Pierre Bensusan

Dadgad Team USA presents Direct from France, an evening with Pierre Bensusan
September 18th, 2022 at 7:30pm
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center

After releasing ‘Azwan’, an album about our oneness and interconnectivity in the midst of a unifying global crisis, French-Algerian guitarist, vocalist and composer, Pierre Bensusan, returns to SLC, after a last concert in town with Leo Kottke in front of 15,000.

When Michael Hedges titiles one of his compositions “Bensusan”, you know the inspiration behind must be special and Pierre Bensusan certainly is. Guitarists from Leo Kottke to Larry Corryel, to Tuck Andres, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Andrew York, Andy Timmons, to Steve Lukather… have sung his praises, and Steve Vai released three Bensusan albums on his label Favored Nations. And it’s not just guitarists who are so inspired by Pierre’s music, as a recent studio collaboration on Donny Osmond’s latest album “Start Again” goes to show.

If World Music means the fusion of traditional, contemporary, jazz, classical and pop music, then Bensusan is one of the most eloquent World Music musicians of our time. Pianist in his beginnings then self-taught on the guitar, the originality of his style makes him one of today’s greatest guitarist and composer for the instrument. Also called “The Prince of DADGAD”, his story is far from trivial and it is on stage that the artist has earned his stripes! Among others, the Rose d’Or of the Montreux Festival, elected Best Guitarist of World Music by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine. His triple album “Encore” won the Grand Prix of the Independent Music Awards in the category Best Live Album… Since his first performances in 1974 in France, the guitarist 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 Bensusan an adventurer of unusual lands. His almost “sacred” music is an intimate and orchestral hymn, a solo crossing on a multi-shell Lowden guitar subjected to the natural elements: sound molecules and finger pulp on an ebony fingerboard for open tuning, a vertiginous and transparent technique, under the fingers of an adventurous pilgrim. Big emotion guaranteed!