As kids walking to school along the roads of Picardy, they listened to the birds. They imitated the birds and the birds sang back.
As teenagers, they took part in competitions for the best imitations.
Today, their duo is a wonder of the world.
Jean Boucault and Johnny Rasse are universally recognised as the greatest interpreters of birdsongs without Bird Whistle. Their technique harks back to the very first attempts at song and incorporates breath voicing, diphonics, aspirated voicing, trilled singing, high-pitched whistling, low-pitched whistling and percussive singing. Their repertoire extends to thousands of different birdsong across five continents. In 2006 at the Festival des Forêts de Compiègne, Jean and Johnny appeared on stage with the pianist Jean- François Zygel. They went on to perform on France Musique’s Cabaret Classique and a “live” screening of Nosferatu. Together, they created Les Chanteurs d’Oiseaux whose mission would be to use birdsong as a raw material that could be worked into any live art form: music, theatre, dance and the performing arts.
Improvisers by nature, in the spring of 2012 they participated in an open-ended concert with the flautist Pierre Hamon and drummer/percussionist Joël Grare on “Birdyphonia” in Marrakech. In 2013, they were featured in Denis Savary’s sound-installation Etourneaux at Jean Tinguely’s Le Cyclop. In 2014, an hour-long documentary co-produced by France Télévisions and Egodoc and directed by Maurice Dubroca entitled Chanteurs d’Oiseaux retraced their careers. In 2016, Jean and Johnny were guest- artists at La Folle Journée de Nantes and were featured on the cover of Télérama Magazine.
They create with Shani Diluka and Geneviève Laurenceau The Symphony of The Birds and toured Japan, Russia and Poland together in 2016.
