Meeting with the percussionist singer Messaoud Kheniche alias META – Le Matin d’Algérie

Messaoud Kheniche alias META is a singer-songwriter and percussionist who has been in vogue for several years now. His music oscillates between jazz, pop, sometimes even like a refreshing scent of blues, high melodies, like a quasi-spiritual quest, like a breeze coming from Africa crossing the desert through the hot sand dunes and flying over the sea , in breathtaking sounds of light.

The album, Incurve life, is of great musical and poetic maturity, it is Jazz imbued with various colors.

Le Matin d’Algérie: Your creations shake up and amaze, who is Messaoud Kheniche?

Messaoud Khaniche : Trained as a drummer at the musical and creative center of Nancy, he moved to the capital of European jazz in 1996 at the call of François & Louis Moutin (renowned jazzman). From then on, we find it on the album Init of the André Ceccarelli/N’Guyen Lê/Bob Berg trio, then within Bad Elephant, with Daniel Casimir, Louis Moutin, Linley Marthe and Michael Felberbaum. Since 1996, the singer-percussionist has distinguished himself in multiple contexts, without erasing his singularity. The list is long of his participations which he has always been able to take advantage of to refine his own vision of things. “ The lesson of pleasure… », summarizes the one who also asserts himself as a leader.

He published four records under his single nickname: Secret History in 2003 and Epigram in 2008. He renewed the same team for his third album, The Sweetness of a Safron Wind en 2012, whose title echoes its “African” origins. “Incurve Life” (jazzmagazine shocker and sacem artist in 2020, the supreme award which distinguishes the records to listen to). His latest record “Cross Road” was released in 2022.

Meta has collaborated with among others: Avishai Cohen, Thomas Enhco, Paul Lay, Pierre de Bethmann, Stéphane Galland, André Ceccarelli, François & Louis Moutin, Ari Hoenig, Lee Konitz, Fiona Monbet, David El Malek, Nguyen Lê, Bob Berg, Samy Thiebault, Sophie Alour, Jasser Haj Youssef, Stéphane Guillaume, Eric Le Lann… He published four records under his name.

The Morning of Algeria: There is jazz but listening to you we sense other influences, what do you think?

Messaoud Khaniche : Indeed, I am of Algerian origin. My family lives in Constantine and like any child of an immigrant, my original culture is diffuse but very strong. This built the originality and singularity of my work.

Le Matin d’Algérie: Tell us about the genesis of the album, Incurve Life ?

Messaoud Khaniche : Composed in reaction to the chaos of this world, Incurve Life invokes the force of art and probes the demiurgic part of humanity. The passage of time, change, limitless evolution and the hope of rebirth.

Le Matin d’Algérie: Incurve Life, why this title?

Messaoud Khaniche : “A life in curves”, because life is not made of straight lines, it is made of curves which sometimes even make us go in circles. Beyond our certainties, this curved life draws a random and infinite path.

Le Matin d’Algérie: A word about Meta and the musicians who accompany you

Messaoud Khaniche : There is Pierre-François Dufour – drums, cello, at the age of 11 he already performed in numerous European festivals then, the following year, gave his first concerts as a soloist and chamber musician. At the same time, he continued his career as a jazz drummer on stage with Bernard Lubat and Michel Portal. In 2000, he joined the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris in the class of Philippe Muller. His talents as an improviser and rhythm player were spotted very early on by many artists in the jazz world, notably Archie Schepp, Richard Bona, Louis Winsberg, Paco Sery and many others.

At the age of 18, Yutaka Sado invited him to play solo cello with the Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra. He will also play Edward Elgar’s cello concerto and various chamber music concerts with the orchestra’s soloists. During the same period, he met Mstislav Rostropovich who promised him a great future. His career as a jazz drummer then opened up to world music, notably the music of Reunion Island and Madagascar.

We find him on the cello alongside Jean-Pierre Marielle and Agathe Natanson in the piece The Words and the Thing by Jean-Claude Carrière, first at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre in Paris and on tour throughout France and French-speaking Europe.

His collaboration with Jean-Pierre Marielle continues in The correspondence of Groucho Marx, directed by Patrice Leconte. This time, Pierre-François is on drums and is musical director at the Théâtre de l’Atelier in Paris and then during the tour which will end with the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

In 2012, he created the Archipel ensemble, of which he is still musical director.
On stage he collaborates with Diana Krall, Melody Gardot and records albums by Christophe, Salvatore Adamo and Around Nina with arranger and director Clément Ducol.

He participates in the creation of numerous albums and shares the stage with artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Hans Zimmer, Nemanja Radulovic, Quincy Jones, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stefano di Battista, Vanessa Paradis, Bojan Z, Camille, Sylvain Luc, Charles Aznavour, David Binney, Yael Naim, Hugh Coltman, Vincent Delerm, Yvan Cassar, Meddy Gerville, Eric Seva, Zaz, Spleen, Maxime Le Forestier, Marc Bertoumieux, Camélia Jordana, Sandra Nkaké, Gregory Porter, Sophie Hunger, Keziah Jones, Olivia Merilahti, Ben L’oncle Soul, Marc Lavoine, Roberto Alagna, Régis Gizavo, Warren Ellis, Mory Kanté, Giovanni Mirabassi…

There is Simon Tailleu – double bass, the intimacy of a piano – bass – voice trio, a tribute to Stan Getz accompanied by a string orchestra, or even a group bringing together the greatest luminaries of French jazz in Marciac: the discography as a sideman to Simon Tailleu on labels as important as Verve, Act Music and Laborie speaks for itself. Indispensable accompanist of Émile Parisien, Paul Lay and Youn Sun Nah, the double bassist brings to any project his flawless musicality, his wisdom as a producer, and his experience as a young veteran. He has notably shared the stage with Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Gilmore, Ambrose Akinmusire, Michel Portal and Didier Lockwood.

Having just arrived from Martigues, he won the group prize, the second soloist prize and the composer prize at the National Defense Competition, before joining the jazz class of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de la Ville de Paris. His presence among the most established musicians does not prevent him from making a valuable contribution to the projects of young talents, and he is today a member of Mélusine and House of Echoes, two winning groups of the Jazz Migration system. Simon is also a talented videographer having produced concert recordings and clips for groups like Watershed or The Thiefs.

Then, there is Leonardo Montana – piano, of Brazilian origin, born in La Paz in 1977 to a Colombian father and an English mother. He grew up between Bahia (Brazil) and Guadeloupe (French Antilles), where, as a teenager, he began playing the piano as an autodidact. In 1996, he began to perform, we could hear him, among others, alongside Felipe Cabrera, Raul de Souza, Anne Paceo, Celine Bonacina, Bill Mchenry, Geraldine Laurent, Michael Pipoquinha, Pedro Martins, Plume, Claude Tchamitchian , Irving Acao, Gueorgui Kornazov, Dave Liebman, Mokhtar Samba, Anne Paceo Yokai, Bruno Schorp, Naissam Jalal, Chico Freeman, Arnaud Dolmen, Christophe Panzani, Line Kruse, Sandro Zerafa in numerous festivals and clubs around the world.

Her love for the voice also leads her to work with many vocalists such as Omara Portuondo, Agathe Iracema, Meta, Marianne Solivan, Deborah Brown, Charlotte Wassy, ​​Anne Sila, Cynthia Saint-Ville, Sofia Ribeiro, Chloé Cailleton, Viviane de Farias, Cynthia Abraham, Marcia Maria, Fredrika Stahl, Catia Werneck, Charlotte Wassy, ​​Maria de Medeiros…

His artistic palette expanded to the composition of stage music, with his participation in the creation of two operas, written by the librettist Bernard Turle, during the Wem Summer Festival (Var): “Variations provençales” (quintet jazz, choir and soloists) and “Randonnée Dérandonnée” (2 pianos, cello, viola, choir and soloists).

In June 2023 he is “Fil Rouge Guest” of a piano festival in Fort de France, Martinique, “Piano Kon Sa Ka Ekri”. In preparation, two recordings under his name in 2024, including one as a solo piano.

Le Matin d’Algérie: Messaoud Kheniche, what inspires him?

Messaoud Khaniche : a desire for music in movement, a desire not to stick to a register or a time-honored formula. It is the strength of these eight compositions to escape the heavy law of categories. The bushy and winding paths, all the differences, the shared, mixed feelings, by this artist who vibrates with each of the evils he describes. It is also about love, experienced as a rebirth (Emma Things), or even the force of art, faced with the pictorial beauty of Francis Bacon (Layer Of Fog) …

Beyond the words, the music speaks for itself. She is also free to move across all ranges of the palette of sensations: jazz, certainly, but with a “pop” sensibility, a touch of sensuality in each chorus. Here, the challenge is not to impress the gallery with triple quavers, but to play in tune, to touch the heartstrings. Lyrical, dreamlike, the music of this singer with an almost metaphysical aura reconciles body and mind, this famous Body and Soul which remains the best level of jazz ready for travel, freed from formal constraints. This is the strength of Meta’s message, a spirituality carried by a team just as suspended, in tune with its intentions: a capital quintet (with its faithful accomplices – the pianist Pierre de Bethmann, the guitarist Michael Felberbaum and the drummer Karl Jannuska – but also new friends, the saxophonist Stéphane Guillaume and the double bassist Simon Tailleu) to which is added a string quartet. All in all, far from weighing down the subject, this crew turns out to be very light, perfectly in accordance with this nomadic ode which aims to push the limits and span the borders, to ultimately establish an unprecedented bridge between jazz, classical and pop.

Le Matin d’Algérie: Who are the big names in music that speak to you?

Messaoud Khaniche: Oum Kelthoum, Fairouz, Sting, Beatles, Léo Ferré…

Le Matin d’Algérie: Do you have any projects in perspective?

Messaoud Khaniche: The next Parisian concerts will take place: March 29 at the “Baiser Salé” jazz club (Paris 1) May 4 at the “Le son de la Terre” jazz club (Paris 5). May 30 at the jazz club “Sunset/Sunside” Paris 1)

Interview conducted by Brahim Saci