French quartet blends music, storytelling and live art at Hyderabad performance

Hyderabad got a little taste of France on Wednesday (October 21, 2026) as French performance group La Voyage de Rézé turned the State Art Gallery in Madhapur into a colourful world of music, storytelling and live illustrations. Over the course of an hour, the four-member ensemble took audiences on an immersive journey where melodies filled the air and sketches came to life on stage through live projections.

Moving beyond the conventional concert format, the performance brought together original compositions, familiar tunes, lesser-known melodies and musical influences from different cultures. As the musicians played, an artist sketched live, with the illustrations projected onto a screen, allowing the visual narrative to evolve alongside the music.

Presented by the French Institute in India in partnership with the Alliance Française de Hyderabad, Le Voyage de Rézé combines a light-hearted format with artistic depth, making it an engaging experience for audiences across age groups.

The show unfolded as a musical, poetic and colourful journey, inviting audiences to connect with one another and explore the world through sound and images. Rather than following a fixed narrative, the performance allowed its world to take shape in real time, drawing from familiar, forgotten and imagined melodies.

At the heart of the quartet is Rézé, a guitarist, singer and composer whose musical influences span jazz and African and Brazilian traditions. His collaborator Soifran brings a mix of percussion and vocals, drawing on African, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms. Emé, an illustrator and artist, creates sketches live on stage, while Christoo handles video projections, photography and artistic production.

Rézé’s musical journey has taken him across continents. At the age of 20, he travelled through West Africa by hitchhiking, performing in countries including Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin. Those experiences, alongside his diverse musical influences, inform the quartet’s approach to bringing cultures and artistic expressions together.

In Hyderabad, that approach translated into a performance in which music was not simply heard but also seen taking shape. Live illustrations transformed observations, people and imagined encounters into visual elements, giving the audience another way to experience the stories unfolding through the songs.