you are listening to extracts of: harpeXperienced : - 9 easy songs, the string theory #1, brain chemistry
    under storms, entering the bardo - , Innocenti, and LIVE SOLO : draft of blues - see the VIDEO section -

    all music written and produced by elisabeth valletti :::: performed on electric harp + vocals by e.valletti
    apart from the  live chamber orchestra  and   the vocals ,  all sounds are produced by the electric harp

:: Valletti:: Harp player, singer, composer, Valletti writes music from electronica to experimental classical pieces, performing on an electric harp.

Using all the technology available, from the first FX-machines to the latest computer softwares, she pushes the boundaries of the harp, multiplying the richness of its musical spectrum and modifying its acoustics to create  totally new sounds.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::       VALLETTI presents her latest work
harpeXperienced :: The three CDs set is centered around the electric harp.



                              
ENTER VALLETTI NEW SITE                         "The ORFEO Project"   GOES LIVE : ENTER

                                          :: BIo graphy

At the age of 13, Valletti wins a harp first prize (with the Jury’s recognition) at the National Conservatoire in Marseille. She studies Harmony and Composition at the University of Berkeley (California), ethnology at the Paris Université of Nanterre, and Film making in  IDHEC (Paris). She discovers and embraces all genres of  music while travelling through America and Europe.



1980 - 1990 :: She tours around the world (Europe, Japan, Israel, USA) playing classical composers as well as her own compositions. Wanting to explore new sounds for the harp,  she asks the premiere harp manufacturer Camac to design the first electric harp. In 1986, Joel Garnier (director of Camac) commisions her  to write a piece for the Memory Harp*, - a revolutionary, computer-operated instrument he just created - , so as to present the prototype of this  visionnary instrument to Pierre Boulez. She performs this work for Pierre Boulez. Salvi, another Harp manufacturer asks her to work on  its version of  electric harp. While touring, she teaches  harp in a Paris Conservatoire from 1983 until 1996. She collaborates with Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man, François Elie Roulin’s Initial Numbers, Hector Zazou’s Sahara Blue andSongs From The Cold Sea, alongside John Cale and Ryuchi Sakamoto.

1990 - 1998 :: Her composing skills are ackowledged by  Chris Blackwell’s (Bob Marley’s producer) publishing division, Blue Mountain Music, which signs her  in 1995. Based in London, she  is commissioned to write the « ambiant » album Innocenti (released on Universal/MCA/1998) which receives great  reactions : «I ‘m very impressed by the really musical feel of the whole thing…This is one of the best produced thing I’ve heard in years» Brian Eno, « A really beautiful work» John Cale. In 1998, Valletti performs in London and tours Europe as a support of Kitaro. She collaborates  with Lauryn Hill ‘s The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill,  and Quantum Dub Force album (Palm Pictures).

1999 :: Based in New York, she writes Out There an album of contemporary music.

2000 :: She writes  a  Rap-Oper-Harp  on David, the harpist-poet of the Bible : A Harper.

2001 :: She starts her latest work , The ORFEO Project, which includes HarpeXperienced - three albums centered around the electric harp and NYeXperienced - a diary written in 2002.

2003 - 2005 :: Back to Paris she focuses her work  on HarpeXperienced. She composes the music for Volpone, played at the  Avignon Festival, and the music of Women World Reverie, a DVD about women’s experimental cinema - presented at the Palais De Tokyo, Paris.

2006 - 2007::She writes the music for the Marithe & François Girbaud website, advertisement campaign as well as a part of the  Fashion Show sound - mixed by Steven &Michel Gaubert. She finishes HarpeXperienced.


  ENTER VALLETTI NEW SITE                         "The ORFEO Project"   GOES LIVE : ENTER

Today, Valletti plays on the first prototype of the “solid body harp,” which she commissioned Joel Garnier and Jakez François, directors of Camac, to make in 1998. It is an electric harp without a soundbox and with four outputs: bass, medium, treble and general.

The basic concept of HarpeXperienced was to push the harp to its limits and destroy the sound enough to turn around the image of the « angelic » harp, to create a universe that was  the expression of my inner self. All the music, all the sounds would be made with the harp. To day 90 percent of the whole project is made with the harp.  All the unidentified sounds are harp ones.

is the quintessence of a work that has started at the beginning of the 80’s.

In those days I was confronted to the difficulty  sound engineers had in order to manage the rich and profound resonances of the harp when recording in studio or on stage  when  playing with bands. So, I bought a Camac  electric harp.  At the time, it was only a celtic harp (34 strings) which has a limited harmonic range. I started playing around with  FX machines. By the end of the 80’s, I was still deepening the experiments on an  electrified concert harp (a 46 stringed one) I had helped Camac to design. Encountering the jazz world, I  practiced improvisation more and more.


In 1991, I was commissioned to write and record a piece of «world» music for a compilation of french composers, «NUNC Music». That style was new to me and I embraced this new exercise as I could experiment on machines I had not yet explored.
At the end of the 90’s, I discovered computers and the creative boost these wonderful tools were bringing.


Until 1998, I had played on an instrument which although being electrified, had  a soundboard and only one output to plug into  an amplifier, and it was still difficult to manage the sound when trying to boost it. In 1998, I asked Joel Garnier and Jakez François (Camac directors) to make me a harp with a flat soundboard, (like an electric guitar having no resonator eased the control of the sound)  and with four outputs : bass, medium, treble plus a general. Separating the different frequential fields allowed me to manage my sound in a more precise way.

In 2001, in New York, I started writing harpeXperienced the musical side of «Orfeo, The Project».


Back to Paris in 2003, I dived deeper into the immense creative ocean computers were offering. First I tried to find help. I would explain what I envisioned, but my ideas were too chaotic, needed hours of experimentation, on my own terms, at my own pace. I understood that I would only be achieving my vision if I did it myself. I lost myself for hours into this new universe of sound-sculpting.

New York - 1999-2002 a few episodes of a woman-composer’s survival. Written in 2002, it is a true story which has been fictionalized.






                                            The main theme of the book is love.

           The Text Written In The Clinic  is broken down into passages over 14 days.

On the First day, she has no idea why she is in a clinic. If she wants to know why she is there, she has to do what the « inspiring man » asks of her. She has to remember what happened in the past. So, she starts working on her memory. By the Fourteenth Day, she knows what brought her there.
:: But why was the CD on which this story is burned, found in a North American forest ?

click :::enter to read ::nyeXperienced.com::

" David , harp-player and poet, was an icon of valletti’s childhood. This opus is a mix of electronic and organic sounds combined with songs, rap-poetry and original biblical texts. Orchestrations  incorporate diverse musical styles, combining contemporary music, dub and rap, with powerfull classical themes and dazzling harp playing.
Artists and celebrities from all facets of popular culture add prestige to the project. They sing, rap or read the original text from the Bible – relating the life of David – and the Psalms.
Audiences, the world over, are familiar with the sacred biblical text.
David’s Psalms (Songs to God) and the familiar refrain from Psalm 23 :
"The Lord Is My Shepperd, I Shall Not Want..." brings on a deluge of universal memories that transcend all barriers."
Shana Swanson - movie producer 2000





like Ulysses, Hamlet or Gilgamesh, David is a most unforgettable hero, he is the boy who slew Goliath, the man blinded by passion, the musician who healed souls, the poet who wrote  the Psalms, the sinner who asked for forgiveness, the believer whose faith never failed, his life is about the universal feelings of Mankind

In 1995 valletti’s composing skills were acknowledged by Chris Blackwell’s publishing division, Blue Mountain Music, which signed her.

      
Based in London, she was commissioned to write an  «ambiant» album, Innocenti released on Universal/MCA/1998.

click on :::enter to listen to INNOCENTI

« While moving back to Paris in 2003,

I lost two big suitcases.Inside were:

• Scores + music on all formats -tapes, DAT cassettes, dictaphone’s tapes, CDs-
• Visuals from concerts, recordings and teaching classes
• All kind of datas on Zip, disks, CDs
• Photos
• A Press Book
• Paintings and drawings : oil, ink, aquarelle made by myself and my family
• Writings, carnets de route, agendas, letters, contracts
• A Diary of my stay in New York : Orfeo The Project / NYeXperienced   
• Souvenirs from Egypt, Japan, India, Bhutan
  
  The suitcases were never traced back.
  A while ago, through the Post,  my brother received the NYeXperienced  script.
  There was no indication about who had found  it and/or who was sending it.
  It was sent to my brother because, when writing it, in 2002, for the purpose of the story,
  I had mentionned his address on the script.

  I use the opportunity of this site to ask whom ever may have found anything linked
  to these suitcases to get in contact with me. I thank in advance anyone who may
  have a clue on this matter".
  e.valletti
  
  
  

  the items below are examples of what was lost
  
  
  
  square sun + square moon
  collage on painted wood
  0,40 x 0,26 cm
  
  
  
  scores
  
  
  

  ink and aquarelle
  0,40 x 0,50 cm
  
                                

text: virginia tryon-smilack, shana swanson, e.valletti
text editing: greg flood, fiona kynaston

photos: françoise ha van, adrian boot, marie ouaki
videos: benjamin donadieu, quentin de la marzelle, e.valletti
harpeXperienced cover design: françoise ha van


thanks to :
monique guetta, virginia tryon-smilack, shana swanson, pia maria norris, marie + the ouaki family, barry reynolds, paul kendall, norscq, patrice terres, coco blaffer, danielle mourthé, sid et seb, christophe heral, titi chittaphong, muriel de la marzelle, myriam eddeira, john skorupa, alex grauer and almaz, frédérique et les 2 myriam, eric hélène haya le tortorec, the sammons family, the matthews family, cedric de saint jouan, isabelle lerhondel, john hall, judy braun, giovanna cantatore

special thanks to :
marithé et françois girbaud, françoise ha van, nicolas pradat, quentin de la marzelle, jacques gavart, sebastien susset

very special thanks to :
paul kendall, norscq - HarpeXperienced could not have been completed without their talent and expertise


valletti works with Logic + Pro Tools and plays on a blue Camac prototype from 1998 + FX machines


«Orfeo, The Project» is dedicated to alexandre valletti, pierre boivin, alejandro jodorowsky

sacem © e.valletti 2007

web site animations: e.valletti
web site design    : ZOLTAN+ paris san francisco


:: links to come ::  :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :     :    sacem © e.valletti 2007