Youssoupha Gospel Symphonique Experience

Youssoupha Gospel Symphonique Experience at the Théâtre du Châtelet.

I also know that it is the French cultural exception that allowed my rap to move forward. So, admittedly, there were antagonisms, stigmatisation… But my French culture, my French rap, my Francophonie, it is in France that I learned them!

Youssoupha, this concert is first and foremost an encounter between a rapper, a pianist, a choir and an orchestra, conducted by Olivier Koundouno. It is also an encounter between several musical styles: rap, gospel and so-called "classical" music.

Carried by the politically engaged lyrics of the Franco-Congolese rapper Youssoupha, the choristers and instrumentalists bring to life the arrangements made by the conductor, Olivier Koundouno. At the crossroads of film music and grand opera, yet without abandoning anything of rap, from which he has kept a taste for sampling, the composer and arranger has orchestrated an original score, free of pre-recorded sequences, deejay and rhythm section (drums, bass), in order to let the rubato express itself, to the benefit of the phrasing. And that is without mentioning the presence, on keyboards, of Manu Sauvage!

So many ingredients brought together for this… experience!