Chassol

Things That Inspire Me — Musician and visual artist Chassol breaks down the barriers between music and film.

Chassol is a Paris-based pianist, composer, arranger and musical director for Phoenix, Sebastien Tellier and Gotan Project among others.

He frequently collaborated with visual artists before going out on his own with his Ultrascores and Warm ReSynch video series in 2007-8.

In 2012, he travelled to Calcutta and Varanasi to record sound and video of local musicians and daily life, which he remixed, sampled and looped to create the stunning Indiamore video album (trailer above).

Here he shares his influences and inspirations with Huck.

Things That Inspire Me

Johan Van Der Keuken’s Documentaries

Almost like when you discover Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and understand that you can make films like that, films that are different in format….discovering JVDK’s documentary films was a major change in my life.

He maybe did 50 films all around the world and each of them is full of sense and has genius editing ideas, with beautiful photography at the same time. A few of my favourites are: Hermann Slobbe (Blind Kind 2), The Eye above the Well, Beppie, Amsterdam Village Global, Brass Unbound, but there are so many more!

 

Hermann Hesse

I didn’t discover his initiatic novels when I was a teenager, but rather when I was 25 (like Sinatra in the song…).

I started with Siddhartha and was really moved and touched by that writing, which put in beautiful and clear words all the feelings, emotions, ideas and invisible thoughts I was trying to express and organise in my mind: it helped me a lot.

Then I read Narcissus & Goldmund which became my bible for years because it was dealing with logic and flesh, becoming an artist to sculpt the face of the mother so the father would be proud….making your own way….having all the girls, travelling, and survival.

Then last year I finally read The Glassbeads Game (Le Jeu Des Perles de Verre) which became my new bible…

It is a bit lengthy to explain, but basically it is the imaginary biography of Josef Knecht, the Ludi Magister: the master of the Glassbeads game. Players start with a Bach Choral, continue with Aristotelician propositions, follow on an ancient Chinese verse, return to some polytonal Russian chords and try to finish with the best game ever.

Anyway, that book is wonderful and it has been my new bible for some years now.

 

Terry Riley

I love Terry Riley. He is one of the musicians who invented minimalism along with Steve Reich, I’d say. His very communist piece ‘in C” (1964) is considered as the beginning of minimalism in music which is 3 things: a clear tonal centre, a constant pulse and a gradual transformation process.

I love him and he inspires me, because I feel very close to what he is saying in pieces like “Descending Moonshine Dervishes” for instance, where the multiple keyboard lines cross themselves like graphic lines in a strong river whose pulse never stops….

Sir Riley emailed me a few years ago after listening to my first album “x-pianos” released on Tricatel – Tricatel’s boss Bertrand Burgalat had given my CD to a friend, Jean-Pierre Muller, who was working with Terry at the time.

I had just listened to him the day before I received his email, and his words were like some kind of reward to me…after all those years, I had someone I admire telling me stuff like he was “really really moved by that record”….I was so happy. So now we have a correspondence, and I feel blessed.

 

Ms Subbulakshmi – Kashu Viswanatham

I have been listening to this devotional song everyday since July 2012. It is sung by Madurai Subbulakshmi and her daughter Radha Viswanathan in perfect unison.

The economy and the deepness of the music is striking: a tempura playing the role of the bass, meaning that we are taking a bath of that only bass note….and those two perfect voices describing such tensed and wicked and beyond beautiful melodic lines all that in order to celebrate God.

Anyway, this music is the description of my track “2Lines” in the introduction of Indiamore and is so important to me.

If I could be this music instead of me, I would trade.

Find out more about Chassol.


Ad

Latest on Huck

Sport

Is the UK ready for a Kabaddi boom?

Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi — Watched by over 280 million in India, the breathless contact sport has repeatedly tried to grip British viewers. Ahead of the Kabaddi World Cup being held in Wolverhampton this month, Kyle MacNeill speaks to the gamechangers laying the groundwork for a grassroots scene.

Written by: Kyle MacNeill

Culture

One photographer’s search for her long lost father

Decades apart — Moving to Southern California as a young child, Diana Markosian’s family was torn apart. Finding him years later, her new photobook explores grief, loss and connection.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Culture

As DOGE stutters, all that remains is cringe

Department of Gargantuan Egos — With tensions splintering the American right and contemporary rap’s biggest feud continuing to make headlines, newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains how fragile male egos stand at the core of it all.

Written by: Emma Garland

Culture

Photo essay special: Despite pre-Carnival anxiety, Mardi Gras 2025 was a joyous release for New Orleans

A city celebrates — Following a horrific New Year’s Day terror attack and forecasts for extreme weather, the Louisiana city’s marquee celebration was pre-marked with doubt. But the festival found a city in a jubilant mood, with TBow Bowden there to capture it.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Sport

From his skating past to sculpting present, Arran Gregory revels in the organic

Sensing Earth Space — Having risen to prominence as an affiliate of Wayward Gallery and Slam City Skates, the shredder turned artist creates unique, temporal pieces out of earthly materials. Dorrell Merritt caught up with him to find out more about his creative process.

Written by: Dorrell Merritt

Music

In Bristol, pub singers are keeping an age-old tradition alive

Ballads, backing tracks, beers — Bar closures, karaoke and jukeboxes have eroded a form of live music that was once an evening staple, but on the fringes of the southwest’s biggest city, a committed circuit remains.

Written by: Fred Dodgson

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to stay informed from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, with personal takes on the state of media and pop culture in your inbox every month from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...