“Tapis vert sur mur blanc” (Green carpet on a white Wall) – written by: Pascal Ayerbe, performed by Pascal Ayerbe (Ellis F5 Special mandolin) & Guillaume Scouarnec (Northfield Big Mon)
Pascal Ayerbe said: “The title “Tapis vert sur mur blanc” comes from the cover I had in front of me during the recording. A psychologist might say there are strong similarities to the colors of ping-pong tables—a sport I actually play quite a lot. As for the music itself, it also seems to me that the two mandolins are passing the ball back and forth…”
Pascal Ayerbe composed his first musical pieces on a synthesizer around the age of 14, then trained as a sound engineer. It was at Radio France, where he held his first job, that he decided to record sound collages using everyday objects.
This playful approach first earned him recognition within the Maison de la Radio through the “Chasseurs de sons” competition, and then with a wider audience thanks to his debut album, “Les Gribouillis“. His compositions for toys, objects, and noisy instruments are still used today by performing arts companies (object theater, circus, puppetry), musicians working in educational settings, therapists, and others.
Alongside his recording work and radio productions, his artistic calling draws him to the stage. He creates performances and concerts that are primarily instrumental, featuring handmade instruments, collections of sound-producing toys, or repurposed objects. He is accompanied by musicians, including Jean-Baptiste Tandé, Johanne Mathaly, and Martina Rodriguez… These works have been performed more than a thousand times, both in France and internationally.
Always willing to push the boundaries, he didn’t hesitate—for what would become his final project, *Léger comme une note*—to take up instrument-making: he crafted the instruments he played himself, in order to achieve the sound he loved. Among them is a monoxyl mandolin, carved from a single piece of wood.
This small instrument would become his constant companion. He continued to craft them for several years in his workshop before giving up instrument-making to devote himself entirely to music. Today, Pascal Ayerbe continues his career as a mandolinist.
With Yellow Trio, a project that has since ended:
An other composition for mandolin:
In the past:
Guillaume Scouarnec is a mandolinist and guitarist on the French bluegrass scene. After training in jazz guitar, he fell in love with the mandolin upon discovering Tim O’Brien’s music; it gradually became his primary instrument. He plays in bluegrass bands (he accompanies guitarist and singer Alex Riey in his quintet and plays mandolin with the bands The Left Hands and Rachel Road) while continuing his career in the jazz world, notably with singer Constance Arnaud. Committed to keeping bluegrass alive in France, he organizes jam sessions in the western part of the country and leads workshops, such as those organized by the Sawmills Sessions in Paris.
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