Guitare Sèche Le Mag numéro 60

Cultivating difference is the key to success. It's easy to agree with this cliché. If you blend in with the crowd, it's hard to stand out from the crowd, and in a society where scarcity creates value, it's well known that the fewer people at the top, the easier it is to sell yourself quickly and on a large scale. This is to some extent the raison d'être of award ceremonies (Victoires de la musique, etc.), whose purpose is to create scarcity and enable the majors to sell products whose promotion is assured by the buzz thus generated. Admittedly, the winners are never totally bad, whatever the Marianne newspaper may say, whose Manichean tone is a fixed posture that doesn't encourage reflection. If one wins in the end, it's because it was decided that only one should win, but that's the rule of the game, and the rule is a consensus that only holds if everyone benefits from it. So yes, it's still true that artistic risk-taking is still the gesture that separates the musician from the merchant. However, we can also criticize the position of always being on the bangs of society. Once called a sterile posture, here's another. On the other hand, it would seem that, in all fields, real successes are more akin to a step aside from the norm than to a total questioning of the foundations of the discipline in which we evolve. It's only once this step has been taken that the world can be seen in a new light. Einstein mastered the physics of his time, Da Vinci followed the classical teachings of his master, the Beatles just had the audacity to mix their rock culture with the influences of English folk and classical music to become greater than themselves. And that's precisely what Pink Floyd's approach has been from the outset: to step sideways from the straight commercial line. To a lesser extent, Roger Waters' approach is the same as that of the perhaps more consensual David Gilmour; in any case, it was Syd Barrett's, who, by dint of taking steps to the side within himself, never came back. The 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon gives us the opportunity to celebrate the acoustic side of the band, so powerful that it has influenced a whole generation, even though most of their repertoire is electric. To take a step aside, it's also possible to play instruments that stand out from the norm, like this Echo d'Artistes gypsy, the very good Bariton from JN Guitars or the polished strings from Savarez. Finally, with a tribute to David Crosby or an interview with Andy McKee, try to guess what their next step will be.

La Rédaction