Cory Seznec & Friends

Somewhere between musical wanderer and ethnomusicologist dwells the artist Cory Seznec and his unique world. Busking misadventures with Malian musicians in the Paris metro led him to Songhai songsters in Timbuktu and ancient omutibo guitarists in Western Kenya. Feverish touring with the world roots trio Groanbox gave him his sea legs. A three-year stint in Ethiopia cracked everything open - Seznec held a weekly gig in Mulatu Astatke’s jazz club while recording two albums with musicians in Addis and embarking on rugged field recording trips across the Ethiopian highlands. These experiences shaped Seznec into an artist who traces the through-line across musical cultures and whose songs let the past reverberate in the present.

A French-American in Paris, Seznec’s fingerstyle guitar-playing is syncopated, polyrhythmic, cross-pollinated, and idiosyncratic. He also sings, plays old-time banjo, and wades in the deep river of American song. Seznec is currently at work on three projects— a brand new solo album recorded in Takoma Park, Maryland with producer Don Godwin; a UK-based world music collaboration called Touki (their albums were recorded at Real World Studios); and several research / archival projects celebrating East and Central African acoustic guitar music (he is currently studying ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland). Seznec is also an avid guitar arranger and educator, regularly recording videos of his various arrangements and teaching both individual lessons and at music camps such as the Swannanoa Gathering (NC), the Ashokan Guitar Camp (NY), the Sawmill Sessions (Paris FR) and Blues at the Gorge (OR).