Bon Voyage Organisation is a project led by Adrien Durand – renowned Parisian bass keyboard player, composer, producer and mixing engineer having worked with noteworthy projects such as Amadou & Mariam and Papooz among others.
Known for his knowledge of ensemble recording and arrangement techniques, BVO is his attempt at meticulously creating a musical dialogue around his compositions with a distinguished cast of musicians from different backgrounds without the pressure associated with pop music recordings, bringing to mind the musical ensembles of the 70’s such as that of Carla Bley, Soft Machine or Irakere.
With new album (Loin Des) Rivages coming out 4th March on L’invitation Musicale, first single Et s’éveillent (The awakening) was recorded in Paris in June 2020 as part of a 5 day recording session that gathered up to thirteen musicians in Studio Atlas (of Air’s Jean-Benoit Dunckel), with the stand-out percussion section, including Wendy Kill (from Jenny Beth fame), Jazz drummer/classical percussionist Arnaud Biscay on drums, and Colombian percussionist and Yoruba scholar Pedro Barrios on Congas.
The song is BVO’s take on the classic Samba rhythm. It embodies the project’s musicianship and quest for spirituality, as it reaches into the roots of Brazilian music, offering a sonic ode to the Yoruba ceremonies from which Samba derives. Fast paced rhythm section and cavaquinho are accompanied by a monochord electric guitar acting like some sort of a temple bell, calling for meditation.
It is part of an epic musical journey along that figurative Amazonian trail tracing the story of the album and the project in general: the construction of an ensemble, the quest for harmony, through music, between beings.