Spring 2024 🌱

29 February 2024

Hello everyone,

I’m writing this newsletter from Cairo, my heart both nourished by the energy of the city, and heavy because of the situation in Gaza and other parts of the world (Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, Congo, Kurdistan, sadly the list goes on…).

Spring concerts

There will be 3 special concerts, that I’d like to share with you:

March 8 at Le Bout du Monde in Vevey

Concert in support of the Palestinian cause. With Melissa Kassab, Adham Zidan, Malekah Al-Muaid, Yassin Mahdi, Chadi Messmer, Cedric Blaser, Rana Bassil and others!

March 23 at La Spirale, Fribourg

With two special guests, two wonderful musicians: Louise Knobil and Aïda Gabrielle Diop.

April 11 at the Cully Jazz Festival

Another special concert: we’ll be playing with Yann Hunziker in the Temple, a 100% acoustic set with no sound system!

New song “Les médicaments”

Today sees the release of a new track, a collaboration with the duo Martin XVII.

I had this song, but wasn’t convinced by the arrangement or the production. So Pascal and Louis and I spent a few days exploring together, and they came up with some great ideas!

In the end, we find the character of Martin XVII and my own, a well-balanced mix, all illustrated by Valentine Moser in an amazing video.

The Wonder Way – Documentary by Emmanuelle Antille

During the week of March 4 to 8, I’ll have the pleasure of playing at the end of screenings of Emmanuelle Antille’s new film. In resonance with the images, I’ll be performing an atmospheric sound exploration of ca. 20 minutes.

You’ll find the dates of screenings and concerts on the film’s official website.

Thank you for your attention and see you soon!

Laure



Dreams and nightmares

7 November 2023

Hello everybody,

Right now, it’s difficult to stay focused on artistic projects. In my heart, the Palestinian people, but also Kurdish, Syrian, Iraqi, Lebanese… And sadness and anger when I see the insane violence of the dominant oppressive systems, and the general lack of awareness.

In support of the Palestinian cause, with other musicians we are organizing a concert on November 8 in Fribourg, at La Coutellerie. Come one, come all!

New album out!

The Colline de pierre album is out! You can now listen to it on the platforms and order a vinyl.

Concerts

With my sidekick Yann Hunziker, we’ll be in concert for a Live in Vevey residency from November 23 to 26, at the Théâtre de l’Oriental. We’ll also be joined by amazing guests: Aïda Diop (Fri and Sat) and Louise Knobil (Sat).

Other concerts are regularly updated on my website.

Young Dreams

I have the pleasure to be collaborating with the verly talented dancer and choreographer Amina Abouelghar on a piece called “Young Dreams“.

The premiere will take place on November 15 and 16 as part of the Next festival in Kortrijk, Belgium. Other dates will follow in 2024, notably in Cairo and Switzerland.

Podcast – Les étoffes

Another collaboration, this time with Jill and the Projet Evasion : a self-produced podcast that collects stories of emancipatory experiences.

Although the episodes are only in French (for now), you’ll find other interesting contents on the Projet Evasion’s homepage in English, German, Italian and some other languages.

If you too would like to share an emancipatory experience, please write us at radioevasion@riseup.net.
Thanks a lot for your attention,

Warmly

Laure



New song – old story

11 October 2023

After Opra, here’s a new extract from my new album. It’s a song of consolation from the Chaldean liturgy, revisited.

The album version is arranged with synths and textures, and sung as a duet with Shadha Barjo. You can listen to it on your favorite platform.

We also filmed a live a cappella version, with my concert partner Yann Hunziker.

Thanks to Sophie Berset, Margaux Huber and Bruce Wuilloud for this wonderful lunar video!

Album pre-order

You can pre-order the album Colline de pierre, due for release on November 3.

There’s even a limited-edition version of golden-marble vinyls!

The cover image is a painting by the wonderful artist Karine Rougier, called Golden Circle. I’m very grateful that she allowed me to use it <3

Concerts

Yann and I will be in concert over the next few months. Here are the first 2 dates:

I’m really excited to share these new songs on stage with you!

See you soon!

Laure



Release times

12 September 2023

Hello everybody!

This fall and winter, several projects I’ve been working on for a while will be published and/or shown on stage. I’m very happy to be able to share them with you!

New album – 1st single out

First of all, I’m lucky enough to be releasing a solo album, the first under my own name! It’s called “Colline de pierre” and will be out on November 3 on Humus Records.

In the meantime, a 1st single, Opra , already available on Youtube, is now on all platforms. You can also (re-)discover the beautiful video directed by Marie Taillefer.

And I’m looking forward to the concerts that will follow this album release! You can already save a date : October 28 at Fri-son, Fribourg.

EP Horizon Liquide

Lucky again ! 5 Horizon Liquide new tracks have just been released on Rababoo Records.

The “3arus 3arin” EP is available on Bandcamp, along with ultra-limited edition cassettes!

“Lullabies” concerts

September also sees a reunion with the amazing “Berceuses” (lullabies) team, for 4 concerts before a looooooong break (all in the french part of Switerland).

Photo : Juliette Henrioud

See you soon!

All the best

Laure



Spring is soon!

21 February 2023

Hi everyone!

Here are some news about my different musical and sound projects for this spring. I hope to see you there! I’m always very happy to receive your feedbacks and e-mails, thank you for that!

Berceuses mini-tour

In collaboration with Lead Sisters, we’ll play 4 concerts in March with the collective project Berceuses (lullabies) all around Switzerland.

We will play little in 2023, so I am looking forward to meet this happy team again! Here are the dates:

Photos : Bellalucy

<3 Hummus Records <3

This year I will have the chance to collaborate with the prolific and beautiful swiss indie label Hummus Records.

I have known Jona and the Hummus team for years. They are people with a big heart, passionate about music, and I really look forward to working with them. More info will follow very soon!

Podcast & mix

MIX ON RADIO BOLLWERK

The community radio Radio Bollwerk invited me to do a 1 hour mix. I’ve selected music that moves me, from people that I know personally or not.

The mix also contains two unreleased tracks! At 35:45 a track from Horizon Liquide and at 48:53 a track from my next album. Enjoy!

PODCAST SONGS UND SO

For those who understand German, I invite you to listen to a nice podcast about songwriting. It is made by Daniela Weinmann (Odd Beholder) and Simon Borer (Long Tall Jefferson).

In episode 7 on language, I explain my process with Chaldean, among other things.

Support concert for Iran

February 24th, at the espace autogéré in Lausanne there will be an evening of support for the victims of the current repression in Iran. I will play a solo concert.

Come and join us!

See you soon

Laure



Fall concerts

7 November 2022

Hello everybody!

This autumn I have the chance to have some nice concerts planned, in good company.

Pier – duo shows

We’ll be back on the road with Yann Hunziker, for a few concerts in duo of my new project Pier (“Pierre”).

We’ll do several concerts with La Météo, aka Camille Mermet (super talented bass player, singer and comedian), that’s really nice!

Berther-Pier-Fries-Odd Beholder

Following an invitation from the B-Sides Festival in Lucerne, Martina Berther, Lea Maria Fries, Odd Beholder and I played together. It was fun, so we’re doing it again in Bern on November 20th.

Organized by bee-flat, the concerts will take place at the Johanneskirche at 3:30 pm and 8:30 pm.

We mix our respective repertoires and rearrange our songs for this special concert (spoiler: there will be some detuned organ hehe).

I am very happy to play again with these three beautiful musicians!

Berceuses (lullabies) – continued

After a series of magical concerts in September, we are thinking about a continuation of the Berceuses collective project. The next concert is in Neuchâtel, at the Case à Chocs on December 2nd. And surely there’ll be other concerts in 2023, stay tuned!

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to seeing you perhaps at one of these occasions.

With love

Laure



Pier : L’hôpital – Azur3000 – Live

8 June 2022

Hi everyone!

Pier – L’hôpital

After a first song about exile in Aramaic, Opra, here is L’hôpital, a pop song in French. It’s about the feeling of helplessness in front of someone who’s fading away…

It features bass and arrangements by Adrien Guerne and percussion by Aïda Diop. It was recorded and mixed at Phonotope studio by Antoine Etter.

To listen to it, just go on Bandcamp or on your favorite platform.

With a joyful team we made a video to tell this story. We see two people who leave for a mysterious place. It’s about being lost, and at the same time inventing, playing, creating one’s own world – poetry as a refuge.

It was directed by Raphaël Piguet, with the support of Gabriel Balagué. Dîlan Kiliç found incredible sets and costumes!

The amazing Catherine Portmann and David-Christelle Sanvee embody these two travelling characters.

Azur3000 – Lémancolia part II

On May 13 was the release of Lémancolia part II. It’s the sequel to the album we wrote and recorded during a Cheptel Records residency on the shores of Lake Geneva (lac Léman in french), in 2019. Here a short description :

“A long trace of melancholic light that originates upstream, in the Rhone valley and flows to the foot of the mountains where Leonard’s prose answers to the liquid sounds of Laure and Perrine”.

Sommer concerts

This summer: a few concerts of Pier (in duo or solo), and a new project with the writer Myriam Wahli, it’s gonna be great!

And in September, we’ll be back on the road with my 7 friends from the Berceuses (Lullabies) project, yeah! To keep you informed you can check the concerts page and my Instagram.

See you soon,

Laure



Pier – First track OPRA out!

4 March 2022

As mentioned in the last newsletter, here is Opra (earth in Aramaic), a first track from Pier!

It was recorded and mixed at Phonotope studio by Antoine Etter. Yann Hunziker plays drums and percussions. Marie Taillefer made a beautiful video. I’m greateful to work with such talented people!

To listen to it, just go to Pier’s Bandcamp page. Decay of memory, traces of exile, mystical presence and ghosts of the future…

For now, I chose to release it on Bandcamp. This website allows streaming and downloading. And if you buy the song, the money goes directly to me, which is great!

You can also download the Bandcamp mobile app for your phone. It’s a good alternative to the big streaming platforms (even if it’s mostly independent music and not all the hits…).

Pier – concerts

I’m really looking forward to the concerts with Yann! It’s soon, here are the dates again.

And tonight I have the pleasure to play at the Usine à Gaz in Nyon for an improvisation project with Fhunyue Gao.

Finally: on April 8th I will play a solo set for the Immersive Sound Festival in Fribourg.

Looking forward to seeing you, maybe at a concert!

Kindly yours

Laure



Live / Micro edition / Call for testimonies

16 February 2022

Hello everybody!

Duo concerts

I’m super excited to announce a series of duo concerts with drummer-percusionist-singer Yann Hunziker. We will be playing the repertoire of Pier, my new project, with a focus on vocals and rhythms.

Here is the list of dates for now, also regularly updated on this page. We’re really looking forward to it!

AND THEN : On March 4th, is the release of Opra, a first song of Pier! Here’s already the cover (in the french version above), a very nice picture of Marie Taillefer, taken from the video clip of the song.

It’s a 6 minute track in Aramaic, quite cinematic. It’s about exile, a deserted village, and an old surviving tree…

Call for testimonies

And now for something completely different : with a good friend of mine, we’re collecting testimonies around the notions of imprisonment and escape.

With this material, we’d like to make a self-produced podcast and/or a sound piece. Here is a text that explains the project (with the e-mail address to contact us).

Souvenir-souvenir

Last October, I was invited for an evening in the art space Lokal-Int in Bienne. I made a small edition and a live performance with music and text, around the theme of repetition.

The edition shows photos of objects “arranged” by a person with Alzheimer’s disease, whom I accompanied for several years. The text and the music echo them. This project, Joy in repetition, is now on my website.

Hope to see you soon, maybe at a concert!

Kind regards

Laure



Berceuses + Pier in Lausanne

22 October 2021

Berceuses (lullabies), a collective concert will be premiered on November 5th during the Altitudes festival in Bulle. There will be eight of us on stage and it will be beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

The dream team : Gael KyriakidisAurélie EmeryPerrine BergerMelissa Kassab, Laure Betris, Sara OswaldEmilie ZoéDelia Meshlir (photo : Dîlan Kiliç)

It’s quite a story to coordinate our 8 agendas, so we won’t play this project very often… To reserve tickets, go to the festival’s website.

And while I’m at it, friends from Lausanne and surroundings : I’ll play my solo project Pier at the theater Sévelin 36 on Sunday October 31st at 8:30 pm. Organized by the great team of the Association du Salopard. Joy & hapiness !

See you soon
Laure