In the great pantheon of music, certain names resonate beyond epochs and genres: Bach, Nirvana, Mozart, Ravel, Radiohead, Vivaldi, Bashung… So many singular, intense universes, sometimes at opposite ends of the spectrum, but carried by the same force: that of raw emotion, the quest for beauty and sonic exploration.
What if these worlds came together? What if we dared to bring them into dialogue beyond styles, labels and habits?
This is the audacious challenge taken up by Trans Cover Express, a project born in Limoges in 2025, the cradle of a thousand-year-old musical tradition profoundly free, between the troubadours of yesterday and the creators of today.
Conceived by musician and composer Nicolas Repac, a singular figure on the French music scene (notably with Arthur H, Mamani Keita and his own solo project), Trans Cover Express is a variable-geometry line-up, bringing together artists from a wide variety of backgrounds: classical music, rock, chanson, world music, electro…
But here, there’s no question of simple repeats. Each work is transformed, like an inspired rewrite. Mozart becomes organic, Nirvana becomes lyrical, Vivaldi is reinvented in tribal pulses, the Doors take on baroque accents. We don’t immediately recognize the songs, and that’s all to the good: we rediscover them in a new light, between nostalgia and surprise.
The arrangements blend the vibrant strings of violin and cello with the raw energy of electric guitar, organic drums and electro-acoustic textures. Each piece is conceived as a sound painting, a moving landscape, an inner journey.
At the heart of this sonic journey:
Trans Cover Express is a collective adventure, a manifesto for liberated, transgender, living music. A concert like a moving train, taking the audience from one era to another, from one continent to another, from one emotion to another.
Here, everything is transformed, elevated and embraced. A bridge between worlds. An experience to live.
Electric guitar, vocals and multi-instrumentalist
Nicolas Repac, guitarist, composer and arranger, navigates between jazz, electro, chanson and world music. A partner of Arthur H, he has developed a unique sound signature made up of samples, hybrid textures and poetry. Author of projects such as Swing Swing, Black Box or Black GoldHe collaborates with Mamani Keita, Bashung, Miossec and Dobet Gnahoré, and composes for the cinema. A curious and unclassifiable artist, he is constantly reinventing musical frontiers.
Multi-instrumentalist violinist and composer
Mirabelle Gilis, violinist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, explores a universe blending chamber music, electronic sounds and folk. Trained in Toulouse and Saint Petersburg, she navigates between classical, jazz and world traditions. A collaborator with Miossec, Jane Birkin and The Fernweh, her music is sensitive and full of poetic lyrics written with Miossec or Marcel Kanche, carried by a soft, deep voice.
Cellist, arranger and composer
Olivier Koundouno, Franco-Guinean cellist, explores bridges between classical, improvised music and electronic sounds. Trained at the CRR in Paris, he has collaborated with Youssoupha, Emily Loizeau, Nosfell and Luz Casal. Inspired by his African roots, he blends cello, noise and sound narration. His eclectic career, nourished by the jazz, pop and world scenes, has taken him from prestigious venues to the villages of Guinea.
Battery and keyboard
Musician-composer known as much for his qualities as a drummer as a pianist, he has recorded and accompanied the best musicians in jazz, world music and French chanson. Alongside his career as an instrumentalist, he also writes film scores for cinema and television.