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The team is supported and accompanied by the CNRS in the person of Jean-Yves Georges, CNRS research director at the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien. Trained as an ecologist with over 15 years' research experience in the ecology of large marine vertebrates (turtles, birds, mammals), he is developing involved, integrated, transdisciplinary research into the global ecology of continental hydrosystems, to clarify their functioning in the current context of global change.

 

We will be the subject of a study led by Jean-Yves Georges at the Cnrs on the topic of emotion as a vector of inter-species communication.

 

Raphaël Chalmeau is a lecturer at the Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et l'Education (INSPE) in Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, specializing in environmental geography (GEODE), life and earth sciences, health and environmental education, and sustainable development.

 

He has co-created an educational project to raise awareness of the climatic issues affecting the oceans.

 

Very interested in scientific mediation, raising public awareness and transmitting knowledge in the broadest sense, they will join Lila Bazooka in writing the project and collecting underwater sounds.

In the first phase, the musical creation and broadcasting will take place in partnership with Scènes Nationales and Centres de créations, while in the second phase, during the experimentation phase, the team will go out to meet the cetaceans.

 

The team would also like to meet and interview scientists and environmentalists, either face-to-face or remotely, as an integral part of the project's writing process.

Although the musical project proposes an imaginary voyage of underwater immersion, it will nonetheless be anchored in ecological reality, inviting the audience to reflect.

 

It's around this idea that the Océans Infinis team will be working: to approach the public by giving priority to the sense of hearing and music to help them understand the importance of sound in cetaceans.

Sophie Bernado's compositional process is inspired by that of Olivier Messiaen (catalog des Oiseaux), developing a musical language from the vocal material of humpback and bowhead whales (melodic), sperm whales (rhythmic), killer whales, corals and dolphins.

During their recent interaction with Rochelle Constantine (University of Auckland), Sophie Bernado and Céline Grangey discovered that not only humpback whales but also bowhead whales had a link with the bassoon.

Céline Grangey will work on sound design using the sounds collected, as well as arranging and composing.

 

The second part of the project is an attempt to communicate intuitively and emotionally with marine mammals, in particular humpback and bowhead whales.

 

The artistic approach is to use the musical material of humpback whales, bowhead whales, killer whales and sperm whales in particular, and of living underwater creatures (field-recording), pass it through the prism of the human "Umwelt" (artistic composition specific to humans) and send it back underwater.

 

Then there's the purely scientific approach (supported by the CNRS) of trying to communicate simply, from human to marine mammal, from terrestrial to aquatic musician, via a hydrophone.

Emotion as a means of communication.

 

Once written and composed, the project could take several forms.

A duo concert, with the recorded voices accompanying the musicians.

 

A lecture-concert format, where the presence of one or more guest speakers would enable further interaction with the audience. With these speakers, we'll devise a formula for reaching out to different audiences. One or more speakers would be invited to take the floor. The speakers could be those we met during the preparatory phases of the project, or others who are sensitive to the subjects addressed.

 

Finally, rather than a record, an "installation" seems to us to be the most appropriate form for conveying the messages of "océans infinis".

We have several ideas for the scenographic and visual creation of this installation. The sound part will be considered from the outset of the project in the collection of sounds and voices. Lila Bazooka will then go into the studio to record the music.

 

For these reasons, we'd like to broaden the venues in which we'll be performing, so as not to remain within a purely classical artistic approach, but to encourage the public to travel to scientific or cultural sites such as l'Espiguette, Ile Sainte-lucie, the Basque coastline of Abbadia, the Aquariums and Ports of the oceanic coast (Océanopolis in Brest, the Biarritz Aquarium). We could imagine concerts and projections on the water, concerts and projections on the Espiguette lighthouse...

 

In collaboration with Raphaêl Chalmeau (Inpe), we have drawn up a cultural action proposal to raise awareness and educate people about the major issues facing the planet and its oceans.

 

We're working on a scientific study with Jean-Yves Georges (Cnrs) on emotion as a means of communicating with the public and marine mammals.

And last but not least, we have developed an exhibition in collaboration with Greg Lecoeur, a four-hander offering a sensory immersion in the oceans to meet marine mammals.

 

Tour 2025 

 

January 25 - premiere at l'Astrada 

March 28 - Comptoir in Fontenay-sous-Bois

April 11 - Jazzèbre in Perpignan in collaboration with the Observatoire Océanique de Banyuls

April 1 to 3 - Lieu Multiple in Poitiers: cultural events and lecture-concert

April 5 - Concert conference in Fleurance with Michel Ségonzac

May 6 - Théâtre de Vanves  

May 18 -Decazeville concert/lecture with Michel Ségonzac

May 19 to 23 - Creative residency on the living environment of the Étang de Thau in collaboration with the SMBT

May 24 at the Villeneuve les Maguelonne theater

May 25 at Étang de Thau - live concert with the "vivants de l'étang 

May 26 Sète Conservatory

 

 

An augmented version of Océans Infinis is currently being created for autumn 2025. 

Océans Infinis augmenté will be a quintet version of our duo:

With Jozef Dumoulin ( keyboards) ,Hugues Mayot (saxophone,clarinet), Stéphane Garin (percussion, vibraphone), Céline Grangey and myself.