Jean-Claude MARA autobiography

I was born on the 18th November 1942 at ISSOUDUN, a small town
in the center of France, in an area named "Berry".
My parents were very fond of music and they both played the violin
as a hobby. When I was seven years old I asked them if I could
go to music school. After spending two years learning musical
theory, and not playing an instrument, I decided to leave and
continued my education at college. At the same time I began to
teach myself music according to my inspiration. At first I played
on a small mouth organ, then I learnt the banjo, guitar, piano
and saxophone. All instruments fascinated me and made me feel
very happy. During these years, I went to Technical School to
learn Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.
When it was time for me to do my National Service : I accomplished
it as ...a conductor for a Military dance orchestra ! At the same
time I discovered the many possibilites of the recorder.
When I left the military, I started to to play the "Kena"
a flute from South America.
I first heard the wonderful sounds of the Pan-pipes from Romania
in 1972, I immediately felt that it was the right instrument for
me to express my own feelings and music. So I set off to Romania
to look for Pan-pipes but without success.
After many difficulties and a long, long time, I succeeded in
having some very beautiful Pan-pipes made for me by a French Instrument
maker !
In the year 1976 I met my first accompanist : the organist Georges BERNES. It was in the
church of Marciac, a village in South-West of France where I was
on holiday. I explained to him my musical project : to play freely
and spontaneously, making room for emotion, impulse, and without
the rudiments of theory, but with a deep spiritual concentration.
In 1977 we gave our first concerts in France and recorded our
first record : "Le Mystère de Noël" (the
Mystery of Christmas).
We then gave more and more concerts in France, Germany, Belgium,
Japan, Israël, Switzerland and also made more records, I
have also met other musicians who accompany me : Jean
DAHAIS (organist), Elisabeth
VALLETTI (harpist), Ulrich
MARXCORS (percussionist), Magali
ZSIGMOND (harpist), Jacques
BURTIN who plays the "kora" an instrument that comes
from Africa (Senegal) which is similar to a harp, Katrine
HORN (harpist), and lastly Michel
DEVAUX-LUEZ (guitarist).
All these musicians are really fantastic and are in possession
of the rare talent to be able to express themselves spontaneously
with their instruments, with a very deep feeling, they help me
to go on my way to new horizons....