Tag: Pierre Omer

We have a new space Five Questions. Five Questions is not dependable of a record release, tour or otherwise, although it may coincide with those. As is the case here. Five Questions is also not limited to music. What is the criteria? A very easy one. Something I like, and, or feel is relevant.

We start with Pierre Omer. Pierre Omer’s Swing Revue’s Tropical Breakdown is out on Voodoo Rhythm and currently touring Europe.

by Raquel Pinheiro

01 – What is your earliest musical memory?

My early life was between two countries and two languages, so the memories are mixed up… I have lullabies coming to my mind. Harry Belafonte in English and some bizarre French nursery rhyme out of the Middle Ages, hahaha!

02 – When did you start to be interested in Swing and why?

Somewhere in my teens. I heard old shellac records of obscure swing artists. I was fascinated by the evocation of another world, another time. At the same period, I started listening to Django Reinhardt. His guitar just rocks! So much energy and joy!

03 – Fado is one of your influences. How did it come into your life, and how does Fado present itself in your music?

I’m not a specialist in Fado at all, and one can’t hear any trace of it in my music. But yes, I am very touched by Fado, the same way Tango or Flamenco touches me. I feel something essential about this music, but I know I need to include a big part, not understanding how the words are used.

04 – How important is it to you on Pierre Omer’s Swing Review that the clothes, the visual and scenographic aspect of things fits into, translates, and, or give a sense of the Music?

I like to think of our tuxedos not only as a visual element for the audience but also as a way for us in the band to be focused and tight. I like to think of the Ramones and their strict outfits and disciplined attitude towards their music. I also like the idea that the tuxedo is a working outfit. Our work is to entertain. Then, the “artistic” aspect might appear or not.

05 – Which more contemporary elements do you incorporate in the Swing tradition, and how important it to you, despite the Revival of the title, to have a fresh approach to Swing?

The only fact that we have been exposed to all the music that has happened since the 1930s gives our interpretation of this music a different twist. It is also important that we are not jazz players. We have to struggle a little bit with this music, which gives us a different attitude. As much as I love this music, I have to play it in an iconoclastic way to pay my respects. I’m really not at ease with revival bands who play swing religiously!

https://pierreomersswingrevue.bandcamp.com/album/tropical-breakdown