Dadaist/outsider vocalist, musician, and composer Tazartès, a Parisian of Turkish descent, made his first record, Diasporas, in 1979. While it was championed by Nurse With Wound, few others took notice and Tazartès toiled in obscurity until a reissue on CD in 2004 triggered a revival.
Ghédalia Tazartès was born in Paris in 1947. His early work was rooted in his Ladino heritage (his family is from the Jewish community of Turkey). He plays various instruments and has been recording music in his Parisian home studio for more than 40 years. In 1974, he bought a mic, a tape recorder, and a band echo to create loops and drones using taped samples and synthesizers and then sang over them in a folk style, dubbing his working method as “Impromuz’. He made four records in the 80s and just one in the 90s, but since the reissue of his first two albums on Italian imprint Alga Marghen in 2004, he has released six new works, making up for lost time.
2004 was also the year Ghédalia started performing again. He joined the group Group Reines D'Angleterre with El-G and Jo Tanz, which was signed to Bo'Weavil Recordings. In 2009, he began playing in a trio with musicians and Jac Berrocal and David Fenech. He has been performing solo since 2010, playing more than 30 concerts around the world since. Tazartès has also worked for theatre (La Comédie Française), dance, and more recently for cinema. He presented a new project, a soundtrack for the movie Häxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) in 2011.