Christine Tassan et les Impostures will be bringing Django Reinhardt’s music and other swing styles to the Harrison Memorial Hall this Saturday.
For many guitarists, the virtuoso Django Reinhardt, a French Roma musician who famously played with three fingers on his left hand due to a childhood caravan fire, is one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Christine Tassan and her band specialize in ‘Gypsy jazz’ or ‘manouche,’ the style of swing music made most famous by guitarist Django, violinist Stefan Grappelli, and their group Hot Club of France, which was active from the 1930s-1950s.
In the past decade this bouncing, finessed, and virtuosic style of music has seen a wave of popularity in Canada, particularly in the province of Quebec.
Christine Tassan et les Imposteures have been a seminal and unique group on this scene. Pioneers in a domain usually reserved for men, this talented quartet continues to reinvent this timeless music while integrating new ideas and influences with an originality, flair, and good humour.
From standards to original compositions, the Imposteures’ musical arrangements innovate, rejuvenate and leave room for unbridled creativity from three talented and accomplished young women and one man.
“People may have heard this kind of music in films such as The Triplets of Belleville or Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown,” says Harrison Festival director Andy Hillhouse. “It’s very evocative of the 1930s and 1940s, and makes you want to tap your feet or get up and dance. It’s not a heavy type of jazz, but is very accessible and listenable.”
Since their inception in 2003 Christine Tassan et les Imposteures have solidified their reputation in this genre. With more than 400 concerts in various venues and festivals, including numerous appearances in major events and tours across Canada and France, they have cultivated the adoration and loyalty of an ever growing fan base. Recent festival appearances include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Lévis Jazz Festival, the Guitar Festival in Rouyn-Noranda, and Vancouver's April in Paris Festival.
In June 2014, they had the pleasure to be invited at the Django Reinhardt Festival of Samois-sur-Seine (France), one of the most prestigious Gypsy jazz festivals, since it takes place in the town where the great manouche guitarist lived out his last years.
In front of more than 2,000 enthusiastic people, they stood out with their “finesse” and “joie de vivre” as the very first women and furthermore Québécois Gypsy jazz band to perform on this famous stage.
On stage these four musicians improvise with ease, interpret their repertoire with dynamism, and blend their voices together in refined harmonies, however it’s their communicative energy and the personal bond between them that hits home the most. Christine Tassan et les Imposteures, are first and foremost four friends who have harnessed their energies and their voices to give rise, year after year, to the fruit of their creativity.
Christine Tassan et les Imposteures are at the Harrison Memorial Hall Saturday, March 11 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $22 and can be purchased online at www.harrisonfestival.com, or by phone at 604-796-3664 or in person at the Ranger Station Art Gallery in Harrison and Agassiz Shoppers Drug Mart on Pioneer Ave.