A Serpents Dream

Michel Godard: serpent, electric bass
Katharina Bäuml: shawm
Brunno Hellstroffer: theorbo
Lucas Niggli: drums, percussion
Airelle Besson: trumpet

Intuition Records

Godard, who has earned the reputation as one of Europe's most important musicians in the border area between jazz, improvisation, folk and classical music since the late 1980s thanks to a number of exceptional releases, has included the serpent repeatedly in his concerts and on his CDs for quite some time. Now, the French exceptional artist has devoted an album exclusively to the "serpent" for the first time to emphasize its magical, mysterious and ultimately very human facets. This was a labor of love for the 54-year-old. He moves on a timeline between past and present with the serpent. In the process, he tells stories that can shine in different colors and change direction at any time. The instrument actually resembles a large snake as a result. The sounds unfold in wondrous twists and turns like dreams in the mirror of time.

Michel Godard brings together renowned musicians in his ensemble "Le miroir du temps", who want to break out of customary conventions exactly as he does. "Together they manage to raise awareness of the timeliness of old music age and resonate something of the variety of sound of earlier epochs in contemporary music at the same time," Bert Noglik wrote in the liner notes for "A Serpent’s Dream". Katharina Bäuml is one of the leading Baroque oboists today and also specializes in playing the medieval shawm with her own ensemble "Capella de la Torre", the tone quality of which combines with Michel Godard's serpent in a fascinating way. The theorbo player Bruno Helstroffer also has a lot of experience in historical performance practice, but also experiments with newer ways of playing, which he develops in different contexts. Lucas Niggli, one of the most versatile European drummers in jazz as well as improvised music, knows how to create rhythmically complex and sound-sensitive contexts. Michel Godard also uses the bass guitar; a harmonious extra totally in the spirit of flexibility of Renaissance musicians and the liberties that they took.