About

This site aims to provide information about French dancer, singer, actress and choreographer Guesch Patti, especially for people outside of France for whom it can be difficult to find any information. The few things I could find online about her were scattered, her work more than deserves a concentrated Internet presence, so this is an attempt to gather what I could find in one place. The emphasis is on her musical output.

The site is a private initiative, it was build with the help of fellow aficionados. The site is no longer updated with current information (visit GueschPatti.com for current info), but it's expected to remain online. There is no affiliation with Guesch Patti, EMI, XIIIBis records or any other company.

Many thanks to the people who have contributed to the site with material and information: Mark van Nispen (the Netherlands), Richard Christmann (France), Luigi Mauro (Italy), Sébastien (France), John A. Fraser (Scotland), Robert Eklund (Sweden), Troy Chappel, Toby (England) and Christian Zurbach (France).

Read a thank you message from Guesch to all contributors here

About me: I became aware of her through radio play of the single Let Be Must The Queen, I consequently bought the album Labyrinthe and after having played it for a number of times I found myself moved beyond anything I had previously experienced. Now, more than 10 years later, I can still vividly remember that exact moment, sitting in my chair, headphones on, listening to Bon Anniversaire. I must have been 29 at the time and had really been into music since about the age of 8, but Labyrinthe upped my appreciation of music to a new level, despite not having a clue what she's on about lyrically since I only understand a few words of French. But something in the vocals managed to reach out beyond language. Guesch is capable of bringing together things that would appear opposite, like frailty and strength, dependence with independence. My favorite songs are the ones like C'est Pas Assez or Merci in which she hurls her voice at the listener with an energy and directness that leaves no room for cynicism or doubt, providing for a truly cathartic experience. A woman with balls our Patricia

I saw her perform live in the Amsterdam Shouwburg, a gig part of the Nomades tour. I was curious to see if she could deliver vocally live, especially because she sings in a way that must be hard on the vocal cords. Knowing that it wasn't one of the first gigs on that tour (I think she had already done a fair number of shows in Germany before that), I didn't expect much. When the first song started she was still in the wings, the voice was clear as a bell and in full force. When she appeared in view I noticed that she was wearing one of those head microphones with a wireless transceiver to give her extra freedom to move about. At that time the quality of those head mikes wasn't great, Having had an education as a sound engineer, I was convinced that the vocals were not live but played from a backing tape! Except errrr, they were live actually, as I later had to admit, oh well, so much for my qualification as a sound engineer... She switched to a regular mike later, but throughout the sound was excellent. It was one of the few shows I have seen were I thought "finally an engineer that doesn't push the volume up to the max just because he can", only to find my ears ringing quite a bit after I had left the theatre. Another blemish on my professional honour

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Dublin, Ireland
30 November 2000
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