Pierre Bensusan：专注DADGAD四十年

Teja Gerken，翻译Stone654

任何听过Pierre Bensusan现场演出的人都不会怀疑他是世界上*顶尖的指弹演奏家之一。他的风格十分多变，凭借极高的作曲水平、优美的和声以及丰满的动态驰骋乐坛四十年。“Pierre的作品已经超越了吉他的束缚”，指弹大师Tony McManus如此评论道。“他所表达出的完全是音乐上的想法，在旋律节奏以及和声中叙事，并且始终保持新颖，令人为之振奋。”

Bensusan的吉他生涯从演奏民谣和蓝草音乐开始，曾在一场演出中为班卓琴大师Bill Keith演奏曼陀铃。但是他在1974年（当时他17岁！）发行的处女专辑Près de Paris将其吉他天赋展露无疑，自这之后他又发行了九张专辑。（不包括精选集）尽管早些年他专注于传统凯尔特音乐的演奏，近年来他逐渐把精力放在受爵士和古典音乐影响的原创北非曲风上，暗示出了他的阿尔及利亚血统。

Bensusan大部分的唱片都有多种乐器演奏（2000年的专辑Intuite是他唯一的吉他独奏专辑），有时候他展现出一种细腻的当代曲风。尽管多数都是用令人惊艳的吉他声来创作美妙的乐曲，但是乐迷们期待已久的是一张录制Bensusan在台上现场演奏那种音乐的专辑：吉他独奏，使用DADGAD调弦。这是一种他从1978年开始专门使用的一种调弦。

苍天不负有心人，Bensusan不仅发行了一张现场录音的专辑，而且还打算出三碟片精装版。“我想庆祝一下这四十年来一直靠作曲的成功谋生，不因外界而对音乐作出妥协。”他在巴黎附近的家中通过Skype对我们说：“旅行巡演是我人生的意义，有了演奏会才有了我的今天。”

于是便有了这张名字极为贴切的专辑：Encore，概括了Bensusan精彩的前半生。虽然没按照时间顺序排列，但它可以带你走进Bensusan和Keith一起演奏蓝草音乐的早年岁月以及Près de Paris专辑的美妙世界。同样精彩的还有Nice Feeling这首曲子、富有中东情调的充满点弦技巧的Agadiramadan、So Long Michael——Bensusan原创的一首向Michael Hedges致敬的作品，以及应用循环乐段和人声元素的Cordillière。还有一些早年没有发行的曲子，比如爵士唱腔的Bamboul’hiver，还有一些和梦剧院乐队键盘手Jordan Rudess的二重奏。总的来说，Encore这张专辑是对Bensusan40年音乐生涯的一个回顾。（感谢获得格莱美奖的工程师Rich Breen）

A1:非常痛苦。大多数作品我都好几年没听了，有些作品我甚至忘了自己写过。我花了三个月温习唱片，除此之外什么都没干。

A2:首先曲子必须能够打动我，吉他声必须清晰，旋律必须优美得体。但即使旋律不够优美，只要它录音效果好，我也会选进去。比如凯尔特风格的那首是在Charlottesville录制的，每当我弹五弦时，都有轻微的回授。这限制了我的演奏，因为我尽可能不去碰这根弦。当我拨五弦时，我会控制其共鸣和延音程度好让它不那么刺耳。我想：“虽然运气不太好，但是演出不错。”这是一首超长的曲子，足足有18分钟！

A3:我*开始演奏的乐器是吉他。我喜欢兰草音乐并用拨片来演奏，之后我加入了巴黎乡下的一支乐队，但我们找不到会演奏曼陀铃的人。一个朋友叫我去负责，于是第二天我带了一把曼陀铃过去。我的灵感主要来自于类似John Duffey、Sam Bush、Bill Keith，以及Stanley Brothers这样的人。我也喜欢Country Cooking、Clarence White和Kentucky Colonels。我以前经常去巴黎的地下音像店去找这些人的专辑，16岁时一个刚辍学的店员找到我问我要不要加入Bill Keith兰草乐团，他说他正给他们策划一场巡演。我说：“你一定是在开玩笑！”我的音乐生涯就是这么开始的，那些录音就是我这一时期的演奏。

路上我带着吉他，因为有一首歌我要给Bill伴奏。白天的时候我会自己联系，又一次Bill听见我正在练习凯尔特风格的改编和原创作品。他说：“我想让你每天晚上上台演奏几首这种曲子。”就这样，我开始了独奏。我们在比利时、法国和瑞士进行巡演，举办方们看过我的演出之后都想邀请我第二年去他们那开演奏会。

A4:可能吧，但我没有刻意想这个事。我倾听的是我自己脑海中的音乐，好比Bobby McFerrin说的一样，我是自己的随身听。我倾听我自己内心中的音乐，手上的音符和心中的旋律不谋而合时迸发出来的灵感是我所追求的极致。在吉他上表达你的想法有很多种途径，其中之一就是精通各种技巧。我从来没有觉得自己什么都会了，所以我在编曲和技巧上下了很多功夫。我想把高难艰深的东西变得平易近人、有趣味性，这样演奏的时候我就不会紧张了。

A5:事实上两者的成分都有一点，我认为目睹一场演出好比欣赏一张专辑或品味一本书。而且你不可能在一场演出中把你想做的事情都搞定，有时候我真希望在全场气氛达到高潮之后来一场演出。每次我都是在音响检查的时候到场，演出开始前我需要花时间镇静下来，演出开始在慢慢进入主题，一点点爬升至高潮然后结束。我试图给演奏会固定一种形式，让听众们保持注意力。通常一场演出要包含很多因素：对比、惊喜，以及意料之中和出乎意料的事件。

A6:影响我的并不是调弦，而是音乐本身，DADGAD仅仅是一个工具。刚开始的时候，它听起来十分生动，确实束缚住了我一段时间。但我很快认识到对音符本身的掌握很重要，而它们并不是那么明显，需要你去挖掘。很多人想当然地开始使用开放调弦，开始确实不错，感觉很新鲜。但绝不要止步于此，这就是我坚持使用同一个特殊调弦的原因。与其花时间研究不同的调弦，总是面对不能灵活转调的困难、断弦的风险，以及一直半懵半懂的摸索，不如干脆专精某一个调弦。我在1978年选择了DADGAD调弦，生活因此简单了许多。

我从古典音乐、传统爵士乐等流派开始入手，试图建立一个系统，摸索其中的音阶、调式以及和声。DADGAD成了我的标准调弦，如今我甚至不认为它是特殊调弦——我只是弹吉他的人，就像弹钢琴的人用键盘去演奏一样。你要先忘却手中有一把吉他，尽可能放松自由地去演奏。我不想总是有“这个怎么弹？那个又怎么弹？”这样的问题，专心于某一个调弦可以让很多事情简化。我原本可以选择标准调弦，但用DADGAD我可以表达的更多一些。这可能与我当时演奏很多凯尔特音乐有关，我知道大量应用这种调弦的曲子。

A7:20年前我们在康涅狄克州的New Millford夏令营结识并成为了朋友。几年后有人邀请我为一个儿童合唱团写一首歌，我联系了Jordan过来一同创作。200多人的合唱只用我们两个人伴奏。在第一段，我先独奏了一会，然后Jordan切进来。我们表演了一些二重奏，有两首收录在专辑Encore中。这是这些曲子第一次也是唯一一次被演奏，我很高兴效果能如此之好。

A8:前几天我在德国演出的时候用的就是旧琴，因为新琴托运出了点状况卡在飞机上了。演出前它甚至没有经过调试，我找了一位叫Dietmar Heubner的优秀的德国琴师，花了三个小时将一切布置周全。我用了一天时间去适应这把旧琴，熟悉的感觉涌上心头，仿佛回到了家。对我来说重新弹起这把吉他很令人激动，甚至让人怀疑为什么要买第二把琴。

A9:新款声音更加饱满一些，你不可能仿出来35年做旧的效果。尽管它在高频泛音上延音短一些，声音仍然十分现代。实际上，我更喜欢短一点的延音，因为有时候它不太好控制，想要在乐曲中灵活应用这个延音比较困难。这款吉他是一件极为特殊的乐器，它有着全方位的声学特性：声音的纵深、延音、大量的泛音，以及明亮的响度。在这两把吉他上所表达的音乐又一种丰富生动的感觉，有点像品酒。*初的芬芳过后，萦绕鼻腔的是历史积淀的馥郁。它们都具备这种特性，这也是一把好吉他的基本要求。

A10:*重要的永远是拾音器，我选择Highlander公司的产品。之后接一个Line6的无线发射器，再连接Ernie Ball的音量踏板，Roland Rc-50循环工作站，*后接Apollo Duo声卡，连上Macbook Pro笔记本电脑。这套装备我非常满意，我可以自己完成监听和调音的工作。

A11:是的，所有的效果：混响、压限、扩张、EQ都是这么加上去的，我甚至可以给整场演出录音。

A12:我调弦的时候需要切成静音，用这个很方便。我也用它控制音头，制造一种特殊的演奏效果。

A13:用来播放过场音乐，也用来给我提词。我用一个蓝牙连接的脚钉控制器来翻页。

A14:从一月到七月我要进行很多场巡演，之后要回家写写新曲子，改改老曲子，玩玩即兴放松一下。我准备在巴黎举行新专辑的发布会，三月到五月我则会留在美国，开着我新买的面包车巡回演出:D。

Pierre Bensusan: Four Decades of DADGAD

As anyone who has heard Pierre Bensusan live can attest, the French guitarist is among the world’s finest solo performers. Difficult to pin down to a single style, Bensusan has played steel-string fingerstyle guitar with peerless compositional depth, harmonic richness, and dynamic range for 40 years. “Pierre’s work transcends the guitar itself,” says fellow fingerstyle god Tony McManus. “What he communicates are pure musical ideas—storytelling in melody, rhythm, and harmony, always creative and always inspiring.”

Bensusan started out playing folk guitar and bluegrass, which eventually led to a gig as mandolinist for American banjo master Bill Keith. But the release of Bensusan’s debut album Près de Paris in 1974 (at the age of 17!) immediately established him as an extraordinary guitar talent. In the years since Bensusan has released nine more albums (not counting compilations and box sets). While his early efforts focused on arrangements of traditional Celtic music, the emphasis has increasingly shifted toward original compositions influenced as much by jazz and classical music as by North African styles, showing Bensusan’s Algerian heritage.

Most Bensusan recordings feature additional instrumentation (2000’s Intuite is his only true solo studio album), at times veering into a smooth new age/adult contemporary sound, though always featuring stunning guitar work and gorgeous, engaging compositions. But many fans have longed for an album that captures Bensusan as he appears onstage: solo, with his guitar tuned to DADGAD, the tuning he’s used almost exclusively since 1978.

“I listen to the music inside of me. The idea is for the moments when I play and the moments when I hear music to coincide.”

Good things come to those who wait. Not only has Bensusan released a live recording, he decided to make it a beautifully packaged three-CD retrospective. “I wanted to celebrate 40 years of making a living with just my own work, making very little compromise,” he said via Skype from his home near Paris. “My life is on the road. I exist mostly because of my concerts.”

The result, fittingly called Encore, is a stunning overview of Bensusan’s career. While not arranged chronologically, Encore features glimpses into Bensusan’s earliest work playing bluegrass with Keith and solo guitar arrangements of tunes originally found on Près de Paris.Also featured are incredible versions of such tunes as “Nice Feeling,” the Middle Eastern-flavored tapping masterpiece “Agadiramadan,” and "So Long Michael,” Bensusan’s beautiful tribute to Michael Hedges, as well as the looping and vocal workout “Cordillière.” There are also several previously unreleased staples of Bensusan’s shows, such as the guitar and scat-singing “Bamboul’hiver,” and even a couple of duets with Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Overall, Encore is an amazing 40-year retrospective that sounds great (thanks to Grammy-winning engineer Rich Breen) and serves as an excellent introduction to Bensusan’s work.

What was it like to listen to recordings of yourself from 30 or 40 years ago? It was agonizing! I hadn’t heard most of the recordings in years, and you never know what you’re going to find. I spent three months without playing, just listening.

How did you decide what to include? It had to do something to me. It had to move me. The guitar had to be in tune, and the sound had to be decent. Even if the sound wasn’t decent, I’d choose the performance over the sound. For instance, the Celtic medley was recorded in Charlottesville, and every time I played my second bass [5th] string, there was a bit of feedback. That dictated my way of playing, because I tried not to hit that string too much, and when I did, I tried to control the resonance and sustain so it wouldn’t be overwhelming. I thought, “Okay, that’s bad luck, but the playing is really fine.” It’s a marathon—for 18 minutes!

I’m glad you included some early bluegrass recordings. Not many players have gone from flatpicked guitar and mandolin to fingerstyle. Were you already doing both at the time? I was doing guitar first. I enjoyed bluegrass music a lot and played with a flatpick. Then I joined a band in a suburb of Paris, and we couldn’t find a mandolin player. My friends asked me to play the mandolin, so I bought one the next day. My reference and inspiration came from people like John Duffey, Sam Bush, Bill Keith, and the Stanley Brothers. I also loved Country Cooking, and Clarence White with the Kentucky Colonels. I was going to some hidden record stores in Paris where you could find those records. The guy working in one of those stores came to me one day when I was 16 and had just left school. He said, “Would you like to join the Bill Keith Bluegrass Band? I’m going to produce a tour for him.” I said, “You’ve got to be joking!” That’s how it started for me. Those recordings come from that very first tour.

I took my guitar with me on the road because I was backing Bill on one song, using a flatpick. In the daytime I would practice on my own, and Bill heard me play those different arrangements of Celtic tunes and some of my own compositions. He said, “I want you to play a couple of numbers onstage every night.” That’s how it started for me, because we were in Belgium, France, and Switzerland, and all the promoters of those shows wanted to invite me the next year on my own.

You mostly play original music now. Do you have a composition process? Probably, but I’m not aware of it. I listen to the music inside of me. As Bobby McFerrin put it, I am my own Walkman. The idea is for the moments when I play and the moments when I hear music to coincide, so that I can play what I hear. There are a lot of different approaches for getting there on the guitar. One of them, of course, is to be ready technically. I never feel that I’m ready, but I work a lot on my arrangements and my technique. I want something difficult to become agreeable and pleasant so I don’t have to be anxious when I play.

Your live shows have the feeling of a single connected event, rather than a bunch of tunes strung together. How much do you plan your set, and how much just happens? It’s both. I feel that a show is a bit like listening to a record or reading a book. You can’t do just anything at a show. I wish sometimes that I could start a show on a very high energetic point. I get there during soundcheck, but when the show comes, I need to calm down, start low, and then come up and up until the end. I try to give a form to the concert so that it sustains attention until the end. It has to include contrast, surprises, predictable moments, and unpredictable moments.

You’ve said the tuning players use doesn’t matter much as long as they’re familiar with it. But obviously, DADGAD had a big impact on what you do. It’s not a tuning that influences me—it’s the music, and DADGAD becomes a tool. But at the beginning, DADGAD was amazingly and vividly present, and it probably shaped my approach to the guitar for a while. But I realized very soon that you had to look for the notes, and it was not obvious. A lot of people take open tunings for granted. They get a flattering first impression, which is great, because it inspires. But you can’t stay there. That’s why I chose to play in only one open tuning, rather than spend my time going between various tunings and always having challenges with intonation, breaking strings, and never really knowing my way. I chose DADGAD in 1978, and my life became much simpler

How did your collaboration with Jordan Rudess come about? We met at the New Milford summer camp in Connecticut 20 years ago and became friends on the spot. A couple of years later I was commissioned to create a piece for a children’s choir. I invited Jordan to join me. We were the only two musicians backing 200 singers! In the first part of the show, I played solo a bit and then I invited Jordan. We played some duets, and two of them can be heard on Encore. That was the only time they were played, so I was very pleased that they were played so well.

You played your original Lowden S22 (“Old Lady”) exclusively for 25 years, and now you’ve been playing your signature Lowden for quite a while. Can you compare those guitars? I played the Old Lady in Germany the other day, because my signature Lowden was stuck between airplanes. It was not even set up, so I found a great German luthier, Dietmar Heubner, who spent three hours setting it up for the show. I played the guitar all day to get familiar with it again, and I felt, “Oh my god, this is my home!” It was amazing to play that guitar again. It was like, “Why do I play another guitar?”

Pierre Bensusan is a virtual guitar monogamist. Sure, he played a Gurian at the very beginning of his career, and for a few years he played a signature model Kevin Ryan guitar. But for most of his career, he’s been a Lowden man.

Bensusan first fell in love with Northern Irish luthier George Lowden’s work in 1978, when he acquired an S22 (equivalent to today’s O-22 model). Featuring a cedar top and mahogany back and sides, the guitar was originally a non-cutaway model. Rather than replace it with a new guitar when he felt that a cutaway was necessary, Bensusan had Lowden modify it in 1989, and also had the fretboard and string spacing widened. For 25 years “Old Lady” was the only guitar Bensusan played. He still pulls it out of semi-retirement from time to time.

In 2009, Lowden and Bensusan began work on a signature model. To the surprise of some fans, the result wasn’t a copy of Old Lady, but an updated guitar. Using the company’s midsize F-model body, the guitar is built with an Adirondack spruce top and Honduras rosewood back and sides. It also has a bevel on the bass side of the lower bout, a maple neck with a nut-width of 1.77", and fairly wide string spacing of 2.36" at the saddle. An unusual but very cool feature is the neck shape, available on other Lowdens as a “fingerstyle” option: It flares out slightly more than standard, providing a bit more width in the upper positions, which makes it less likely to slip off the fretboard when playing vibrato on the outside strings. The guitar’s list price is $8,765.

Bensusan and Lowden are now working on a 40th-anniversary signature model: a faithful recreation of Old Lady. Due in 2014, the guitar will have Lowden’s original jumbo body (slightly deeper than the current O-shape, and with a more pronounced taper between the neck block and the neck joint), older-style parabolic bracing, and an optional bevel.

How does it differ from your signature model? It’s richer. You can’t invent 35 years of life in a guitar. Even if today the high harmonics have less sustain, they are still very present. In fact, I like less sustain, because sometimes it’s overwhelming, and it’s hard work to tailor that sustain so that it’s not in the way of the musical conversation. But the new guitar is a very special instrument. It’s three-dimensional. It has depth, horizontality, sustain, a lot of harmonics, and a lot of sound. The relationship between a note and the history of the note is extremely vivid on those two guitars. It’s a bit like the taste of a great wine. There’s the first taste, and then the whole history of the taste after the first drop. Both guitars have that quality, which is what defines a great instrument.

What can you tell us about your amplification setup? First of all, the pickup is very important. I use the Highlander. From there I go into a Line 6 wireless preamp, an Ernie Ball volume pedal, and a Roland RC-50 looper. From there it goes into Universal Audio Apollo Duo hardware, and then into a MacBook Pro. I’m very happy with that setup. I can now do my stage monitor sound on my own. I can even do my front-of-house!

Yes, and all the effects—reverb, limiter, expansion, EQ—are there. I can even record the show.

Why a volume pedal? It’s very convenient, because when I tune, I cut the sound. I also use it to shape the note attack for a bowing effect.

What are you using an iPad for onstage? For walk-in music. I also use it for my song lyrics, and I have a little Bluetooth foot controller that turns the pages.

What’s next? I’m going to be doing a lot of touring from January until the end of July. Until then, I’ll stay home, work on some new pieces, revise my old pieces, work on my improvisation, and catch my breath a bit. I’m doing my album release shows in Paris, and I’ll be in the States from March until May. It’s going to be a driving tour with my new van!

Guitars

Lowden Pierre Bensusan Signature Model

1978 Lowden S22

Amps and Effects

Highlander iP-1 pickups

Line 6 Relay G30 wireless system

Ernie Ball volume pedal

Roland RC-50 Loop Station

Universal Audio Apollo Duo FireWire audio interface

MacBook Pro

Schoeps CMC 64 mic for guitar

Neumann KMS 104 mic for vocals

Strings and Picks

Wyres Signature DADGAD set, gauged .013, .017, .023, .032, .042, .056.