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present

1. CORSICA 2.CONDROZ 3.UN ETE AVEC TOI 4.GASTON GENDEBIEN 5.YA BAI MIRIAM feat.El Funoun 6. MAUVE 7.PAPA ROSA 8.CALIFORNIA 9.BACK TO MALI 10.DISTANCES 11.SAINT FONTAINE 12.1977

LABEL/ AGUA MUSIC – SONGTONE

DISTRIBUTION/ CODAEX – iTunes - Amazon

Listen to the album : http://www.quentindujardin.be/distances/index_en.html Official website : www.quentindujardin.com ABOUT DISTANCES

Quentin Dujardin : nylon, fretless, acoustic, Music composed & arranged by Quentin Dujardin slide & electric guitars, ukulele, voix, whistle, Except Ya Bai Miriam (Palestinian traditional song) piano, hammond organ, bass, bodhran & percussions arranged by Quentin Dujardin

Jalal El Allouli: violin Recorded at Agua music studio by Quentin Dominic Ntoumos : trumpet Dujardin () Hamza Mraihi : kanun Mixed at Fantasy studio by Adam Munoz (US) Kalil Sidy Haïdara : electric guitar Strings arrangement by Quentin Dujardin Santo Scinta : drums Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling sound Fred Malempré : drums Arnout Hellofs: drums Produced by Lee Townsend Fredrik Gille : bells Executive producer : Agua music El Funoun : vocals on Ya Bai Miriam

ABOUT QUENTIN DUJARDIN

Composer & guitarist Quentin Dujardin creates a unique instrumental universe around his nylon-string guitars. Like a series of postcards, his music is imbued with intuitive experiences from the streets, landscapes lived and musicians encountered on the road. His guitars invite you to discover the music of a universal elsewhere and connect to our Western musical heritage in astonishing and unexpected ways.

DISTANCES is the album that announces with groove and sensitivity that artistic maturity has arrived. From nylon to steel-string, through slide and ukulele, Dujardin reveals a universe that encompasses musical meetings that surprise, as in the song Ya Bai Miriam with the Palestinian a capella group El-Funoun. The exchange between the bewitching kanun of the Tunisian Hamza Mraihi and the Moroccan violin of Jalal El Allouli transcends the song Condroz, a composition dedicated to Dujardin’s homeland. Undoubtedly influenced by the cinematic Westerns of his childhood and the music of Ennio Morricone, the epic Gaston Gendebien highlights Dujardin’s furious strumming and raging voice in endless spaces where Dominic Ntoumos and his trumpet soar with true force.

The artistic production of the American Lee Townsend () reveals Dujardin’s sonic universe with extraordinary finesse and intelligence, taking his intense pan-stylistic musical vibrations further across many musical landscapes, whether classical (Distances & Un été avec toi), folk (California) or purely acoustic, as in Papa Rosa, a tribute to the drummer and singer Brian Blade.

Make no mistake, the artist's guitar has no limit. Track after track Dujardin’s six-string magically erases distances to announce a new era without borders. So, how about one for the road? Sit back in your sofa and open your ears to discover DISTANCES.

DISTANCES by QUENTIN DUJARDIN

« Back home with my guitar I played a few tunes. Bamako was still in my body, but without its sand, its warmth, its blues. The forests, rivers and valleys of the Condroz for my eyes and ears. Especially, a great desire to compose before my wood stove.

Two microphones in front of my guitars. The winter passes. Playing some overdubs, the exploration intensifies night and day. The musicians are at home. An album is recorded.

From time to time Brian Blade is on the turntable, Bill Frisell and Nigel North caress my ears. I think back toß my companion, Gaston, and his caravan. My childhood friends, the streets of Saint Fontaine.

The music rises, distances disappear and I'm here at home.” MORE On his previous album, Impressionniste, Quentin Dujardin notably collaborated with harmonica player . His work as a composer led him to produce the soundtrack for the theatrical adaptation of the novel by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Monsieur Ibrahim & les fleurs du Coran. In 2011, the artist was invited to join the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation to become an artist ambassador of this international association.

Born in Dinant (Belgium) in 1977, Quentin Dujardin entered the world of classical music very early with his father, who was an unconditional fan of organ music (Bach, Franck, Messiaen, Duruflé, etc.). Quentin was a faithful student at the local music school where he studied guitar, music theory, music history and chamber music. The discovery in his father’s mostly classical music library of an album by , the famous Belgium jazz guitarist was a pivotal moment for Quentin. His serious exploration into jazz began at the age of 15. He studied improvisation with Pierre van Dormael who remains an important influence on him in this area. After various internships with musicians such as Nathalie Loriers and he quickly made up his mind to continue his education at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in . By now aged 17, his musical encounters increased and it was here that he met Karl van Deun, Fabien Degryse and Diederik Wissels. It was with the latter that five years later he recorded his first album entitled La Fontaine de Gore named after the street he was brought up on. Graduating in jazz en light music, he continued a further year to study film music composition with Dirk Brossé at the Ghent Conservatory.

After years of study, Quentin Dujardin now travels with his classic guitar. From Gnawas (Morocco) to Andalucian Gypsies (Spain) passing by Vezos (Madagascar) or even Guaranis (Paraguay), his way of life connects this movement to delicate production based on listening and mixing sounds from around the world. In this way Quentin Dujardin gives himself the pleasure of accumulating experiences with the same rigor: total devotion to his art. Thus, to discover the range of this guitarist remains a unique experience for everyone because the roads that lead you to him may be many. Yet there remains something immutable that touches and marks his world of the guitar with an indelible imprint: sound and emotion. So within the world music audience he gained recognition for his album Khamis, produced by RTBF (National Belgian Radio & Television) and Didier Mélon, which recounted his life of travel and his initial encounter with the Moroccan singer and violinist Jalal El Allouli. The enthusiasm that met this album allowed him to perform internationally in venues such as Marrakesh' Théâtre Royal, the Esperanzah Festival, Quebec’s Théâtre Capitole, Jazz en Nord, Flagey, Nanduti de Paraguay, etc.The guitarplayer has also been very active on the scene with his previous two albums La Fontaine de Gore and Vivre in which he worked alongside Diederik Wissels and Ivan Paduart, as well as for his work with Toots Thielemans on his album Impressionniste.

Guitarist Magazine referred to him stating, "This artist is a sumptuous invitation to voyage."

He has worked (studio/live) in collaboration with a long list of artists, including Bai Kamara Jr., Lee Townsend, Diederik Wissels, Jacques Stotzem, Njava, Toots Thielemans, Nicolas Fiszman, Proshely, Jalal El Allouli, Ivan Paduart, Manu Katché, Prakash Kandasamy, Marc Vella, Remanindry, Hamza M'raihi, Tuur Florizoone, Goran Milosevic, Abdelah Gynea, Thierry Van Roy, , Volker Biesenbender, Didier Laloy, Marlène Dorcena and Abaji. Since 2003 he has performed more than 450 concerts throughout Belgium and internationally (France, Spain, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Madagascar, Morocco, Canada, Paraguay, Estonia,etc.). In 2008, The French director, Freddy Mouchard made a documentary movie Sur le Chemin (77:00) about his way of living music around the world. The movie was selected by the Worldfilm Festival 2009 of Tartu (Estonia) and the Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen de Bruxelles 2008. His album Veloma is the original soundtrack from the movie. His artistic generosity also finds expression in the more discreet activity of writing and composing in contexts other then his own album production. He worked on the soundtrack for the theatrical adaptation of Eric- Emmanuel Schmitt’s novel Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran; on the original soundtrack for the TV campaign Answer the Call, a benefit fund for the families of fireman policemen; for the Kaos string on the occasion of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union; and for various RTBF commissions such as the Mais où est le camera? He has also as well remixed the lounge compilations Salon Oriental Vol. 3 & 4 brought out on EMI France and M10 and worked as a producer for Brunoise, a project by Argentinean artist, Nicolas Pirillo.

CONTACTS

AGUA music/Fanny Lebrun La Fontaine de Gore, 8 5530 Durnal/Belgium phone : +32 495 309 615 www.quentindujardin.com fax : +32 83 699 207 mail : [email protected]

Photo by Bruno Mercier