43nd edition of the Banlieues Bleues jazz festival in Seine-Saint-Denis. Tonight's programme: Kiala Ogawa ‘Sketches of Memories’ (France), Koki Nakano & Alice Godfrey (new, Japan/South Africa).
- Pianist, singer, composer and producer, Kiala Ogawa follows in the footsteps of artists who explore the links between introspection, musical fusion and diverse cultural heritage. The daughter of a Congolese guitarist – a former member of Fela Kuti's Egypt 80 – and a Japanese mother, she grew up at the crossroads of vibrant Afrobeat and the rural gentleness of Japan. This duality permeates her music, which blends electronic and acoustic textures that are organic, experimental, intense and deeply sensory, in the spirit of one of her acknowledged masters: Ryuichi Sakamoto.
- Born in Fukuoka and now based in France, the prodigious pianist Koki Nakano has always combined his classical training with resolutely contemporary influences. A composer who favours nuance over stark contrasts, he cultivates an aesthetic that stems as much from his personal sensibility as from his education in Japan, a country that values the pursuit of balance. Fascinated by the movement of bodies, he has collaborated with many internationally renowned choreographers and has performed in prestigious venues around the world.
- Born in Fukuoka and now based in France, the prodigious pianist Koki Nakano has always combined his classical training with resolutely contemporary influences. A composer who favours nuance over stark contrasts, he cultivates an aesthetic that stems as much from his personal sensibility as from his education in Japan, a country that values the pursuit of balance. Fascinated by the movement of bodies, he has collaborated with many internationally renowned choreographers and has performed in prestigious venues around the world.
