A one-man band. An original performance of hijacked traditional music!

Founded in 2003 by violinist Jean-François Vrod, whose roots lie in the oral music of the Massif-Central, the trio La Soutraction des Fleurs occupies a singular place in the French musical landscape, and for the past 20 years has performed in a wide variety of contexts, from traditional music festivals to contemporary and improvised music networks. 

For this new creation, the trio decided to re-examine their original intrumentarium (two violins and a zarb), imagining for each of them possibilities for instrumental extensions. Foot, knee and crotch sets, preparations for the two violins, instrumental enlargement around the zarb, bass sanza, pedal viola, acoustic voice modifiers and various noisemakers were added to their original instrumentarium.

Finally, echoing the constitution of the 3 composite instrumental sets, the dramaturgy of the show is based on a framework text allowing the juxtaposition of various textual fragments borrowed from some of the great narrative or literary traditions (Théâtre No, operas from the Western repertoire, fairy tales, Greek tragedy, world poetry...).

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"For this project, the initial impetus was a desire to expand the trio's orchestral range, leading us to delve into the world of man-orchestra and its traditions. With new sounds, we wanted to invent a gentle, pagan, humanistic, joyful and offbeat celebration, organized in a series of sound and visual tableaux, respecting the ceremonial logic of the rite.

On this creative path, we've not hesitated to borrow elements from other lands and times that resonate with what we're looking for. Sigui (Dogon ritual), popular French calendar rituals, Kledze Hatal (Navajo ritual), and a few other religious or pagan rites from around the world have greatly enchanted our writing. 

It will also be an opportunity to reunite with an old friend of the trio's, Samuel Mary, on lighting and set design. He has imagined a sober Zen scenography, based on coloured elastic cords stretched across the performance space.
Jean-François Vrod