It’s not often you get the chance to meet actual eminent, distinguished and highly regarded inventors of musical instruments, but this was one of those rare occasions! So we headed off to France to visit the Baschet studio, just south of Paris. The famous Baschet Brothers, François and Bernard, both in their 90s, pioneered a completely new way of combining sculpture and sound in the early 1950s. François was the musician and sculptor while Bernard was an engineer, and together they worked on creating both original installations and inventing new musical instruments. 2014 UPDATE NOTE: six months after this recording, sadly Francois Baschet passed away in February 2014.
Their most known instrument is probably the Cristal Baschet, made from parallel glass rods which are stroked with wet fingers – producing sound in the same way as when you run your finger round the top of a wine glass. It’s been used by artists including Daft Punk, Jean-Michel Jarre and Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz).
We met with Bernard Baschet and filmed the very versatile musician Francesco Russo, who manages their studio and who played nearly every instrument for us. 2015 UPDATE NOTE: July 2015, two years after this recording, and two years short of his 100th birthday, Bernard Baschet sadly also passed away.
We also recorded a session with Catherine Brisset, a Cristal Baschet specialist who’s developed her own technique and a repertoire of experimental compositions. For both her and Francesco’s live shows, they usually mix the Cristal Baschet with electronics… an utterly fascinating place!
The brothers also set-up an “educational instrumentarium“, exposing youngsters to musical concepts. While there, it was organised that we recorded in a local primary school which owned a huge collection of Baschet cones, so filmed some very enthusiastic kids performing short improvisations.