Account
"It’s the saxophonist who made the announcement : “We are called Nostoc and we make contemplative Thai bebop music”. The audience laughed, but not the musicians. A totally stunning trio, this band, consisting of three men from Bordeaux, blew us away. Here you have three modest guys who settle down ready to play with some astonishing instruments : a “jarre percée”, a bell and a bow, a magnificent didgeridoo, and some other unknown items. Within three seconds of the music getting going we are captivated. It has got rhythm, and the instruments go together extremely well - you can tell them apart at first, and then they blend in with each other. Wave follows wave and the music envelops us. You’ve never heard a saxophone coming out with sounds like that, as if it were on tiptoe. Something is going on, right before our eyes, something that really touches us strongly; you make your way through a sequence, and a whole new world opens out. The small brown-haired guy comes closed to the mike ; is he going to sing? Not exactly - it’s an agonising wail, accompanied by unarticulated words, a moment of pure grief which lingers and sets in. Our eyes, our ears are straining. Later on, the blond one who has good lungs launches into some beatboxing. Then, with sweeping and elegant gestures he tells a story and which ends in heartbeats ; the three musicians beat their hearts and this too is musical. The audience is ecstatic. "

Annie Ronteix - Show at BT59 in Bordeaux.