{"id":9934,"date":"2025-07-20T14:32:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/?page_id=9934"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:59:59","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"BIOGRAPHY"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u201cAnne Paceo impressed me immensely with her talent, musicality, proficiency and her dedication to her art form. Her distinct style and sound make her unique.\u201d<\/em>Charlie Haden<\/p>

Anne Paceo<\/span><\/span> is one of the leading voices of today\u2019s contemporary music scene and a major figure in the new crossover jazz generation. Widely recognized as one of France\u2019s most acclaimed drummers, she has developed a singular musical language where trance, spirituality, rhythmic power, and stylistic freedom merge into a deeply embodied and distinctive sound.<\/p>

Winner of three Victoires du Jazz awards \u2014 \u201cNew Artist of the Year\u201d in 2011 and \u201cArtist of the Year\u201d in both 2016 and 2019 \u2014 she remains the only musician, male or female, to have received the latter distinction twice. In 2021, she was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, and in 2024 she joined the prestigious Villa Albertine residency program in the United States, conducting artistic research on voodoo and hoodoo spiritual traditions in New Orleans.<\/p>

Constantly exploring new artistic territories alongside an extensive discography (8 albums and 4 EPs as a leader), Anne Paceo also develops numerous interdisciplinary and hybrid projects, including a duo with poet Laura Vazquez, live drawing performances with graphic novelist Cyril Pedrosa, the silent film concert Nanook of the North<\/em>, and various international cross-disciplinary creations and performances.<\/p>

Born in Niort, France, in 1984, Anne Paceo spent part of her childhood in Ivory Coast, where she was deeply influenced by African rhythms and percussion traditions. She became the first female drummer to graduate from the Conservatoire National Sup\u00e9rieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and began her professional career at an early age. Since then, she has collaborated with artists from a wide range of musical worlds, including Archie Shepp<\/span><\/span>, China Moses<\/span><\/span>, Jeanne Added<\/span><\/span>, Michael League<\/span><\/span>, Rhoda Scott<\/span><\/span>, Michel Legrand<\/span><\/span>, Sandra Nkak\u00e9<\/span><\/span>, and Clara Ys\u00e9<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>

Her first two albums, Triphase<\/em> (2008) and Empreintes<\/em> (2010), immediately established her as one of the most promising new artists on the French jazz scene, earning her the Django d\u2019Or \u201cNew Talent\u201d award in 2009 and the Victoires du Jazz \u201cRevelation\u201d award in 2011.<\/p>

With Y\u00f4kai<\/em> (2012), inspired by Japanese animist cultures, Anne Paceo fully asserted herself as a composer, while Circles<\/em> (2016) marked a decisive artistic breakthrough. Blending jazz, electronics, songwriting, and earthy grooves, the album received widespread critical acclaim and led to more than 150 concerts worldwide. She was subsequently awarded her second Victoire du Jazz as \u201cArtist of the Year.\u201d<\/p>

Her taste for intercultural dialogue led her to create Fables of Shwedagon<\/em>, an ambitious project bringing together Burmese traditional musicians and European improvisers following several artistic residencies in Myanmar. Premiered at the Jazz sous les Pommiers festival \u2014 where she became an associate artist in 2017 \u2014 the project resulted in a live album released in 2018.<\/p>

Released in 2019 and 2020 respectively, Bright Shadows<\/em> and Sama\u0302<\/em> further expanded her artistic universe and brought her to major international festivals and venues. During this period, she received her second \u201cArtist of the Year\u201d award, cementing her singular place within contemporary jazz.<\/p>

In 2020, she released the Sam\u00e2<\/em> EP, featuring live recordings from the Philharmonie de Paris alongside new studio tracks, and was invited as a mentor at the Montreux Jazz Academy alongside John McLaughlin<\/span><\/span> and Snarky Puppy<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>

In 2021, she founded her own label, Jusqu\u2019\u00e0 La Nuit<\/em>, through which she released Circles Live<\/em>. That same year, she became associate artist at Les G\u00e9meaux, France\u2019s national theater stage in Sceaux.<\/p>

Her composition \u201cSunshine,\u201d from the album Circles<\/em>, was selected by Kurt Elling<\/span><\/span> for his international tour Apparition Bridge: Music of Contemporary European Composers<\/em>, alongside works by Kenny Wheeler<\/span><\/span>, Jan Garbarek<\/span><\/span>, Joe Zawinul<\/span><\/span>, and Michel Legrand<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>

In 2022, she released S.H.A.M.A.N.E.S.<\/em>, her seventh studio album, which reached the top of the French jazz charts and entered the overall SNEP charts. The release concert at La Cigale in Paris sold out, while major French newspapers including Lib\u00e9ration<\/em>, Le Monde<\/em>, and T\u00e9l\u00e9rama<\/em> dedicated feature articles to her work. Lib\u00e9ration<\/em> wrote: \u201cAnne Paceo has established herself as one of the leading figures of the French music scene.\u201d<\/p>

That same year, she composed the original score for Sorci\u00e8res<\/em>, the stage adaptation of Mona Chollet<\/span><\/span>\u2019s bestselling book, performed at Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de l\u2019Atelier in Paris alongside actresses Anna Mouglalis<\/span><\/span>, Clotilde Hesme<\/span><\/span>, Val\u00e9rie Donzelli<\/span><\/span>, and Jennifer Decker<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>

While touring across Europe in 2023 with S.H.A.M.A.N.E.S.<\/em>, Anne Paceo created a live score for Nanook of the North<\/em> and Sur une \u00eele<\/em>, a live drawing concert in collaboration with Cyril Pedrosa<\/span><\/span>. She also released two EPs: B-Sides<\/em> and S.H.A.M.A.N.E.S Remixes<\/em>.<\/p>

In 2024, she was selected as one of the 50 Villa Albertine residents and traveled to New Orleans to pursue research on voodoo and hoodoo cultures.<\/p>

That same year, she launched WIZZ<\/em>, a groundbreaking mentorship program dedicated exclusively to women instrumentalists, supporting them through workshops, masterclasses, professional networking, and the rediscovery of women\u2019s musical heritage. The project was developed in partnership with Les G\u00e9meaux and Jazz sous les Pommiers.<\/p>

In 2025, Anne Paceo released Atlantis<\/em> on her label Jusqu\u2019\u00e0 La Nuit<\/em>, continuing a bold and singular artistic journey that has established her as one of the most inventive and influential voices in contemporary international jazz.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\u201cAnne Paceo impressed me immensely with her talent, musicality, proficiency and her dedication to her art form. Her distinct style […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9934","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9934"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10522,"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9934\/revisions\/10522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annepaceo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}