Erwan Keravec is a highland bagpiper, composer and improviser. In seeking out the more unusual sounds, and ways of playing and listening to his instrument, far from its original cultural setting, he is exploring improvised music, free and ‘noise’ jazz, and establishing a repertoire of contemporary music for solo pipes, trio with solo voice and with choir. With an interest in movement and in settings associated with reinvention, he also writes, plays and improvises for dance.
Since 2007, he has pursued his quest for a style of piping that’s removed from its original setting, with the projects Urban Pipes I (2007) and Urban Pipes II (2011). To make his intentions clear, he commissioned composers to write solo pieces for the instrument as part of the Nu Piping series (since 2011). So far, he has been behind 19 works by 17 composers. For the quartet SONNEURS, he commissioned 12 pieces. This research will lead to IN C // 20 PIPERS (2022) and 8 PIPERS FOR PHILIP GLASS (2024).
In 2009, he met Basque singer Beñat Achiary, with whom he made Ametsa (2011). He has been working on the repertoire for VOX (since 2013), for bagpipes and voice (soprano and baritone). Programme which he’ll further expand in Extended VOX (2019) with Les Cris de Paris – a 24-piece choir led by Geoffroy Jourdain – featuring 2 commissions. He is also currently staging Blind (2015), a piece a blindfolded audience, and leads the Revolutionary Birds project (2015) with Tunisian singer Mounir Troudi and percussionist Wassim Halal. In the more familiar territory of experimental music, he is collaborating with Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson (Luft – 2015) and the American drummer Hamid Drake (2019). He has also formed the trio White Sands with guitarist Julien Desprez and percussionist Will Guthrie (2019).
Photo credit – Jean de Pena