KRAAK FEST 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: Emmanuelle Parrenin

You have a long and pretty multifaceted trajectory. Can you tell us about your background and how music came to be a core part of your life? 

I was born into a family where music was present from morning to night. My father, Jacques Parrenin, founded the Parrenin Quartet in the post-war years. We lived in a communal house where each member of the quartet lived with their families. They rehearsed all day in the living room on the ground floor when they weren't touring around the world. The sounds I heard through the closed doors was the main emotional bond between my father and me. Although music was omnipresent in that house, I never took any lessons in music theory or harmony. I tried to play the melodies I had heard from memory on the piano in the living room. And, most of all, I sang all day long.

Do you have one instrument you feel most connected to?

When I was around 16, I discovered the American Center in Paris, on Boulevard Raspail. It was an extraordinary place. A Hootnanny, a kind of open stage and weekly happening hosted by Lionel Rocheman, was a place where you could meet all the young musicians of the time who were passionate about folk music and traditional music. It was there that I saw and heard a musician playing the hurdy-gurdy for the first time. It was love at first sight between me and that instrument.

Maison rose seems to spawn its own mythology. Where does this recurring theme come from? 

The title of my album Maison Rose is linked to a romantic experience I had when I was twenty-five. The house was a place of intimacy where I loved madly, but where “water drowned this impossible love.” It is, of course, an image, a metaphor, a snippet of lyrics from my song. For me, the house represents an inner source where one can take refuge in silence. It traverses all the twists and turns of life, taking on different forms.

Your maïeuphone practice is very fascinating! Can you tell us more about what to expect from a therapy/training session with you?

A maïeuphone session unfolds very differently from one person to another. The general idea behind the practice is to embark on a journey to find one's inner voice, sometimes one that has remained silent for too long, and give it the opportunity to express itself freely. I accompany the person with a musical instrument that matches the frequency of their voice in order to support them. And thus, what emerges within them through trance comes to the surface. No two sessions are alike.

One of your “élèves” describes them as “un spectacle de magie.” What have you been amazed by lately?

I am often amazed. Today, after weeks of the harshest winter, it felt like a spring day. The return of birdsong, the sunbeams on the dripping moss clinging to the rocks near the stream, the song of the river... It was magical!

You've done many collaborations in your career, from Didier Malherbe (Gong) to Detlef Weinreich (aka Toulouse Lowtrax). What attracts you to a collaboration and what have your experiences been like? Do you have any coming up in the future?

I particularly enjoy collaborating with other artists, venturing down paths I would never have explored on my own. In recent years, I have been able to experiment with my music with artists from very different backgrounds: performances with dancers (Festival des Performers), concerts of improvised and experimental music, and soon with circus performers. It's simple: I'm offered a project, I say yes... and then I think about it.

Emmanuelle Parrenin is on Instagram // Bandcamp // Web

Emmanuelle Parrenin's sound adventures continue at KRAAK Fest 2026 this Saturday March 14 at Het Bos, Antwerp. Tickets!