Pierre Bensusan

Pierre Bensusan (born October 30, 1957 in Oran , Algeria) is a French guitarist.

Pierre Bensusan's family moved to Paris in 1961 after the end of French colonial rule. At the age of seven he received piano lessons. At the age of eleven he discovered the guitar for himself. He was influenced by the revival of folk music in the USA, England and France.

At the age of 17 he signed his first record deal. A year later, his debut album "Près de Paris" won the Grand Prix du Disque at the Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. The Los Angeles Times recognized him as "one of the world's most unique and brilliant veterans on the acoustic guitarist scene". The American "Guitar Player Magazine" voted him 2008 "Best World Music Guitar Player".

Bensusan's virtuoso style is an elegant mix of jazz, folk and world music.

bibliography

• DADGAD Guitar
• DADGAD Music
• The Intuite Music Book
• A World of Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar, Vol. 1 & 2 (DVD)
• The Guitar of Pierre Bensusan, Vol. 1 & 2 (DVD)

Discography

• 1975 Près de Paris
• 1977 Pierre Bensusan 2
• 1979 Musiques
• 1981 Solilaï
• 1988 Spices
• 1993 Wu Wei
• 1997 Live au New Morning / Live in Paris (with Didier Malherbe )
• 2001 Intuite (Favored Nations)
• 2005 Altiplanos (Favored Nations)
• 2009 A La Carte (Dadgad Music)
• 2009 Complete Works 1975-2010, Collectors Edition (Dadgad Music)
• 2010 Vividly (Dadgad Music)
• 2013 Encore Triple Live CD (Dadgad Music)

Collaboration with other artists

• 1979 Doc Watson , Paris - Olympia (France)
• 1983 Larry Coryell , Lorient (France)
• 1985 Taj Mahal , Dublin Stadium, San Francisco (USA)
• 1988 Philip Catherine , Paris Guitar Festival (France)
• 1988 Alan Stivell , Bottom Line New York (USA)
• 1988 John Renbourn & David Bromberg (UK)
• 1989 Paco de Lucía , Niort (France)
• 1992 Didier Malherbe , (France & UK)
• 1994 Marcel Dadi , Roland Dyens (France)
• 2000 Leo Kottke , Salt Lake City Summer Festival (USA)
• 2001 Tommy Emmanuel , Jonas Hellborg , Bob Moses , Ray Gomez
• 2002 Open Strings, Peter Finger (Germany)
• 2003 Michel Haumont, Paris (France)
• 2004 All Star Guitar Night, NAAM Show, Anaheim (CA) & Nashville (TN), (USA)
• 2009 IGN - International Guitar Night (USA & CA)

Awards

• 1976 Grand Prix du Disque Montreux Festival, (Switzerland)
• Album du Mois / Album of the Month, (Journal de Montreal / Canada)
• Album of the Year (fRoots / UK)
• Best Albums (Guitarist Magazine / UK)
• 1983 Naird Award (USA)
• 2002 Bravo de la Redaction, (Trad. Mag./France)
• 2002 AFIM (American Association for Independent Music) - Award for Best Acoustic Instrumental Album
• 2006 Bravo de la Redaction, (Trad. Mag./France)
• 2008 USA - Best World Music Guitar Player, Guitar Player Magazine Readers Choice Award

Web links

• Pierre Bensusan's homepage
• Pierre Bensusan on MySpace
• Pierre Bensusan on Facebook
• 4AM - For Acoustic Music