Originally from Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Benjamin Bobenrieth Amondarain was first passionate about electric bass and contemporary music such as Rock and Funk. It was at the age of 15, falling under the spell of the music of Django Reinhardt, that he started playing the guitar and began learning gypsy music. This is how he set up his first groups. He enjoyed fairly rapid success and performed regularly in the South-West (winner of the Jazz springboard in Oloron, Pau Exhibition Center, Jazz Festival in Orthez...).
At the age of 18, he received the Young Talent prize awarded by the city of Pau.
In 2007, he joined the jazz musicology class at the University of Toulouse II Le Mirail. He obtained his Jazz License and continued his studies with a Master in Musicology.
Alongside his studies, he set up the groupOIHANA QUARTET. The group receives the prize for "best group" at the NIGLO international guitar competition (jury: Steeve Lafont, Christian Escoudé). The formation recorded, at the end of 2010, its first studio album. Entitled "Wrong Way", the album is acclaimed by critics (Jazz Magazine, Djangostation ...). The group thus performs regularly in jazz clubs and on prestigious stages (Festival Jazz In Paris, Festival Jazz de Tournai in Belgium, Fetival Des rives et des notes, Festival Niglo, Festival Novela, Le Baisé Salé, Le Mandala, La Taverne de Cluny, etc. The group notably opened for Biréli Lagrene in 2012 at the Paris Jazz Festival.
En 2013, he forms with the guitarist Hadrien Vejsel the trioINDIGO PROJECT, a trio that performs very regularly on stages in the Toulouse region (La Novela festival, Terre De Jazz festival, etc.).
Jointly in his activities as a musician, Benjamin wrote, at the end of 2013, an article on Django Reinhardt in "The Jazz Notebooks" (Éditions Outre Mesure) and publishes a collection of scores and transcriptions of pieces for orchestra from Django's Music toMirail University Press.
In 2015, he finally formed his own gypsy jazz trio, theBIG BEN THREESOME. The group is very successful and performs in many festivals (Festival JazzShards d'Émail Limoges, Jazz at Mercure in Toulouse, Jazz in Oloron, Jazz in Mars in Tarnos, Jazz in Saint Sat', Festival Musique En Chemin, Festival Swing Mirepoix, Festival Karavan, Festival Gipsy Jazz Salles, Festival Jazz en Comminges, Festival ClariJazz...) as well as in halls and clubs all over France!
Jointly, il also integrates many groups from the Toulouse and National scene. What causes it to happen very regularly everywhere in France, in Europe and even in Hong Kong and Macao during a tour in November 2018!
In September 2018, Benjamin Bobenrieth released his first album under his own name, as a Gypsy Jazz quartet, with the very prestigious LABEL LABORIE JAZZ.
The ScrapbookTRAVELS by Benjamin Bobenrieth will be released in September 2018!
The release of the album is done with great fanfare with an album release concert at the Studio de l'Ermitage in Paris during the Ermi'Jazz Festival. The concert, in collaboration withFrench Radio, is recorded and broadcast in full onFrance Music. Several titles and compositions from the album have since been broadcast on national and local radio stations (France Musique, FIP, France Bleue, etc...). He also collaborates with theMusic Editor Métisse Music, which manages the rights of his compositions!
The group has been performing everywhere, during hundreds of dates in many Festivals and is enjoying growing success, awelcome from the public and ever more enthusiastic critics! In February 2020, Benjamin's TRAVELS quartet performsnotably in Saudi Arabia during a tour andconfirmed thus its success and international recognition!
In 2020, during the 1st confinement, Benjamin embarked on the creation and development of an online guitar method, theGYPSY JAZZ IMPROVIZATION ACADEMY. This innovative method, entirely digital (more than 3 hours of educational videos and tablatures in pdf format), is hosted by theNational Center for Pedagogical Innovation et allows, as such to befundable by vocational training
(online method + training day in physics).
In 2022, Benjamin signs his second album in his name at theLABEL LABORIE JAZZ!
The album NAHIA'S SOUL, which will be released in November 2022, is a great first, an albumexclusively de compositions. A personal and intimate universe where Benjamin demonstrates his qualities as a composer and arranger. The heritage of Gypsy Jazz mixes with other influences, the rhythm section is enriched with drums, the guitar is sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric, and finally, a String Quartet brings orchestral dimension and lyrical power to his compositions.