Dédicaces - Nano Peylet

How does a pianist enter the world of Klezmer music?

Many pianists ask themselves this question. It has to be said that the piano is not very popular in this music, whose players like light, easily transportable instruments. This is a pity, because the piano possesses unsuspected qualities that enable it to be easily integrated into a klezmer band, or to play solo, depending on the circumstances.
What do you need to know about this music if you want to appreciate all its flavors and be able to share them with an audience curious to discover new sensations?

It's mainly modal, oral tradition, secular inspiration, essentially non-vocal and, above all, it has travelled widely and stored up several hundred melodies, the most inspired of which have come down to us. It uses many oriental modes.

It's not enough to know the typical melodies of the tradition, you also have to know how to embellish them. Fascinated by the richness of these melodies, I took up the clarinet playing of the klezmorim I loved so much: Giora Fieldmann, Andy Statmann, Dave Tarras, Naftulé Brandwein... These clarinetists developed a multitude of note treatments that made their instrument the king of this music.

On the strength of my new technical acquisitions, I founded a duo with pianist Denis Cuniot exclusively dedicated to Klezmer music, a veritable laboratory of Yiddish music in which the question immediately arose: how do you integrate the piano?

We successfully answered this question, drawing inspiration from instruments such as the cymbalum to create a typically Klezmer piano style. At the same time, I joined the group "Bratsch", where I deepened my knowledge of Eastern music.

As I was traveling a lot, I wasn't often as available as I should have been, and Denis had the idea of asking me to write "solo" versions of our musical creations for him. Over time, enriched by my new knowledge, I wrote more and more for the piano, which, along with the clarinet, was my instrument of choice.

So here are these "Dedicaces" to all those who have accompanied me in spirit during these fruitful journeys.

Listen album here: Dédicaces : Denis Cuniot plays Nano Peylet

Or with Soundcloud

Duration: 35'