Pacha

Pacha is the work of Pierre-Guy Blanchard, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who resides in Charlo, New Brunswick.

After completing a major in percussion performance at the University of Moncton in 2003, Pierre-Guy spent five years immersed in various and diverse Montreal musical communities, with frequent international voyages enriching his sonic palette and rhythmic skill. He has performed with such experimental and folk music projects as Ensemble Thalassa (Greek Rembetiko), Djoumbush (Turkish Gypsy), Qurna (Iraqi Maqam), L'ici-bas (Bulgarian folk music) and Radwan Moumneh's Jerusalem in My Heart, and participated in recordings of Black Ox Orkestar and Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush, as well as composing numerous theatre and film scores. His travels abroad during this time included a period of study under darbuka master Misirli Ahmet in Istanbul, curation and performances at the Sanayeh art house in Beirut, and an appearance with the Pancevo folk music ensemble in Serbia.

Through this continual collaboration with musicians from various musical backgrounds and geographic origins, Pierre-Guy has developed a unique percussive style deeply influenced by Middle Eastern, Turkish and Balkan modes.

2009 found Pierre-Guy back on the waterfront of Charlo in a house converted into a home studio. At a distance from the distractions of Montreal he has worked to develop a new sonic language, fusing an eminently metropolitan sensibility with the quiet stillness of the countryside of his origins. With Affaires Étrangères, the first recording to emerge from this studio, he distills this broad and sometimes far-flung swath of influences into a confident, astute and passionate statement that is both worldly and deeply idiosyncratic.