INTERVIEW RADIO MICHIGAN (USA)
By Bryan

Bryan
1. Do you ever use books, paintings or other literature as a starting point in your composition?

Pierre Bensusan
I would be tempted to say that musical inspiration does not need any other medium although there is much inter-action between artistic disciplines in general. The starting point of music could be the resultant of an inner process, a random and lonesome conversation with an instrument, playing with other musicians, the mood in which you are and all that makes your cultural musical genetic i.d.. But I believe that music feeds itself and generates its own world of colour, mouvement, path and images, even if it's true that any pretext is good enough to compose music.

2. Is their a spiritual grounding or intent behind your work?

PB: The simple fact to play music leads me to the sensation that I am sometimes a channel, at least between the audience, me and myself. And in some rare occasions, this quality of communication could apparent itself to a form of meditation. It is not something you try hard to achieve but that you let happen and that you feel. I have observed through my experience that when I succeed to be one within the music, at the same time, when playing it and listening to it, I can then feel that this sensation is always percieved and shared with the audience, as an instinctive and direct recognition without rational analysis.

3. What would you like people to receive from listening to your songs?

PB: The same warmth and tremendous pleasure that the one I feel when I discover a new melody, chord or rhythm. I play music first for myself and even if I spend much of my time alone in my music room, searching, composing and let things happen, there is always somehow the idea of meeting a future audience. These virtual listeners keep me in touch with the outter world and lead me to the feeling, when on my way to tune in, that I reconciliate wih the all world.

Apart from what I wish to share, there is the unplanned part for me, as well as the feedback coming from all kind of people and that will always strike me. This is hopefully the part I'll never control, as everyone puts his expectations and projections in a very unique way, beyond the collective cultural memory.

4. Can you comment on the importance of music in all of our lives?

PB: To me, I could not imagine life without music, and I believe that having a minimum of musical education enhances some of the best spots of men and women. Music is vast and I guess that one can always find what one needs. Music for every taste, etc. When I remember my childhood, one of the most important things for me has been to be exposed and to listen to a lot of music, of various origins and genres. And this, even before thinking of playing music myself. I realize now that the best of these "musiques" have been linked since within myself, as a constant source of reference and inspiration. Today, I came to the conclusion that if you know how to listen, everyday's life can be a lesson of music. John Cage said that listening to the city's noises appeared to his ears like a major symphony with no wrong note.

I have 3 of your CDs that I am planning on featuring...Wu Wei, Live in Paris and Spices. Do you have a preference as to which selections I feature?

PB: On Wu Wei, I would recommand Melodie Pour Maximin, Lord Hook of Cambria, Awali or Wu Wei, on Spices: les Voiles Catalanes, Montsegur and 4 AM, on Live in Paris: Fetish, Lunch of kisses and Mille Vallees.

I did have the pleasure of hearing you perform in Ann Arbor Michigan this year - April 28th- It was a very inspiring performance! I play fingerstyle guitar and am looking forward to studying with you in the future.