Daniel Masson

The Bay Area Music Tour

Daniel — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:38:29 +0000

The Bay Area Music Tour

I had an amazing music experience in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The story started with my friend Jonathan Rickert, dj and yoga teacher, who helped me set up a tour.
I had a 1 month in San Francisco and all along the trip Jonathan was like a guide.

I performed in many places: yoga studios, venues and private parties.
The Yoga Community is huge in California and notably in the Bay Area.
To play my music at yoga studios was an interesting experience. I think people making their poses are sensitive to the music in an other way than people in venues and clubs. I played at Yoga Tree, Flying Yoga and Groove Yoga studios.
The air temperature in the places was very hot, more than 30 Celsius, but many people came, most notably at Tim Dale’s Yoga Tree Castro with 132 participants.

I performed my George Méliès cinemix at Red Poppy Arthouse located in the Mission which is a San Francisco famous quarter for nightlife. After the big stage of Busan Film Festival it was fun for me to play in this small place!! I could listen how the audience was reacting and I enjoyed it. The mood was warm and soulful.

I had a flight and short staying in Phoenix for a performance at W Hotel in Scottsdale where I played on the hotel roof. This is a beautiful luxury hotel located in a big city built in the middle of the desert of Arizona.
Big shopping centers, golf courses, endless avenues… The American atmosphere of this area is quite different compare to the Bay Area.

Then back to San Francisco, I recorded Mr Bobby Black who is a legendary pedal steel guitar player. He started his career in the fifties and he is still performing at 74 years old and still in a very good shape!!
Bobby played for bands during the sixties California psychedelic era like New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody, Grateful Dead as well as for many Country Music artists like Dolly Parton.
I was lucky to record such a great musician.

I encountered an amazing artist designer and musician Sebastien Alvarez. His creativity has the power to catch and bring you towards other multiple dimensions. He is a talented videomaker, photographer and musician producing electro glitch music.

I also met Sarika Dagar, designer and musician and Stephen Wilson dj at Below Zero Beats and sound engineer at Digidesign, Avid Technology. For those who don’t know, Digidesign is a pioneer developer and manufacturer of audio production systems on computers, whose legendary software is Pro Tools.
I’ve been using their stuff from the beginning in the 90′s so it was really interesting to enter their temple!
I discovered a number of engineers developing, improving and testing new devices. Very interesting!
I spent a couple of nights at Sarika’s and Steven’s home making music and sharing good times.

I encountered Reed Rickert who is a great documentary film maker. He’s finalizing a film exploring about musical and cultural links
between Mexican Music and Moroccan, Gnawa and Berber music.

I also had an interview for the Mary Spicer Show on 12Radio. We spoke about frequencies….. and Frequencies my latest album.
Mary is an amazing person passionate about Energy Medicine. We had an interesting time and good conversation.

During my staying I met many people. I can’t mention everybody.
I don’t know what makes the San Francisco Bay Area so different with a lot of energetic vibes, but this journey brought me
inspiration for my next album. I will tell you more very soon…..

“Flying” Free single from new album Frequencies

Daniel — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:53:10 +0000

The tunes of the album are all small stories like a travelogue or a “carnet de voyages”, a set
of sensations and frequencies I felt when traveling the world.

FLying (Free single) by Daniel Masson

This is the sensation I feel when sat in the plane and thinking about my destination.
Such an exciting feeling, because a new adventure is about to begin!

“Flying in the sky
Moving in the air
Discovering new places
Making friends from everywhere

Flying in the sky
With the birds and the clouds
Moving in the air
Forever”

This is an optimistic song in a 1960’s mood with happy guitar and bass parts! Flying is a hymn to the journey and this is dedicated to all the people who travel and love it.

My Korean Voyage

Daniel — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:40:15 +0000

I would like to share with you my recent adventure of spending three weeks in Korea, a busy time full of performances, press conferences, interviews and meeting many interesting people.

My stay in Seoul started on 27 of September with a press conference organised by the French and German embassies in South-Korea.

The following days I spent by visiting many art exhibitions and receptions in Seoul – an amazing city of full of interesting and innovative pieces.

My first performance took place at Seoul old railway station on 5th of October during the opening ceremony of the “Souvenirs from Earth” exhibition.
During the ceremony, I performed live a music I composed for “The Impossible Voyage” a masterpiece of Georges Méliès (1904).

The gig was good despite the rather poor acoustic quality of the place: a big station hall from 1925 that obviously initially wasn’t designed for concerts…But it all went well and I received great feedback from the people joining the performance.

A few days later I moved to Busan, a city in the south of the country where I performed at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF 2011).

My Korean “Riviera” staying in Busan started with the exhibition of Isabelle Huppert, a French well-known actress, “Woman of Many Faces”. The exhibition was followed by a reception on a terrace between the skycrapers of Busan – an amazing view over this modern city.

I rehearsed at the festival big hall the night before my performance and I encountered many technical problems which I was busy solving until early morning hours. The Busan Grand Hall theatre is an fantastic new place with changing color lights on the roof – a building that was finalised only a few weeks before the festival.

My performance in Busan the day after was at the opening of The French Night. My part was included between a 120 people-symphonic orchestra and the screening of “The Artist”, a French film by Michel Hazavicius with Jean Dujardin.

I must say, I really enjoyed playing there in front of 5000 people in a kind of “Blade Runner” landscape!!

The French Night concluded with a great reception at Novotel and a party at club 3F with DJ’s. I went to bed by watching the sun rises on the Yellow Sea: an amazing experience!

Following the Busan performance, I returned to Seoul to perform at a venue named “Globe” located at Itaewon which is a popular neighbourhood in Seoul with many restaurants, clubs and bars.

The Globe party theme was “The Unofficial After BIFF Party” an event by Vincent Sung. I played my Electro World and chill-out music – it was great to play my music in front of a really good and receptive Korean audience.

In the following days, I gave some interviews to ‘Han-Kook Daily’ and “Culture M” for Korean media.

A week later I played for the “Tache Seoul Fashion Week After Party”.

I returned to France on 21th of October after a 12 hours flight letting me the time to think about all the great people I met.

This project was presented by “French Embassy of South Korea”, “French Institute of Seoul” and “German Embassy of South Korea” and sponsored by Louis Quatorze. Thanks to all of them for the fantastic experience!!!

My performance at Busan International film Festival 2011, South Korea.

Daniel — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:22:20 +0000

I performed live a music I composed for “The Impossible Voyage” a masterpiece of Georges Méliès (1904), at French Night of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF 2011).
An event presented by “French Embassy Of South Korea”, “French Institute of Seoul” and “German Embassy of South Korea” and sponsored by Louis Quatorze.
by Louis Quatorze.
For perform I used Ableton Live and Max for Live running on a Macbook Pro.
I triggered sequences with an Akai APC40 midi controller.

The Impossible Voyage Project

Daniel — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:25:50 +0000

I would like to share with you an amazing project that has kept me busy working since a couple of months.

I composed a new electronic music score for the film of George Méliès “The Impossible Voyage” (1904). George Méliès was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was an innovative master in the use of special effects.

The project was initialized by Mr Daniel Kapelian, head of audiovisual and new media at French Embassy of South Korea and “Institut Français de Corée du Sud”. The film will be shown to the audience in Seoul and Busan in October 2011 and I will play live my music to accompany the movie during the performance.

I really enjoy this project. I’m honored to compose a music for this more than 100 years old fantastic masterpiece.

At the ages of silent film, the story of the movie was only expressed by the gestures and moves of the actors. I composed the music in a similar way as for a modern ballet. In each scene of “The Impossible Voyage” one can see the characters moving and gesticulating, expressing their feelings with their bodies. I created rhythms synchronizing their gestures and making them move like dancers.

The music consists of five parts: The Preparation, The Escape, Into The Sun, Under The Sea, The Return.

Each part is written in an electronic music mood with beats, sonic atmospheres, sequences, gimmicks, special effects. I also used some ethnic samples of my recordings sessions of musicians from all over the World.

This new colorized version of the film, restored by Lobster Films – Paris is a 20 minutes story.

I will play live for the opening ceremony inside Seoul Station of the exhibition “Souvenirs From Earth” on the 5th of October 2011 and for overture of the French Night the 8th of October at Busan International Film Festival. Should you be there – please join me!

These events are sponsored by Louis Quatorze. It is an amazing lifestyle brand marrying traditional craftsmanship with a modern twist.

For the performances I will use Ableton Live running on a Mac Book pro with an Akai apc40 as midi controller.

Here is an excerpt of The Impossible Voyage, enjoy !

DESERT SUNSET FROM NEW ALBUM “FREQUENCIES”

Daniel — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:02:22 +0000

There is a story behind each tune of my new album “Frequencies”. This time, I would like to tell you about Desert Sunset.

Desert Sunset by Daniel Masson

Story of a dinner in the middle of the desert near Siwa oasis.

This conjures up something like a scene like a film or a dreamy advertisement!

“Autour de moi
les couleurs disparaissent
les étoiles apparaissent

Dans le silence du désert
Les étoiles apparaissent”

“All around me
The lights disappear
The stars appear

In the silence of the desert
The stars appear”

Desert Sunset is a good exemple of fusion of musical genres.

This tune includes samples of Estii singer Liina Ranne, French pianist Christophe Soullier, Syrian duduk player Ara Tengerian, Syrian tambur player Mehmûd Berazi and sample of Bangadeshi tablas player Rabindra Svatl Paul.

BLUECOLOR FROM NEW ALBUM “FREQUENCIES”

Daniel — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:00:09 +0000

Bluecolor by Daniel Masson

You can download for free “Bluecolor” by signing up to my mailing list

This is a tune from my new album “Frequencies” (out May 2, 2011)

This opus includes 12 tracks wich are all small stories like a travelogue or a “carnet de voyages,” a set of sensations and frequencies I felt when traveling the world.

The first page of Frequencies stories is Bluecolor.

“Being on a beach paradise in the Indian Ocean…. the blue of the sea and the sky, the white of the sand and the green of the vegetation which completes that picture. All of which gives such a set of wonderful contrasts!
Such beauty and serenity had a mesmerizing effect on me and that blue color was something like a sensual calling“.

In this tune you are hearing the beautiful voice of Mayada Bselis, a great singer from Syria. I recorded her on a visit to Aleppo.

“Jam at 2″ from new album Frequencies

Daniel — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:19:03 +0000

Jam At 2 by Daniel Masson

One night working in my studio I was editing the voice of Hany Adel and the sound of his voice had such a presence that I really got the impression we were digitally on the same stage! I took my guitar and improvised some licks adding in the arrangement a solo of Abu Shamon a brilliant Syrian percussionist.

I really feel this tune is a digital jam session with the small solos and the creative vocal improvisation of Hany who is a famous singer in Egypt. I recorded his voice in the Yacubian Building in Cairo an incredible place with so much old fashioned charm and resonance.

My trip to Seoul

Daniel — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:38:34 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I had a 10 day visit in Seoul, South Korea.
The city of Seoul as 20 million people. The city expands on a huge surface among the hills.
The town has a positive vibration, the economy is good and the people are kindhearted.
The art scene is bustling: musicians, artists, designers.
I really enjoyed it !!
I’ve walked for hours in the quarters: in my opinion, it is the best way to discover a city.
Sometimes I was totally lost !!!
Everywhere in the streets I was hearing “K- pop” which means Korean Pop Music.
“K-pop” is expanding it’s influence on many East Asian countries.
It is a trendy movement. If you want to listen: here.
I also encountered a great musician: Yoon-Jeong Heo www.yoonjeongheo
She plays a traditional Korean instrument the “geomum-go”.
We planned together some projects for the near future….
See more of my pics here.

January 2011

Daniel — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 17:30:08 +0000

As you know I’ve been working on a new album for months. I have a good news: the music is now ready and I am planning a commercial release for March 2011.
The album contains 12 tracks and it will be available on all the main digital stores. A Compact Disk will be available too. This album is different and has many new sounds and flavours. Sure enough, you will be surprised ….. in a good way I hope.
I’ve included sounds of musicians and voices of singers that I recorded when I traveled to Egypt, Syria, India and as well as recordings of European musicians. I also played many guitars and bass parts.
I composed and produced this album in my studio located in the deep French country side: perfect to be concentrated in the music !!
I would have some good stories to tell you about this album.