Megaptera

Description

MEGAPTERA, the scientific name for the humpback whale, is also the title of the new album by French producer and composer Rone. After Room With a View - the album and original soundtrack for the show created with the collective (LA)HORDE and the Ballet National de Marseille, exploring collapse and rebirth - Rone felt the need to leave the city to find a simpler life, close to the sea and nature. Gradually, he moved away from performance to adopt a more artisanal approach, extending his practice beyond the studio into a wider space of listening, exchange, and fieldwork. In 2020, images of sailors playing his tracks out at sea began circulating online. Cetaceans can be seen seemingly reacting when his music is played. These videos caught the attention of director Valentin Paoli, who then conceived the film La Baleine et le Musicien. While the buzz sparked fascination at the time, it also raised a question for the artist: could playing music at sea have harmful consequences for the marine environment? This question led him to surround himself with specialists - ethologists, bio-acousticians, environmental engineers, associations - and to follow a strict protocol in order to attempt the experiment with respect for the marine ecosystem. Born from this ambitious cinematic project, the album MEGAPTERA was partly composed at sea, aboard a catamaran off the coast of Réunion Island, as well as on the Breton coast. It takes shape around a unique proposition: attempting to resonate with whales through music. The resulting 15-track album extends this open inquiry: not only into the ability of human-produced sounds to reach whales, but also into how this process can shape a new form of musical writing, influenced by the ocean depths.