Guilhem Desq Vision Review

We are going medieval on you! There is a musician out there that has taken an ancient instrument and turned it lose, he breathes new life and innovation into this old-world instrument. French musician Guilhem Desq, electrified his hurdy-gurdy and connected it to a sampler to create amazing sounds that seem to come straight from our century. Nicknamed the “Hendrix of Hurdy-Gurdy,” Desq has just released his debut album titled, Visions. The little-known mechanical, stringed instrument traces back to medieval Europe and has maintained a strong presence in traditional French folk music. The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces sound by the musician turning a hand crank that spins a rosined wheel, while rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound like a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses small wedges, typically made of wood—against one or more of the strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic stringed instruments, it has a sound board and hollow cavity to make the vibration of the strings audible. Desq’s sound is unmistakable as he electrifies this originally acoustic instrument and plays a wide variety of genres on it – everything from traditional European folk to Middle-Eastern, and even contemporary rock and hip-hop. That’s the short of it!