Bio / L'histoire

Elisabeth Blin is a French composer and musician, originally from Saintes, a cultural city  in Southwest France, a few miles away from the Atlantic Ocean.  In 1994, she moved to Boise with her husband Tom and their teenage son.  Elisabeth holds a Bachelor in Music and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Brazilian music, from Boise State University where she studied under the direction of Dr. Joseph Baldassarre.   She also teaches private guitar lessons and in 2002, she published her own method and CD,  "Acoustic Guitar, Getting Started."

She studied the piano for five years as a child and discovered the harmony of Debussy and Satie.  In 1972, she started studying the guitar, mostly self-taught and influenced by Crosby, Stills,  Nash, and Young.  She gave her first concerts as a Beaux Arts School student in Limoges, France, in 1978, and since, her music has been deeply colored by the spirit of Yes (Steve Howe) and John McLaughlin.

In 1989, she started to learn the Bossa Nova style under the direction of the noted French jazz musician, Pascal Gombaud.  Since then, the Brazilian rhythms of Tom Jobim have become the major influence on her song writing.

In 1996, she made her first digital recording, Lifetime One, twelve original songs for guitar and vocals.  In 1997, Elisabeth received a grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts to complete her second project, the CD Lifetime Too: Soul to Soul, a collection of thirteen pieces with three-part vocal harmonies featuring guitar, piano, saxophone, dobro, bass clarinet, and French horn, among others.  In 1998, she appeared on a second CD, Orange Dust, for a charity live- concert.

In 2000, Elisabeth released her third project, Therapie Bossa-Nova!, funded by a second  grant from the Commission on the Arts.  The album again featured some of the finest Boise jazz musicians.  The Idaho Statesman gave the CD a three star review, pointing out the major influence of the Brazilian composer   Tom Jobim on her music, "with a touch of Yes, and some nuances of Debussy."

She has appeared in major venues including the Thousand Springs Festival in Hagerman, the Boise River Festival, Art in the Park, Women's Celebration Night, New Year's Eve First Night, Boise Farmer's Markets, and First Thursdays.