Ensemble Nist-Nah

On the label-free music scene, Will Guthrie (a percussionist from Australia who has settled in the Loire-Atlantique region) is well known for his solo work and collaborations with artists we love, such as Oren Ambarchi, Mark Fell, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Pateras, Jean-Luc Guionnet, David Marahna and Container!

In order to avoid any risk of rest in an already busy schedule, Will initiated the Ensemble Nist-Nah by bringing together a dozen musicians around the sprawling object that is the gamelan, a traditional instrument of Indonesian music, a percussion orchestra one of whose singularities is the imperious necessity of numbers: at least a dozen arms are needed to make it sound.

Between echoes of the traditional repertoire and detours that avoid the exotic postcard sound from the other side of the globe, the Nist-Nah ensemble (currently made up of Charles Dubois, Thibault Florent, Toma Gouband, Colline Grosjean, Will Guthrie, Mark Lockett, Sven Michel, Elise Salmon and Arno Tukiman) skilfully plays the creolization card, giving pride of place to rhythmic stubbornness, swarming details and dynamics that reveal the sound space to give the moment a flavor and density that titillates ears, necks, toes or neurons… it’s up to you!