François Du Bois

• Name — François Du Bois • Birthplace — La Charité-sur-Loire, Burgundy, France • Occupation — Composer, marimba virtuoso, professor, columnist, author

Du Bois began to learn music when he was 8 years old. By the age of 17, he had already become a professional. At 16 years old, François Du Bois embarked upon a career path as a symphonic orchestra percussionist and a jazz drummer, which he pursued until he was 26. In the classical field, he has worked with Lorin Maazel, Olivier Messiaen, and Mstislav Rostropovich, and in the field of jazz, he has worked with Richard Galliano, Trilok Gurtu, Dominique Di Piazza, and Abbey Lincoln.

Dissatisfied with the lack of artistic substance in his music, Du Bois left France at the age of 20 for Africa, in search of experience and inspiration that would lend his music greater substance, a journey that led him to Burkina Faso. During his first year there, Du Bois caught malaria, but he fully recovered. Several years later, Du Bois' musical education had become complete after having studied under his mentor, Ray Lema. Lema is an African singer and composer who founded the National Ballet of Zaire (today Democratic Republic of the Congo).

• Illustration — Francois Du Bois World Record Ceremony. Tokyo, June 2017. Du Bois played in a duet with the Canadian violinist Hélène Collerette, who is currently the premier soloist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Later he played in a duet with the Australian violinist Jane Peters—winner of the Tchaikovsky Prize—in a concert tour through Germany. He also performed with the pianist Ludovic Selmi, in concert tours throughout Europe and Japan. The two of them collaborated with Les Tambours du Bronx, among other groups. After the dissolution of the duo, Du Bois began to concentrate on composing music and recording it.

• Marimba /oboe — with François Leleux, virtuoso and former soloist of the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Symphonic orchestra of the Bavarian Radio station) / Lorin Maazel, Conductor. • Marimba / clarinet — with Patrick Messina, virtuoso and soloist of the “Orchestre National de France” / Kurt Masur, Conductor. • Marimba / cello — with Henri Demarquette, virtuoso. • Marimba / shakuhachi (Japanese flute) — with Hōzan Yamamoto, virtuoso and professor at Tokyo Geijyutsu Daigaku “Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music”. • Marimba / violin — with Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, virtuoso. In 1998, Du Bois left Paris for Tokyo on a quest to discover new horizons in the field of music. Keio University invited Du Bois to create a special class in musical composition for the Political Science department. That same year, he created the “Orchestre d’autre part”, an ensemble that consisted of 14 marimbists and taiko players. Keiko Abe, a key person in the development of the marimba, introduced Du Bois to two of her former students with whom he would record the album “Origine”. Soon after the album's release, NHK broadcast a live 30-minute programme “Studio Park: François Du Bois Special” that reached 10 million viewers during primetime. In 2013, François Du Bois composed a double album, recorded in October of that year at the Meguro Fudoson Buddhist temple, accompanied by the temple monks. Out of their collaboration arose a new sound to stimulate meditation. The music was inspired by the Chinese concepts of “Liu Zi Jue” and “Medita Music”. In September 2014, Columbia Records released the corresponding double CD Dive Into Silence. In June 2017, "Dive into Silence - Eclaircie" was granted the world record for the world's most sold marimba CD (80,300 copies) by the Asian Book of Records. His 2nd medita music album "Gunung Kawi" was released as an exclusivity for the purchasers of his book "The Science of Composition" published in September 2019 from Kodansha Bluebacks. This book has become a best seller. He composed the music for the film "La Traversée", which received the Oumarou Ganda Prize in the FESPACO 2021 festival In 2022, he released his new book in the Kodansha Bluebacks Editions (scientific collection) "The science of musical instruments" (multiple editions). The same year, the album "La légende de la forêt" was released, a quartet of original compositions for meditation. Source of inspiration: the forests inhabited by the Tengu. Following the best-selling editions of both "The Science of Composition" and "The Science of Musical Instruments, a combined edition was published on June 24, 2022.

François Du Bois is the author of a complete three-volume manual of playing the marimba: The 4 Mallet Marimba, distributed by IMD. Keiko Abe remarked in the preface, “This method's pedagogical approach—a product of a certain creativity—is an invaluable contribution to the study of the marimba.” The method is available in French, English, and Japanese.

Du Bois is also well known for his practice of Kung-fu. He received the title of "first international successor of Wudangshan internal martial arts" in 2009, after undergoing training in the Wudangshan Mountains in 2008–2009. Du Bois created the first Wudang Kung-fu school in Tokyo. At the fourth World Kung-fu Championships in 2010, his team earned one gold medal, one silver medal and two bronze medals. For the 2012 competition, Du Bois was selected as the leader of the Japanese delegation that comprised 94 athletes; his own team of six competitors took home seven bronze medals.

• Yomiuri Shimbun — 2003–2004 Columnist for Asian culture with "Yomiuri Weekly". • Asahi Shimbun — 2005–2006 Columnist specialising in career planning "AERA English". • Japan Times — 2007 Columnist specialising in career planning. • Nihon Keizai Shimbun — 2008–2009 Columnist for "Ecolomy". • Asahi Shimbun — 2010–2011 Columnist for "Job Labo". • Ie no Hikari — 2011–2012 Columnist. • Nikkei Shimbun — January 12, 2015. Music critic on “Dive Into Silence”: “An art where Japan, France and China are molded into a singular personality". • YUHOBIKA — February 19, 2015. Special 15-page feature on "Dive Into Silence" and its effects, explained by Dr. Nobuaki Shinohara. A special CD was enclosed “Dive Into Silence – Premium - Eclaircie”. • Adomachic Tengoku — February 21, 2015. Documentary on TV Tokyo featuring the recording of "Dive Into Silence”. • Japan Times — March 14, 2016. Article in the section of career development entitled "From marimba to careers"

François Du Bois is recorded as composer, music educator, writer and percussionist.