Pascal Coulon
Pascal Coulon is a french musician fell in love, more than thirty years ago, of the harp llanera, Spanish baroque original diatonic instrument.
Become an expert of the instrument, it is also the best Ambassador everywhere where it occurs, whether in festival, concert or... in the metro!
Pascal Coulon was born in 1951 in the North of the France, a region that is distinguished by its musical traditions. Like many young people of his generation, he was introduced to the guitar by himself and performer French songs of the moment accompaniment himself.
At twenty, he "monte" in Paris. He discovered Latin American music at L'Escale, one of the oldest Latino bars of the latin quarter. There, he learned the music Paraguayan, Argentine, Colombian, Peruvian and Venezuelan. But there is a genre that attracts his attention specially: the music of the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos and especially the joropo and the pasaje, a style at the slow pace in which the harp is the main melodic instrument.
Venezuela, Japan, China
In Paris, he met the harpist Venezuelan Victor Reyna who introduced him to the cuatro, the little guitar with four strings of the Venezuela, allowing him to accompany him on his tours in Europe. On his return to the Venezuela, Victor Reyna sells her harp.
In 1974, Pascal Coulon made his first trip to the Venezuela. It goes directly to San Fernando de Apure to visit Ignacio "El Indio" Figueredo, the great harpist and composer of music llanera, who fascinated him everything especially.
In 1985, he sailed again for the Venezuela and there for two months. He visits once again to Ignacio "El Indio" Figueredo. In Barinas, he meets and befriends an another harpist, José Gregorio López.
Back in France, he continued his studies of music llanera completely self-taught with the help of recordings. Himself records his first production Pascal y Arpa
In 1993, he traveled to Colombia to attend festivals of music llanera in Arauca, Yopal, San Martin and Villavicencio. He made many harpists meet with Carlos Orozco, a Venezuelan nicknamed Mitralleta, so his game is fast. The following year, he visited Carlos Orozco in Barquisimeto. He participates in the recording of the first CD of Pascal, Caricias del Viento, which will be released in 1997.
Beside pieces in the style of the llanero composed or arranged by him or by others, he creates his own compositions and not afraid to expand the genre, adding instrumentation not traditional in the llanos, like the bandoneon, marimba, piano, the mandoloncelle, the recorder, the balalaika, the vahli, the cello...
He is not afraid to flirt with the baroque and the Celtic, clue with traditional French music, titillates contemporary music and frolicking with various Latin rhythms, expanding the scope of this harp
which the baroque origin is established. (see the harp and the information on the website of Yves Darcisas).
In addition to entire academic career, Pascal Coulon walking his instrument into the Paris metro, where he finds inspiration for his compositions.
