In search of
NEw FLEMISH MASTERS
De diverse uitvoerders in dit project staan symbool voor de meervoudige Vlaamse identiteit. Waaruit bestaat de artistieke traditie in onze regio vandaag, en hoe gaan we daarmee om? Met deze zoektocht zetten de muzikanten de lange lijn van Vlaams artistiek meesterschap voort, op geheel eigenzinnige wijze. Met contrasterende stemmen, authentieke klankkleuren vervat in hedendaagse en opzwepende soundscapes.
Met polyfonie en contrasterende stemmen, naast authentieke klankkleuren, vervat in hedendaagse en opzwepende soundscapes.
met steun van de Vlaamse Overheid
Booking
Lisbeth Maes
Phone: +32 497 64 34 79
Email: lisbeth.maes@telenet.be
musicians
Osama Abdulrasol (Qanun, Ud & compositions)
Enter the musical universe of qanun player Osama Abdulrasol. With his quintet he takes you on a fascinating journey, from traditional Babylonian sounds, to jazz and contemporary music. Osama performed almost everywhere in the world with artists as Goran Bregovic, Dirk Brossé, Claron McFadden, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and many others. In his way of playing and in his compositions you will recognize both the mastership from the ancient Iraq, as well as the creativity and the open mind of the true cosmopolitan. Belgian cultural prize winner 2013 - Gent
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DJ Grasshoppe
DJ Grasshopper is a producer and DJ in Los Angeles who who specializes in a wide range of music. Including: electronic, dubstep, nu disco, top 40, grimey electro, pop, house, etc.
Helena Schoeters (Soprano)
toured as a soprano singer all around Europe. She mixes in a unique way classical and traditional elements in her voice, which makes her the perfect interpreter of Osama Abdulrasol's compositions.
As a child she was fascinated by folksongs and French 'chansonniers'. Renaissance and baroque music became her first real love in the music academy. Opera and lied found a way to her heart through the conservatory. Traditional music never ceased to touch and tempt me. Arabic music crossed her path.
THOMAS NOEL (hammond & keyboard)
Having studied the piano at the Antwerp Convervatory and jazz & composition in Ghent, Thomas Noël (°1971) ventures out into the big wide world with his guitar. From New York to the Solomon Isles to Israel/Palestine he picks up the sounds of jazz, world music and improvisation. In Melbourne his mentor Emmanuel T. Santos teaches him the tricks of the trade in photography and helps him to discover his voice as an artist – the key words being music, photography, traveling and social commitment. Eventually this will lead him to conceive quite unique projects, not seldom channeled through his foundation ‘Frontiera’ : the Livingstone ensemble with the cd ‘On the Trail’ or ‘The City’s Song’ with its focus on cities like Mexico City, Johannesburg and Ramallah. In 2014 he travels with a group of musicians from Istanbul to Ghent by train.
As a multi-instrumentalist and arranger he works with bands like Le Grand Bateau, The Chai Connection and the impro-ensemble Tabarnack. In the world of theatre he produces ‘Boxart’ in The Centrale (a mix of boxing and music) and ‘Passengers’ for the Vieze Gasten – a socio-artistic organisation for which he has become a fixture as a composer and coach.
PHILIPPE MALFAIT (Lutes, Theorbo, Vocals & more)
After studying guitar at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, PM starts studying the lute as an autodidact. In 1983 he obtained a 'performing' lute diploma from 'The Royal College of Music', London.
Since then he can be heard regularly as a soloist, in duo (with the harpist Hannelore Devaere, traverso player Patrick Beuckels, flamenco guitarist Michel Gillain, the Nyckel harpist Didier François, the soprano Katelijne Van Laethem...) and in numerous larger ensembles (La Caccia, La Pastorella, Millenarium, Il Fondamento, Rans, La Roza Enflorese, Currende, Zefiro Torna, La Cetra d'Orfeo…
In 1989 he founded the vocal-instrumental ensemble 'Romanesque', which specializes in lesser-known works from the Renaissance. Their CD recordings with music by Willaert, Ockeghem and Utendal were praised in the international press.
PM is more and more interested in other music genres, he wants to take the lute out of its historical isolation.
In the lute trio 'Luthomania', three musical cultures (Morocco, Belgium, China) are confronted in new compositions and improvisations.
KHALED ALHAFEZ (Arabic vocals)
Classical Arabic singer and teacher Former teacher at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus Participated in many Arab and European festivals