Last weekend, Fasching welcomed Céline Dessberg, a French-Mongolian singer and yatga player who blends the cultural influences of both countries into nostalgic soft jazz. Growing up between France and Mongolia, she draws on the Buddhist and pastoral traditions of her Mongolian heritage alongside influences such as jazz musician Chet Baker and the eclectic pop of David Byrne.
In short, Dessberg’s music is almost like a mystical force that enhances your feelings. The soft tunes act as a speed lane to the fluffy emotional part of your heart. Her music makes you feel happier when you’re happy and sadder when you’re sad, like a quality comforting blanket.
The star of the show is, most certainly, a yatga, a traditional Mongolian harp, that carries a distinctive weight in the musical composition and makes the result more memorable. It feels like the yatga adds a sparkle effect and stretches out the perception of music into something much more hypnotic. Over time, you feel like a sacred blessing of sorts is about to be granted, and it’s for you to stretch your arm and get it.
The band’s body language showed them totally immersed in the creative process and gave a beautiful and reliable foundation for Dessberg’s voice to shine through. Together with the soothing guitar, bass and drums, the overall impression has that thin, fragile feeling of lace – hard to recreate and easy to break.
The cosy wonderland could be compared to a crisp walk by the water on a chilly autumn morning when you skip a stone across the surface and it jumps off a few times. You look at the ripples, contemplating life and going back through the memories. In a similar fashion, Dessberg’s oriental blues are both calming and thought-provoking.
Céline Dessberg carefully crafts a dreamy castle in the air that beautifies everyone who enters its premises. In a sometimes shy, sometimes charming manner, she raises the topics of resemblance, exclusion and love through her lyrics and commentary – all those themes that we so desperately need to remember. Looking through the audience, you can see most of the people smiling. Just smiling along and dreaming away.
Singing mostly in French, Dessberg sounds even better live than she does on the recording. She performed her hit Chintamani, inspired by her Mongolian grandmother, twice, which clearly pleased everyone, building on the good impression from the first time around.
All in all, the concert was similar to a collective hug – slightly melancholic yet warm.
