KARMA BAZAR

Some encounters prove pivotal in an artist’s life. Such is the meeting between clown-vocalist Leïla Martial and globe-trotting pianist Élie Dufour, one that opens an entirely new field of artistic possibilities.

Drawn to each other like magnets in many aspects of life, the two musicians responded to an urgent need to create together. Their first experiments began in autumn 2024, spontaneously and in unconventional spaces. They quickly fell in love with an unusual instrument: the organetto, a small medieval portable organ that resonates with Leïla’s long-standing explorations of breath and bottle-playing. A duo literally carried by the wind!

There is a playful, whimsical dimension in their choice of instruments, amplified by Leïla’s curious set-up: music boxes, slide flute, vials, and repurposed toys. Even the grand piano, despite its noble contrast, is not spared from transformation. Élie, in collaboration with engineer Robert Kieffer, designed a special damper (mounted on a carbon bar) that allows him to mute certain strings and highlight the instrument’s percussive character. Both musicians also use effects pedals, shaping raw materials into new sonic spaces, conjuring the illusion of an orchestra, a cathedral, or a forest in Ariège.

The electro-acoustic nature of the project is embraced both aesthetically and technically. One might well hear the organetto routed through effects and joined by the deep bass of a Moog, crowned by a labyrinthine theme for voice and piano inspired by three countries—one of which doesn’t even exist. Beyond their shared appetite for innovation, the two jazz-rooted improvisers are passionate about nomadic cultures and music from the Middle East and Africa. With a single oscillator beat, they leap from one continent to another, from one era to the next.