Ever-evolving sound of Les Égarés improvises new ways across musical borders
Formed by a pair of musical duos, the group blends jazz, tango, African, classical, and more through mutual trust and constant curiosity
(From left) Ballaké Sissoko, Émile Parisien, Vincent Ségal, and Vincent Peirani of Les Égarés. Photo by Claude Gassian
Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani: Les Égarés is at the BlueShore at CapU at 7:30 pm on March 31
FOR THE GENRE-DEFYING artists behind Les Égarés, no two performances are ever the same. Built on their improvisational chemistry and deep regard for all genres of music, two established duos have come together as one for the group’s upcoming Vancouver concert.
The quartet—composed of renowned cellist and bassist Vincent Ségal, Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko, accordionist and composer Vincent Peirani, and saxophonist Émile Parisien—is set to bring its borderless sound to the BlueShore at CapU on March 31. Roughly translated to “those who stray”, the group’s name is partly inspired by “La Chanson des Égarés”, a song on their eponymous debut album, released in 2023.
“When we saw the album cover, there are these four guys playing somewhere in a, let’s say, magic forest,” explains Peirani, alongside Ségal on a Zoom call with Stir. “And you can feel that people are watching them, but they are not playing for the people. The idea [of the name] came also because of this picture, because the musicians look like they are lost, but they are not.”
Before the group’s formation, the four members were better known as two musical duos. Ségal and Sissoko had collaborated on two album projects before Les Égarés, and Peirani and Parisien frequently joined forces on recording and performance projects. While they had long admired each other’s work, their chemistry crystallized during the 2019 Nuits de Fourvière festival in Lyon, where Ségal invited Sissoko, Peirani, and Parisien for an improvisational group performance.
“The festival is during the summer, and in the theatre [Lyon’s Ancient Theatre of Fourvière] during the afternoon, it’s impossible to do soundchecks because it’s too hot, so we decided to go to the back, near some trees and shades, just the four of us,” Peirani recalls. “After a while we said, ‘Do you mind if we just play?’ We didn’t know what, but [it was] just to feel the temperature, you know?”
Accordionist and composer Vincent Peirani.
After the concert, Ségal reached out to the other musicians about a potential quartet. For him, this came naturally from their shared stage experience and their unique differences in style and musical background. With Les Égarés’ jazz, tango, African, classical, and other dynamic influences, Ségal describes the group’s eclectic sound as something passersby might stumble upon just off the beaten path, fleeting yet immersive to those who pay attention.
“It’s very danceable, but it’s very light because of the kora and the cello,” he says. “For me, in way, I could be more earth. [Peirani] could be more like fire in the way of character. Émile is really in the air, always flying, and Ballaké is like water. Even when we’re playing, you can try to catch him, but it’s impossible to simply grab water.”
Even now, their music continues to take new shapes as they perform and improvise together. Fans of their album will frequently note differences between their recordings and live renditions, which always leave space for improvisational discoveries and adjustments between performances.
“There are some people who came a few times to the show, and the second time they would say, ‘I was curious because I saw you once, and I wanted to know how much improvisation there is in your show. I was a little bit surprised because the show really doesn't look like the previous one. I recognize some tunes, but it’s always evolving,’” Peirani explains. “And this is the thing for us also, because we don’t want to get bored, and we don’t want to get the people bored.”
In this vein, Ségal attributes the quartet’s alchemy to their mutual respect and trust. With a North American tour under way across the U.S. and Canada, audiences have the privilege of witnessing improvised inspiration that can only be shared in that moment.
“We are completely free and we trust each other, which is very important, because we will follow any direction someone is proposing and see what happens,” Ségal says. “As you said, it’s a conversation, so we are not supposed to agree on everything.”
Through the group’s record label, Nø Førmat!, Les Égarés plans to capture a piece of their spontaneous magic by releasing live session recordings of selected album tracks, as well as new compositions, this year.
“The four of us, we are really curious about music in general,” Peirani says. “We don’t have borders and we don’t restrain ourselves. We just have gigantic respect for the music, and this is the key of this quartet. We have ego, but it could have been duo against duo. There is zero competition because we want to give the music we play the best shot. We want to make the music love us.” 
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