Pierre Bensusan
Servant of the Music
by Anil Prasad

There's a lone figure standing in front of Berkeley, California's Freight and Salvage folk club on this bright, breezy spring afternoon. Clad in a David Crosby-esque Cherokee leather coat, the mysterious stranger knocks quietly on the venue's entrance. Greeted only by the din of the tall, rattling door, the puzzled visitor proceeds to peer into the club's window in search of signs of life. The stranger is none other than renowned French acoustic guitarist Pierre Bensusan.

Bewildered at his inability to get inside on schedule, Bensusan saunters to the parking lot to discuss the situation with tour manager Tom Long. Both he and Bensusan are eager to get sound check started. After all, with a complex, high-tech rig and an exacting approach to achieving optimal venue sound, Bensusan is far from being a "plug 'n' play" acoustic guitarist. Rather, he requires at least an hour of set-up time — often considerably more — before he's satisfied.

In the parking lot, with no club staff in sight, Bensusan takes advantage of the down time to discuss his music and career. Seated on large black and silver equipment cases in the shadow of his tour van, he begins by discussing his latest release, a compilation titled Nice Feeling. The disc draws largely from solo instrumental material on his first six studio albums, which date back to the mid-'70s. It showcases his highly evolved virtuoso fingerstyle technique — one steeped in alternate tunings and influences that span the globe. Occasionally, the release also features pieces incorporating his distinctive wordless chanting to remind listeners that he's also a fine vocalist with a warm, lilting tint.

"I'm very proud of this compilation," said Bensusan, 41, a native of Algeria who relocated to Paris with his parents at age four. "Now, people who haven't heard of me can listen to this and go, 'I heard someone else play like this, but God, he has been playing like this since 1974.' What I like about the record is in one hour, you get a complete musical kaleidoscope of different genres. It's world music, which I used to do for a long time before the term existed."

The record's title is a double-entendre. Beyond the obvious interpretation, it also refers to a track inspired by his time living in the city of Nice, France, in 1981. Although his music is inspired by people, places and beauty, he prefers listeners situate it in a larger framework. "It's about a big journey. It's a big statement," he said, as his long, dark, curly hair swayed with the wind. "I'm saying 'This is guitar, but it isn't about guitar. It's about something else. So open your ears.' It's a basic invitation to step into my world — my living room — and listen."

Bensusan's first invitation was his prodigious 1975 release Près de Paris, recorded when he was only 16. Two pieces from the disc are included on Nice Feeling. Had he put the compilation together a few years ago, chances are the earlier material wouldn't have made the cut. "I used to be extremely harsh and intolerant with myself — especially as soon as a record would be finished," he said. "I have changed, and now I can listen to any of my records and completely accept what they are, where I succeeded and where I succeeded less. It's a bit like if the train had stopped for the first time. I can look around at the scenery — look around at my life — from a distance."

This is an excerpt from Dirty Linen #85 (December '99/January '00)