Emmanuelle Parrenin

Active since the early 1970s, Emmanuelle Parrenin has been part of the renewal of traditional music in France, at the crossroads of folk, early music, and an experimental approach to sound. Raised in a musical environment marked by classical music, she participated in the early fieldwork and on French folk stages, then collaborated with musicians linked to Mélusine and Gentiane. Her early recordings already document her interest in the traditional repertoire, preceding records released with Phil Fromont such as La Maumariée (1974) and Château dans les nuages (1975). With Maison Rose (1977), Emmanuelle Parrenin developed a more personal writing, blending voice, harp, épinette des Vosges, vielle à roue, and spare textures. She also appears on Douar Nevez by Dan Ar Braz (1976). After a more discreet presence on record, she returns to the foreground in the 2010s with Maison Cube (2011), and continues this dialogue between tradition, drone folk, and free forms on Pérélandra (2017), Jours de Grève (2021) with Detlef Weinrich, and Targala, la maison qui n'en est pas une (2022). On stage, Emmanuelle Parrenin circulates a repertoire where ancient timbres, drones, and improvisation maintain a central place.