REVIEW: Pierre Bensusan: The World on a String

The genre of world music is one that I find to be rather vague; reasonably, one could categorize any genre of music as such. The term serves as a bit of a catch-all for any type of music that isn’t Western or popular (both of which are almost equally vague, subjective, and/or temporal). 

These are thoughts running through my head as I was attempting to guess what to expect from French-Algerian guitarist Pierre Bensusan. 

I stood in wait at the bar in the 9th Ward that rainy evening, perking my ears when Pierre took the stage to indirectly answer my questions.

Immediately, it became apparent that he was not any old guitarist; he held a steel string acoustic guitar but assumed a tall, yet seated posture, and used a guitar support to prop up his instrument. This is the textbook position of a conservatory classical guitarist, and yet he began playing a relaxed melody with a drone, similar to Celtic tunes. Not to mention that classical guitarists play guitars that have nylon strings, not steel. 

Throughout his first song, I was preoccupied with the unique combination of techniques and standards, and how they mixed so beautifully. Genres like bluegrass and folk have made similar adjustments through the use of fingerstyle or the use of different string materials, but Pierre’s performance was truly something else.

The benefit of his technique was shown throughout the whole concert, with the wide palette of tone he was able to achieve by borrowing classical techniques and using properly manicured nails to pluck the strings.

Pierre Bensusan was not taught conventionally, at least not on the guitar. 

His two older sisters and he took up piano lessons when he was little—he stopped in between songs to tell the audience. His father had a client who was a prolific piano teacher, and she agreed to teach Pierre in exchange for a discount at his father’s grocery store. It was because of this teacher that he fell in love with music, continuing to learn for several years until his teacher had to move away. After one year of not touching a piano, he came home to his father holding a guitar.

The only difference with this endeavor was that he had no one to show him the ropes, so instead of finding a private teacher, he listened; he listened to records of Bob Dylan and soundtracks like that of the movie Forbidden Games. “Those were my teachers: those who I listened to,” he said as he tuned his guitar for the next couple of songs.

From there, his talent only grew as he became fond of alternate tunings of the guitar, allowing for a certain unique expression of his music, allowing his original compositions to whisper of places that he’s been and dear friends that he has made.

The audience was utterly gripped by Pierre, telling tales of childhood memories with a regretless gleam in his eye; he recalled his youthful, and even now persistent, love for music. These intermittent stories of his life throughout his performance made me leave the concert with such an understanding and connection to his music that I didn’t get while looking through his most popular songs on streaming platforms, and I’m all the more glad for it. 

He told stories of his performances across America and Europe, but he spent particular time showing his love for Ireland as well as his friendship with a musician there. Pierre then played a song that he had dedicated to that friend who had since unfortunately passed, bringing about tears from some of the audience members.

His love for Ireland clearly shone the brightest out of his music, with Irish folk-derived melodies being the glue of his music that dance from French chansons to Brazilian bossa rhythms and vocal skat solos. This fruitful basket of cultural styles is what made Pierre’s performance last in my mind, only increasing my appetite for more rhapsodic sounds, even days after having seen it.

If someone were to ask me to define the genre of world music now, I’d likely describe a style resembling the music of Pierre Bensusan; the colorful mixture of many cultures to create one beautiful musical display, birthed from the melting pot that is an instrument like the guitar.

His music not only entertained, but it also inspired me to continue to make music that I love. 

Pierre put it best, sighing with reverie towards the end of the show: “Playing music every night; what a blessing!”