Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra – Eurythmia

French pianist-composer Eve Risser released the Eurythmia album in 2022 with the 12-piece Red Desert Orchestra. On the album and in live performances, this orchestra founded by Risser consists of nine European musicians and three originally from Burkina Faso currently living in France. The band’s music veers between groove-driven jazz and the hypnotic cadences of West Africa. Sometimes wistful, sometimes furious horn melodies play with catchy polyrhythms shaped by African percussion instruments – djembes, balaphones and baros – challenging the soloists to playful improvisation.

Over the past decade, Risser has successfully led several small and large ensembles, creating contemporary and experimental jazz. One of the world’s most significant jazz festivals, the Dutch North Sea Jazz, annually awards the Paul Acket Award to an artist whose exceptional musical talent deserves wider recognition. An international jury consisting of 100 jazz critics and promoters chooses the winner by vote from among the candidates nominated by the jury. In 2023, the Paul Acket Award was won by Eve Risser. Previous recipients of the award include Cécile McLorin Salvant, Donny McCaslin and Julian Lage.

Eve Risser, piano, compositions (FR)
Alexandra Grimal, alto saxophone (FR)
Sakina Abdou, tenor saxophone (FR)
Grégoire Tirtiaux, baritone saxophone, qarqabas (FR)
Nils Ostendorf, trumpet, analog synthesizer (DE)
Matthias Müller, trombone (DE)
Tatiana Paris, electric guitar, vocals (FR)
Ophélia Hié, balafon, bara, vocals (BF)
Mélissa Hié, balafon, djembé, vocals (BF)
Fanny Lasfargues, bass (FR)
Oumarou Bambara, djembe, bara (BF)
Emmanuel Scarpa, drums, vocals (FR)

Ravintola Musine’s bar serves throughout the concert. The restaurant offers African dishes before the gig. We recommend making a table reservation: https://www.musine.fi/poytavaraus

Tickets €31/27 + order fees (from €1.50), Lippu.fi
Duration approx. 1 h 15 min, no intermission
Photo: Vera Marmelo – Jazz Em Agosto

The concert is carried out in cooperation with the Europe Jazz Network (EJN), with the Green Pilot Tour tour model, the aim of which is, among other things, to plan and implement more ecologically sustainable tours, to encourage more versatile and gender-balanced programming and to promote the international mobility of artists.