DIRECTIONS: Community School of Music and Arts
SPECIAL EVENT: Pierre Bensusan in concert
The South Bay Guitar Society is pleased to present virtuoso Pierre Bensusan. Tickets are not included in the regular season. Please note the concert time of 7:00 p.m., 30 minutes earlier than our usual start.
Acoustic guitar virtuoso, vocalist, and composer Pierre Bensusan, nicknamed “Mr. DADGAD,” has taken his unique sound around the globe. Winner of the Independent Music Award for his triple live album "Encore," voted Best World Music Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine reader’s poll, winner of the Rose d’Or at the Montreux Festival for his debut album, Pierre is recognized as one of the greatest guitar players of the 21st century.
When Michael Hedges titles one of his compositions “Bensusan,” you know that the inspiration behind it must be special and Pierre certainly is. Guitarists from Leo Kottke to Larry Corryel, Tuck Andress, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Andrew York, Andy Timmons, and Steve Lukathe have sung his praises, and Steve Vai released three Bensusan albums on his label Favored Nations. And it's not just guitarists who are inspired by Pierre's music, as a recent studio collaboration with him on Donny Osmond’s latest album “Start Again” shows.
If World Music means the fusion of traditional, contemporary, jazz, classical, and pop music, then Pierre is one of the most eloquent World Music musicians of our time. Initially a pianist and then self-taught on the guitar, the originality of his style makes him one of today’s greatest guitarists and composers for the instrument. Since his first performances in 1974 in France, Pierre 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 is an adventurer of unusual lands. His almost sacred music is an intimate orchestral hymn, a solo crossing on a multi-shell Lowden guitar in the hands of an adventurous pilgrim.
