A Voice, A Perfume...)'', Kora Sonata No 2
* 2013 – ''L'Enfance de l'Art'', Suite for Gravi-kora n°1
* 2015 – ''Le Silence après la pluie'', Suite for Kora n°6, inspired by the work of
Christian Bobin
Christian Bobin (24 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a French author and poet.
Bobin received the 1993 Prix des Deux Magots for the book ''Le Très-Bas'' (translated into English in 1997 by Michael Kohn and published under two titles: ''Th ...
and dedicated to him
* 2017 – ''Lazarus'', for piano and soprano
Poetic, Experimental and Documentary films
![Le Dernier Kodachrome ver2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Le_Dernier_Kodachrome_ver2.jpg)
* 1977 : ''L'Innocence du grand large'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin and Vincent Gille, Super 8, 20'20
* 1977 : ''Corps à corps'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin and Bruno Montpied, Super 8, 12mn
* 1979 : ''Préface'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, Super 8, 41mn
* 1981 : ''Les Vacances de Platon'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin and Vincent Gille, Super 8, 15mn
* 1982 : ''Magnificat'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin and Vincent Gille, Super 8, 11'30
* 1982 : ''Brèves'', an experimental film produced and directed by Jacques Burtin and Vincent Gille, written by Vincent Gille, Super 8, 10mn
* 1984 : ''Neuf Lettres'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, Super 8, 23'33
* 1997 – ''Autoportraits (Selfportraits)'', an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, with Agnès Rivière, Vincent Gille and Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, Hi8, 4:3, 34mn
* 2005 – ''Transmigration'', a documentary film on the Czech artist Filomena Boreckà, written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, DV, 4:3, 15mn
* 2005 – ''L'autre regard (The Other View)'', a documentary film on the painter Alexandre Hollan, written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, DV, 4:3, 19mn
* 2010 – ''Bilbao Dream'', an experimental film written and directed by Jacques Burtin, produced by Iñigo Lopez and Jacques Burtin, with Mónica Serrano, Robin Caballero and Javier Cortés, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 6mn
* 2011 – ''Oxymorons'', a documentary film on the Czech artist Filomena Boreckà, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 8mn31
* 2011 – ''Les Carnets d'Enza'', a documentary film on Enza Palamara's work, written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, DV, 4:3, 28mn
* 2011 – ''Ce qui me perd me sauvera'' (''"What Damns Me Saves Me"''), an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 7mn
* 2011 – ''Le Dernier Kodachrome'' (''"The Last Kodachrome"''), an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, with Valérie Maes, Joseph Morder, Elina Labourdette, Enza Palamara, Philippe Bernier et Gabor Deshors, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 37min
* 2012 – ''Le Dialogue des Ombres'' (''"The Dialogue of Shadows"''), an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, voices by Valérie Maes and Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 16'22
* 2013 – ''Le Crime sans fin'' (''"The Endless Crime"''), an experimental film written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, voices by Valérie Maes and Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 16'
* 2015 – ''Portrait de l'Artiste en Alchimiste et en Guerrier'' (''"A Portrait of the Artist as an Alchemist and a Warrior"''), a documentary film written and directed by Jacques Burtin, produced by Françoise Murillo, on the work of French painter Thierry Guého, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 24'
* 2015 – ''L'Enfant de la République'' (''"The Child of La République"''), a poetic, biographical and experimental film written and directed by Jacques Burtin, produced by Françoise Murillo, voices by Bernard Métraux and Jacques Burtin, texts by
Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29 ...
and Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 24'
* 2015 – ''Rencontre avec Roméo'', a documentary film directed by Jacques Burtin, written by Jacques Burtin and Bruno Montpied, produced by Françoise Murillo, with French outsider artist Roméo Gérolami, music by Jacques Burtin, HD, 16:9, 18'
* 2017 – ''Les Îles de Lumière'' (''Islands of Light''), a film inspired on
Christian Bobin
Christian Bobin (24 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a French author and poet.
Bobin received the 1993 Prix des Deux Magots for the book ''Le Très-Bas'' (translated into English in 1997 by Michael Kohn and published under two titles: ''Th ...
's works, written, produced and directed by Jacques Burtin, music by Jacques Burtin (fourth movement of the Kora Sonata n°4), 8'
Writings
* 1991 – ''Sacres'', nine prose poems, La Goutte d'Eau, Paris
* 2004 – ''La Tentation du Peu (Temptation of the Few)'', in ''Actes du colloque de Metz 2004'', Christine Dupouy Editor, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2008
* 2005 – ''Sang céleste – Lettre à Filomena Boreckà (Celestial Blood – Letter to Filomena Boreckà)''
* 2008 – ''Le Dialogue de la forêt (The Dialog in the Forest)'', a conversation with Odile Portal
* 2009 – ''Chemins de l'art, chemins de l'âme – Musique, art et prière (Paths of Art, Paths of Soul – Music, Art and Prayer)'', an Introduction to the 3-CD Box Set ''Le Jour des Merveilles'', Bayard Musique
* 2002–2010 – ''De la improvisación (About Improvisation)'', notes on improvisation for the Fine Arts Students of the Basque Country University
* 2012 - ''Les Origines'', a conversation with Marie Zénon.
Discography
![Kora concert by Jacques Burtin (Photo Brigitte Vassille)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Kora_concert_by_Jacques_Burtin_%28Photo_Brigitte_Vassille%29.JPG)
* 1990 – Jacques Burtin, ''Promenades heureuses – Le Maître du haut château'', La Goutte d'Eau
* 1991 – Jacques Burtin, ''Le Chant des étoiles", Rosée de Lumière
* 1993 – Jacques Burtin, ''Noir & Or'', Rosée de Lumière
* 1994 – Jacques Burtin, ''Kora à l'Abbaye du Bec-Hellouin (Le Chant intérieur)'', Studio SM
* 1995 – Jacques Burtin et Jean-Claude Mara, ''Psalmodies'', Mara Productions
* 1996 – Jacques Burtin, ''L'Amour (Musiques pour Thérèse)'', Studio SM
* 1997 – Jacques Burtin & Soeur Claire Marie Ledoux, ''Une Rosée de lumière (Saint François et Sainte Claire d'Assise)'', with the voices of Béatrice Agenin and
Michael Lonsdale
Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes named as Michel Lonsdale, was a French actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is best know ...
, Studio SM
* 1998 – Jacques Burtin, ''Comme un cercle de feu sur l'eau'', Edition limitée
* 2001 – Jacques Burtin & Barbara Marcinkowska, ''Méditation Kora et Violoncelle'', Bayard Musique (re-issued in 2010)
* 2003 – Jacques Burtin &
Michel Michalakakos
Michel Michalakakos (born in 1954) is a French contemporary violist.
Biography
Born in Athens, Michalakakos began to study viola at the age of thirteen with his father, Christos Michalakakos, and then entered the Conservatoire de Paris in Colett ...
, ''Méditation Kora et Alto'', Bayard Musique
* 2007 – Jacques Burtin & Susan Allen, ''Renaissance'' (kora and harp improvisations)
* 2008 – Jacques Burtin, ''Le Chant de la forêt'', with Jean Ferrandis and Michel Michalakakos, Bayard Musique
* 2009 – Jacques Burtin, ''Le Jour des merveilles'', Bayard Musique
[''Le Jour des merveilles'' is a 3 CD Box Set reflecting twenty years of work on the kora. It includes ''Le Jour des merveilles (Days of Wonder)'', ''Le Château de l'âme (The Interior Castle)'' and ''Le Jeu des perles de verre (The Glass Bead Game)''.]
* 2012 – Jacques Burtin, ''Kora Noël'', ADF-Studio SM
* 2016 - Jacques Burtin, ''Kora au Château de Saint-Fargeau - Musiques du Silence'', Mysterium Conjunctionis
Sheet music
* 1988 – ''Une Rosée de lumière – Neuf pièces pour kora'', Monastère de Keur Moussa
* 1994 – ''Le Chant intérieur – Pièces et suites pour kora'', Editions Musicales Studio SM
* 2006 – ''One Thousand Sources'', dedicated to Susan Allen (musician)
* 2006 – ''Diptyque du Bonheur'', dedicated to
Mary Ann Caws
Mary Ann Caws (born 1933) is an American author, translator, art historian and literary critic.
She is Distinguished Professor Emerita in Comparative Literature, English, and French at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, and ...
and Dr. Boyce Bennet (includes "Danseuse espagnole" and "La Vie lumineuse et lente")
* 2010 – ''Joies soudaines – Oeuvres pour kora 1988–2010''
* 2010 – ''Days of Wonder'', dedicated to Grace Schulman
* 2010 – ''L'Or jeté au fleuve'', Sonata for kora n°1
* 2012 – ''Kora Noël'', Eighteen Christmas tunes for kora
* 2013 – ''Le Château de l'âme'', Suite for kora n°1, inspired by
The Interior Castle
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
of
Teresa of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila, OCD (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada; 28 March 15154 or 15 October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer.
Active during th ...
* 2013 – ''Une Clarté, une Voix, un Parfum'', Sonata for kora n°2, inspired by the Confessions of
Saint Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
* 2013 – ''L'Enfance de l'Art'', Suite for gravi-kora n°1, dedicated to Robert Grawi
* 2013 – ''Le Fantôme de Haydn ou la Sonate sans fin'', Sonata for kora n°3, dedicated to
Philippe Sollers
Philippe Sollers (; born Philippe Joyaux; 28 November 1936) is a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the ''avant garde'' literary journal '' Tel Quel'' (along with writer and art critic Marcelin Pleynet), which was published by Le S ...
* 2016 – ''Le Silence après la pluie'', Sonata for kora n°4, dedicated to Christian Bobin
References
External links
*
Official Website*
Tribute to Susan AllenA website conceived and edited by Jacques Burtin, with testimonies, unreleased videos and new music composed by Susan Allen's friends and collaborators.
*
La Kora : tradition et histoire à l'Abbaye de Keur Moussa au Sénégal ''(The Kora – Tradition and History in the Keur Moussa Abbey in Senegal)'':*
Videos : Keur Moussa Abbey and the kora
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burtin, Jacques
1955 births
Contemporary classical composers
Contemporary classical music performers
French classical composers
French male classical composers
Kora players
21st-century classical composers
Postmodern artists
French experimental filmmakers
Living people
21st-century French composers
21st-century French male musicians