If you go
› What: Pierre Bensusan in concert› Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.› When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 24› Admission: $18 in advance, $22 at the door› For more information: 423-624-5347
Pierre Bensusan’s 40-city tour of the United States and Canada stops at Barking Legs Theatre on Friday night.France’s acoustic guitar master, Pierre Bensusan, will perform at Barking Legs Theater on Friday night, March 24, as part of his 40-date tour of the United States and Canada.
The French-Algerian guitar virtuoso won the Independent Music Award in the Live Performance Album category for his 2014 triple album, “Encore,” and was named Best World Music Guitar Player by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine in 2008.
Bensusan has the ability to make a single guitar sound like an entire band when he performs. But what makes his concerts truly unique is the way he improvises scat-singing into his performances, melding whistles and resonant low notes with vocals.
He was born in Oran, French-Algeria, in 1957, and his family moved to Paris when he was 4. He began formal studies on piano at age 7 and taught himself guitar at age 11 after his father bought him a steel string acoustic guitar and a classmate taught him a few chords.
He signed a contract for his first album, “Près de Paris,” when he was 17. It was released one year later, winning him the Grand Prix du Disque at the Montreux Festival.
Influenced in those early days by the folk revival blooming in Britain, France and North America, Bensusan began to explore his own diverse musical heritage and then moved to the horizons beyond. His manner of playing crosses world, classical, jazz, traditional and folk genres.