Catherine Braslavsky

Bio:

..   I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)


VERSION FRANçAISE du clip de mon spectacle "HILDEGARDE DE BINGEN, Le mariage du ciel et de la terre, avec Joseph Rowe (CD du même nom chez Jade-Milan Music/Universal) :


ENGLISH VERSION of the videoclip "HILDEGARDE VON BINGEN, The Marriage of the Heavens and the Earth" with Joseph Rowe (CD with the same title on Jade-Milan Music/Universal) :


CE QUE J'AIME DANS LA MUSIQUE :
Me ressourcer et dépasser les limites du temps. Le sens de communion que procurent le son et le rythme. Me dépasser. Développer sans cesse ma voix, non seulement en virtuosité mais surtout en qualité de vibration. J'aime aussi enseigner le chant et partager la musique en groupe, ce que je fais souvent avec mon partenaire principal Joseph Rowe.

WHAT I LIKE IN MUSIC :
To drink at the timeless source of music, which allows music to flow through us, transcending the limits of time. The sense of communion through sound and rhythm. To go beyond my own limits, to develop my voice, not just in the sense of virtuosity, but especially in the quality of its vibration. I also like to teach singing and to share its practice in groups, which I do a lot with my main partner, Joseph Rowe.

CE QUE JE CHANTE :
Je tire beaucoup de mon inspiration dans les musiques traditionnelles, mais mon but principal est de composer une musique d'aujourd"hui. Ainsi j'ai deux facettes principales à ma pratique : j'adore chanter des chants traditionnels (grégorien, judéo-espagnol, arabe et méditerranéen en général); et par ailleurs j'aime aussi composer, souvent sur des poèmes antiques ou médiévaux et parfois sur mes propres textes. Chaque language porte une énergie qui nous parle et j'aime à les explorer (copte, grec antique, arabe, hébreu, latin, occitan, espagnol etc)

WHAT I SING :
I am very much inspired by traditional musics, but my main aim is to compose a music of today. So I have two main fields of practice: I love to sing traditional chants (Gregorian, Judeo-Spanish, Arabic and other Mideastern); and I love to compose, often on ancient poems and prayers, and sometimes on texts written by myself. I love to explore the energies of different languages (Coptic, ancient Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Occitan, Spanish...)

QUELQUES EXTRAITS DE PRESSE :
« Catherine Braslavsky subjugue par l'apparente facilité avec laquelle elle suit des partitions difficiles, moirées, enchantées. Il y a quelque chose de miraculeux dans l'émission de cette voix pure qui conduit au sublime, là où les mots se dissolvent ... »
------ Armelle Héliot, Le Figaro

« A travers le chant, plongeant dans l'"originaire", Catherine Braslavsky nous parle du fondement même de l'humanité... »
------ Michel Cazenave, France Culture

• « Un spectacle unique en son genre... à la fois message de tolérance et voyage initiatique, histoire de nous faire ressentir au plus profond de nous-mêmes que c'est bien la même vibration qui anime, d'hier à aujourd'hui, tous les chants sacrés de l'humanité... »
------- Caroline Lachowsky, RFI

• « Magnifique Spectacle »
------- Thierry Beauvert, France Musiques

A FEW PRESS CLIPPINGS (some translated from French and Italian) :
"There is something miraculous about this purity of voice, which leads us into the sublime, where all words dissolve ... »
------- Armelle Héliot, Le Figaro

"A one-of-a-kind performance ... both a message of tolerance and a voyage of initiation, a musical narrative which makes us feel in our depths that all the sacred chants of humanity, past and present, are animated by the same vibration"
------- Caroline Lachowsky, Radio-France International (RFI)

"Through chant, Catherine Braslavsky plunges to the source, and speaks to us of the very foundations of humanity. "
------- Michel Cazenave, France-Culture, Radio-France nationwide

"...at once new, traditional, and transcendent. ... chants and chant-like original compositions powerfully realized as invocations of the human essence — whether it be the soul, spirit, or consciousness — in its ascendant form: a kind of meditative dance."
------- Jon Lebkowsky, Wired Magazine

"A fascinating performance, with great spiritual power."
------- La Repubblica, Italy, nationwide daily newspaper

"A remarkably successful voyage in sound, depicting those rare times when Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived together in peace and dialogue."
------- Jacques Attali, French author and music critic

"Uplifting and inspiring! Catherine and Joseph are truly gifted musicians. Allow them to enrich your life.."
------- Rev. Lauren Artress, Canon
------- Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Member Since:

March 27, 2008

Members:

Je chante dans plusieurs formations :

LE DUO avec Joseph Rowe :
- De Jérusalem à Cordoue (From Jerusalem to Cordoba)
- Solstices (pour Noël !)
- Hildegard von Bingen ou le mariage du ciel et de la terre

L'ENSEMBLE en quartette ou quintette avec Blandine Lambert, Nadine Ouannoughi et Thierry Renard :
- Lumières au Moyen Age
- Le Chemin de l'âme

MON GROUPE DE MUSIQUE DU MONDE (MY WORLD MUSIC GROUP) :
Joseph Rowe and Thomas Vandevenne, percussion
Thierry Renard, cello and chorus
Richard Maygnan, cistre and guiterne
Blandine Lambert and Nadine Ouannoughi, chorus.

Here we are mainly singing our compositions, mine and Joseph Rowe's. As usual, we are very much inspired by ancient traditions and we use texts like the Gospel of Thomas, the Odes of Solomon, and our own, to create a new music nourished by all those magnificient ancient sources.

Those videos were broadcast on french TV last march from our concert at the Satellit'Café in Paris.

MAWLANA
«Our Lord, Lord of all things, you who revealed the Torah, the Gospels, and the Koran.»
Sung in Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin.
Text from a hadith of the Prophet Mohammed. Music by Joseph Rowe.


THOMAS GOSPEL DERVISHES
«Split the wood, I am there. Turn over a stone, and you will find me»
Text from the Gospel of Thomas in ancient Greek. Music by Joseph Rowe.


PILGRIMS
A universal song of pilgrimage in an unknown language.
Music by Catherine Braslavsky.

Influences:

Mediterranean, African, Indian, antiquity through the Nag Hammadi and other scriptures, medieval music, the sensuality of Romanesque art, Hildegard of Bingen …

Sounds Like:

No one else... except occasionally, Dead Can Dance ...

Record Label:

Jade (Milan/Universal); and label Ad Fontem