Get ready for some fun! Le duo N’imPorte Quoi performs on traditional and world music instruments that range from classic guitar, recorder, drums, musical saw, bells, Charleston, mandolin, oud, darbuqa, melodica, Schwitzerogeli (Swiss accordion), & Rebögn—to goat horn, spoons, broomsticks, bottles, and bathtub bass! Please come out and enjoy this free to the public pop-up event at Pier57.

Le duo N’imPorte Quoi Events at 2025 Chelsea Music Festival:

• Sat Jun 21 – Swiss Institute (38 Saint Marks Place, NYC) – Family Hour at the Swiss Institute (free)
• Sun Jun 22 – Pier 57 (25 11th Avenue, NYC) – Pop Up at the Pier (free)
• Mon Jun 23 – The Lavaux Winebar (630 Hudson Street, NYC) – Fondue, Wine, and Folkmusic

Le duo N’imPorte Quoi was conceived in 2004 by Koko Taylor and Sylvain Fournier. Since then, they have dedicated themselves to this mission: to do anything musically, but properly. And possibly with a tiny bit of humor. Concerts are performed on some twenty instruments, with strictly no genre or style barriers.

Since its first public performance in 2004, Le Duo N’imPorte Quoi has played in a multitude of different contexts: concert halls, festivals, museums, au pair schools, local houses, apartments, castles, Japanese and Swiss Ems, cabarets, kindergartens, jazz clubs, exhibition openings, Turkish baths, radios, TVs, hospitals, traditional music scenes, public schools, primatology congresses, libraries, open-air parties, etc.

The music in Le duo N’imPorte Quoi’s repertoire (some 240 pieces to date) and the way they present it have enchanted audiences of all ages, cultures and backgrounds! The duo has performed in the following countries: Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Brazil.

KOKO TAYLOR was born in Tokyo and first recognized for her musical skills after performing a song she composed at 5 ½ years of age on national radio. She sang in a trio with her sisters under the guidance of her mother, a pianist. Koko then learned the transverse flute, the piano, the recorder (diploma in early music with Gabriel Garrido, Geneva Early Music Center), and the oud (2 years in Iraq with Ustad Ruhi-al-Hammash).

She was a student of Raymondo Thévenot on the kéna, of Patrick Bielser on the alphorn, and of Stéphane Métrayer on the tuba. Koko was a member of the Heinrich Schütz Chor in Tokyo, founder of the Daedalus ensemble (15th century European music), and member of La Brante (village music of Bernex) and of the Ernest Platini Quartet on tuba. She performs regularly with the brass quintet “Post TeneBrass Quintet.” Since 1992, Koko has toured Germany, Japan, Africa, and Poland with the “Christmas Trio” (Christmas carols from all countries with Tomoko Masur and Rui dos Reis). 

Since 2010, she has learned the  Schwitzerogeli (Swiss accordion) and the clarinet. She has also taught recorder for 30 years at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique, Danse et Théâtre de Genève.

SYLVAIN FOURNIER was born in Geneva. From the age of 9, he learned the marching band drum, then took drum lessons and joined a thrash-metal group with whom he gave his first concert, at 13. Subsequently, he took lessons in Brazilian, Oriental, and Bulgarian percussion with musicians from these cultures. Self-taught, he continued to learn composition, guitar, musical saw, mandolin, drums and percussion; he has more than 600 compositions to his credit.

His collaborations and performances span Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Morocco, Brazil, Canada, Norway, Spain, Italy, Chile, UK, Jordan with: Albertine and Ernest Platini (personal projects), Le Grupetto (jazz), Hors-Bord Pour Pain (cassettes and CDs of personal compositions), Anabaena (afro-funk-jazz), Les Biscômes (song), Ziad El Ahmadie (music from Lebanon), Nabila (Balkan music), Skaros (Greece, Albania), Marina Pittau (Sardinia), Henri Dés (children’s song), Rajni (Hindu tales), Gostosinho (Brazil music), Styve Tromazy saxophone 4tet (jazz), Les cow-boWs (western-ravioli music), Nadia Makhlouf (dances from the Arab world), Yaravi (latin-jazz), Poupin Trio (jazz), Les Ferries (jazz), Kardelen (Turkey-Kurdistan), Gipsy Kings (yes..!), Oogui (disco-improv-jazz), La Fanfare du Loup (balls and creations), Théâtre Spirale (25 shows), Théâtre les montreurs d’images (3 shows), Am Stram Gram, etc.