Camac Blog
Points of difference: Cécile Gravot and “Spring Fever”
News
November 25, 2024
We’re delighted to share this superb creation by Cécile Gravot. In this age of digital creativity, where presence and visibility are paramount, this ‘Spring Fever’ video was born of a simple idea: ‘To make a recording, to showcase my music, and to generate interest in my work. However, as with all types of content, every artist has to stand out from the crowd if they want to attract attention.
Cécile Gravot has never been afraid to stand out from the crowd! A native of Nantes, after winning a gold medal at the Nantes Conservatoire in 1995, she turned her attention to contemporary music. She was a member of the Théâtre des Cerises troupe for many years, where she co-composed and performed in original operas. She later joined the folk project After the Bees. The group won several awards, including the 2016 SNCF Mécènes pour la Musique prize for its Let’s Rise! Project. Cécile then worked on ‘Les actes romantiques’, which combines choreographed music with urban and natural scenography.
For her new solo project, Cécile was attracted by the idea of a harpist playing two harps simultaneously. But over and above the visual interest this generates, it was musical and sonic considerations that motivated her. Cécile owns and plays two Camac harps, a pedal harp and a DHC36 electric harp with gut strings:
‘The classical harp has a fast, direct attack,’ explains Cécile. ‘With gut strings in the treble and metal strings in the bass, these are two very different worlds of sound […], and playing incisively on electric instruments can be challenging.
Both sonorities were sought after, but how can we combine the two: the crystalline sound of the high strings in the right hand and the edgy character of the metal in the bass? This difference led Cécile to play two harps simultaneously to obtain this ‘augmented harp’ (Cécile’s terminology).
We asked Cécile what the challenges of this project were (apart from playing two harps at the same time!): ‘Well, actually, finding the time,’ laughs Cécile. ‘On a more serious note, the most complex part of the project was the audio-visual set-up required to film two such different harps in their best light and to isolate the sound so that it could be successfully integrated into the video montages.
‘It was a real learning curve,’ adds Cécile, ’but I found the specific sound I was looking for, and I think the two blend very well.’
The result is quite astonishing. This artist with an original personality is planning to record an album in 2025, so stay tuned!
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