Pierre Bensusan, France's Guitar Master at The Southern Cafe

The Southern Welcomes France's Guitar Master Pierre Bensusan Back to Charlottesville

French-Algerian guitar master Pierre Bensusan's 2020 North American tour was in full swing when the pandemic shut it down causing him to return home to France. He’s making up for lost time with an extensive North American tour that will bring him to the stage of The Southern Cafe & Music Hall in Charlottesville on Friday evening, November 11th.

Bensusan has, throughout his career and a string of recordings, confirmed his place as an acoustic visionary who combines sensibility with shadings of ethereal jazz, latin, celtic, pop, world music and classical melodies; free and fusion styles. Born in 1957 in French Algeria, Bensusan released his debut album Près de Paris in 1975 at the age of 17. It won Le Grand Prix du Disque at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland (1976). More albums and extensive touring followed, as well as a recording contract with Columbia in the US. ...

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The Southern Welcomes France's Guitar Master Pierre Bensusan Back to Charlottesville

French-Algerian guitar master Pierre Bensusan's 2020 North American tour was in full swing when the pandemic shut it down causing him to return home to France. He’s making up for lost time with an extensive North American tour that will bring him to the stage of The Southern Cafe & Music Hall in Charlottesville on Friday evening, November 11th.

Bensusan has, throughout his career and a string of recordings, confirmed his place as an acoustic visionary who combines sensibility with shadings of ethereal jazz, latin, celtic, pop, world music and classical melodies; free and fusion styles. Born in 1957 in French Algeria, Bensusan released his debut album Près de Paris in 1975 at the age of 17. It won Le Grand Prix du Disque at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland (1976). More albums and extensive touring followed, as well as a recording contract with Columbia in the US.
This artist has earned his stripes: more recently being elected Best Guitarist of World Music by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine.

His triple album "Encore" won the Grand Prix of the Independent Music Awards in the category Best Live Album. Over the course of his career, he has sold half a million albums and given thousands of concerts around the globe, both solo and through numerous collaborations. Guitarists from Leo Kottke to Larry Corryel, to Tuck Andress, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Andrew York, Andy Timmons, to Steve Lukather… have sung his praises, and rock guitar icon Steve Vai released three Bensusan albums on his label Favored Nations. And it's not just guitarists who are so inspired by Pierre's music, as a recent studio collaboration with him on Donny Osmond’s latest album “Start Again” goes to show.

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