Louise Jallu
With over twenty years of squeezing out music on the bandoneon, but still quite young, Louise Jallu can legitimately be considered an accomplished musician. Granted, she began playing at the age of five and attended the highly-reputed music conservatory in her home town of Gennevilliers, France. She grew up in a family of music lovers who listened to Monk, Bartók, and Piazzolla. The conservatory, founded by Bernard Cavanna, kindled her thirst and curiosity for the varied world of music. Plowing the rich soil of tango turned passion into profession. During her years of apprenticeship, she benefited from lessons from great peers, musicians known as the finest experts. This included the likes of César Stroscio and Juan José Mosalini who grounded her in the fundamentals, leading her to craft her own sound within the cenacle of tango. Knowing its history and mastering the instrument, she has eschewed the panoply of tools of any mere copyist.

Moved by a gift of ubiquity, she cultivated her urge to experiment all the while resolutely anchoring herself in a long tradition. This is how Louise Jallu gradually refined her fingering technique, sharpened her compositional skills, and affirmed her expressiveness both in instrumental performance and in musical composition. Despite having had many mentors, musicians such as Anibal Troilo, Astor Piazzolla, Máximo Mori, and Dino Saluzzi, the young woman’s own personality shines bright and unique in this milieu long known for its machismo. Times are changing, and we can hear it. Before she had even reached legal age, music diploma in hand along with second prize trophy from the solo bandoneon category of the International Accordion Competition in Klingenthal, Germany, Louise was busy creating her own ensemble, the Louise Jallu Quartet. Meanwhile, she continued playing in all sorts of other musical collaborations, such as with the Greek singer Katerina Fotinaki, with Sanseverino, with jazz musicians like Claude Barthélémy, Claude Tchamitchian, and let’s not forget the Argentine aesthete Tomás Gubitsch.