“Murmure des Ombres” (Whisper of the Shadows) written by: Bernard Minari
Anouman: Bernard Minari (Mandolin), Patrick Portales (Guitar, Mandocello), Yves Rossignol (Bass) guest: Daniel Portales (Mandola)
Bernard Minari composed “Murmure des Ombres” (Whisper of the Shadows) last year, in 2025. It was the dance of the tree shadows, cast on the walls on a day when the Mistral was blowing strongly in Provence (France)—where Bernard currently live—that inspired the first notes within him.
The spirit of our music is guided by creativity and open-mindedness. This piece draws more inspiration from Brazilian choro, but Patrick’s “GRun” at 3:24 brings us back down to our usual musical background!
The instruments -For the prelude:
Daniel Portales plays his 2024 JM Perrin mandola
Patrick Portales plays a 1923 K4 mandocello (owned by Bernard Minari)
Bernard Minari plays a JM Perrin 3P mandolin
For the piece itself:
Bernard Minari plays a JM Perrin 3P mandolin;
Patrick Portales plays a 1956 Martin D18;
In the background, you can see a 1916 Gibson H4 mandola.
***
Anouman: In the late 1970s, Bernard Minari and the Portales brothers played in informal bluegrass bands in the Toulouse area with childhood friends: Fred Simon (banjo), Nam Ngo Thien (dobro), Yves Minari (guitar/vocals), Daniel Portales (mandolin/bass), Patrick Portales (guitar), Bernard Minari (mandolin/bass), and Olivier Christiène (violin). This small group was later joined by Yves Rossignol, who came from a jazz background and had received classical training at the music conservatory.
In the early 1980s, their discovery of David Grisman’s acoustic musical world (Dawg Music) quickly led to the formation of Anouman and a desire to explore these new sounds. Yves Rossignol, Patrick Portales, Bernard Minari, and Olivier Christiène laid the foundation for what would become Anouman. Very quickly, the quartet found its musical identity, blending original compositions with covers of jazz standards.
In 1983, during the first Toulouse Bluegrass Festival edition, the organiser Joël Herbach, did Anouman the honor to perform at the “Halle aux Grains”, on the same stage as legendary American bands such as “Seldom Scene,” “Newgrass Revival,” and “Tony Trischka and Skyline”…
Since violinist Olivier Christienne was unable to perform at this concert, the group initially reorganized as a trio, then welcomed fiddler Jean Darbois— who had previously played with Christian Seguret and “Transatlantic”— for many of the pieces.
After a few years and many good times, family and professional life took precedence for each member, and only Yves Rossignol pursued a musical career, in Spain and Italy. But the personal bonds were never truly broken. Strong friendships are indelible. At the turn of the 2020s, new collaborations emerged, such as “Mando Duo ” (Daniel Portales, Bernard Minari -Coming soon into this project).
– Mando Duo
https://www.youtube.com/playlist? list=OLAK5uy_nWiVR8nonGrIgCe92xAkplEw_DLv0WETY
– Mando Duo Vol.2
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_leNYFtShGrOqo3DfB7Tvz16bgJ-E8vg4E
– Mando Duo Live at Al Ras 2019 (1)
– Mando Duo Live at Al Ras 2019 (2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkgaSwXMnEU
A reunion of Anouman was then considered. Unfortunately, Jean Darbois passed away, and we were deeply saddened by his loss.
Today, Anouman are once again working on a repertoire of old and new songs; in doing so, we’ve noticed that the compositions from the 1980s have a very distinctive style… *** Bernard Minari is also playing with Uzer Trio https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT2ouYv3jPoM Daniel & Patrick Portales also playing in “Catch the Goat” (Coming soon into this project)
Leave a Reply