Guy Khalifa
Biography
Guy Khalifa is a French pianist and conductor, born in 1953 in Algeria. He has composed under the pseudonyms Guy Zu Khalifa, Gary Jenkins, and Gary Picketson. He began playing the piano at the age of 5 and continued his musical studies at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. He has distinguished himself in the musical field, developing a career in France after his debut in Algeria. From 1976 to 1980, he composed and performed several film scores (for television) as well as incidental music for the "Café de la Gare." He also participated in the band Odeurs. From 1980 to 1990, he joined the band Magma, recording and touring, while accompanying various French singers, such as Renaud, Bernard Lavilliers, Guyon, Michel Jonasz, Francis Lalanne, and others. In 1985, he won a prize for Polish music interpretation in Paris. Since 1988, he has taught piano and singing at several conservatories (in the 12th and 19th arrondissements of Paris) as well as at various music schools in Aquitaine (C.I.A.M. in Bordeaux, Atelier 104, École de Musique de Lège-Cap-Ferret, etc.). Highly regarded as a soloist and accompanist, he regularly performs on stage with various choirs and dance classes, as well as with his wife, classical singer Marie-Louise Khalifa. In 2012, he formed a duo with classical guitarist and singer Arnaud Chevalier, featuring the repertoire of Léo Ferré. Guy Khalifa composed for fiction and documentary films such as "Tant Pis Si Je Meurs" (1987), "Mémoire Commune" (1978) and "Les Matous Sont Romantiques" (1981)...
Known For & Full Filmography1 Titles
Movie - 1989, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
In 1984, climbing virtuoso Patrick Berhault gave a night climbing demonstration with Nico Ivaldo in Finale Ligure, Italy. This close and spontaneous connection with the audience, the silence followed by the cheers of the crowd with each move, amplified the climbers' sensations, creating a powerful feeling that gave them a state of flow. This idea of climbing dance took root and culminated in the film "Star Climber," composed of parodic vignettes retracing the history of climbing through the ages. Berhault, by turns a Cro-Magnon man, a Zulu in a trance, a troubadour climber accompanied on the flute by Catherine Destivelle, a Buster Keaton trying to climb his beautiful woman's wall, as Blues Brothers, Berhault and Robert Cortijo push the dial on rock 'n' roll 10 meters above the ground solo on the facade of a building at the crossroads of West Side Story and a Terry Gilliam film.