In live as on his album, Everything Matters, the musician Clément Bazin transcends electro by integrating the steeldrum, fantastic instrument to build bridges between calypso and hip-hop ....

Interview

Clement Bazin, musician.

In 2017, you played at Les Vieilles Charrues in 2018 at the Bout du Monde. Your new live is completely different?

Yes, totally! At the time I was alone. Now we are four on stage: a drummer, a keyboardist percussionist, a singer. And me and my steel drum ...

How did you discover the steel drum?

In 6th grade, I was 11 years old. On the occasion of a neighborhood party, at my home in Ménilmontant, I came across a Caribbean band, a steel band. In the same way that strings form a philharmonic orchestra or that brass forms a brass band, steel-drum is played in an orchestra, in steel-band. What a shock! I took a huge slap, I just discovered the music. I immediately enrolled in this asso, the "Calypsociation", which gave courses, internships ... I am literally immersed, to the point of leaving my console. My mother could not believe it! I progressed thanks to Caribbean musicians, Haitian arrangers visiting Paris ... And I never stopped.

Tell us about this fantastic instrument ...

I have so much love for the steel drum ... It comes from Trinitad and Tobago, two small islands in the southern Caribbean. It is the pride of those who invented it in the years 30-40: teenagers ghettos. Represented on bank notes, it has become a national emblem. But it belongs to the people. It is a unique phenomenon in music: invented by the poorest people, it has experienced a meteoric evolution, has a style and arrangements as complex as those of symphony orchestras. Having a steel band in front of you is a unique sound experience. This experience is the one I want, in my turn, to make feel ...

Thanks to steeldrum, you build bridges between calypso, soca, hip-hop ....

Caribbean music is incredibly rich; from island to island, we go from salsa to zouk. Coming from the traditional music of the Caribbean, steel-drum can be integrated into electro dance music as well as melancholic introspection. My album, Everything matters , would be the proof ...

An extra wide musical palette!

Yes, I tend to musical schizophrenia ( laughs)! At school, with friends, I listened to hip hop, NTM, Lauryn Hill, the Beastie Boys ... And I spent all my free time on the steel drum. Absolutely nobody was interested in my surroundings ... One foot in each world ... Once grown up, I tried to bring them together.

And your live is in unison?

I wanted a powerful live electronic music. While revisiting my songs. An electro concert, it must hit, it sends! It takes a crescendo like last summer at the Bout du Monde, unforgettable festival. Back in Brest, we are ready to set fire. Normally, we all end up in a trance!

Practice : Thursday, December 6, 2018, at 9 pm, the Club, the Carène, Brest, from € 3 (subscriber) to € 8, € 10 and € 12 on the spot.