Performers

Rouge Ciel (Québec)

This quartet – whose name translates as “Sky-red” – represents part of the younger generation of musique actuelle players in the Ambiences Magnétiques stable. Featuring instrumentation that suggests an electro-acoustic chamber ensemble, Rouge Ciel plays a balanced mix of composed material and thematic improvisation in a style that is both folkloric and contemporary in character.

There’s a heavy debt in places to jazz-rock as well as the territory of progressive rock that Frank Zappa carved out, though Balkan and other Eastern European traditions are also in evidence. Thus, the music is both thoughtfully and rigorously composed and, at crucial points, rhythmically enlivening. The Guelph Jazz Festival has consistently featured the best and brightest of Montréal’s musique actuelle scene, and this legacy continues with the new exposure of Rouge Ciel to Ontarian audiences.

Website:
www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/rougeciel_/