I got the musical genes from my grandfather, a passionate and talented organist who taught himself how to play in the 1940s.\u00a0When I was 9 years old I started taking guitar lessons.\u00a0My teacher was at home in many markets: he played classical, jazz and rock, he was the first to set me on the road to finding my own sound and style.\u00a0Later I immersed myself in the world of the classical guitar at the conservatory for 5 years.\u00a0This entire course ran parallel to the opening of my own personal music horizon: the discovery of folk & jazz in my early teens, playing in all kinds of orchestras and bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I find the satisfaction in stepping down from my personal path as a musician.\u00a0You grow as a person, as a player, as a fellow musician, as an accompanist.\u00a0The journey I’ve traveled so far has given me a lot of experience and confidence.\u00a0That feels very good at the point where I am now.\u00a0I also enjoy traveling and meeting: other musicians, singers or band members, but also with students or the public.\u00a0Music as a catalyst for connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you truly put your heart and soul into music, you can never say you’ve found your voice, as the proverbial end of the ride.\u00a0Of course, after 20 years of playing you have a kind of recognizable sound, phrasing and a formed vision of what you do, but you keep working on that every hour, every minute, every second.\u00a0That’s the fascinating thing: you’re always searching.\u00a0The day you think “we’re there”, the books can go right away.\u00a0I am lucky enough to play together with very diverse projects and people, which means that I am obliged to adjust my ideas every time.\u00a0You learn from every musician you play with, every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve always been a voracious listener of all styles, genres, players across the board.\u00a0That is definitely something I got from home: open ears for classical, folk, jazz, rock, whatever comes on the road.\u00a0Being curious & amazed always feeds inspiration.\u00a0I’ve always been very easily excited by friends who talk very compellingly about their new discovery.\u00a0So that inspiration actually comes very easily from all sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, no preference at all.\u00a0Although I really like working with singers.\u00a0I have had the chance to work with some great calibers such as Evelyne Girardon and Jim Boyes, but also Martin Simpson, Ulrika Bod\u00e9n, Tim Eriksen, Sofia Sand\u00e9n, Fay Hield, Robb Johnson,\u2026 You can choose an instrument, your voice not at all.\u00a0It is a kind of ultimate coincidence between the personality, the body with which you have to do it and the brains with which you control your music.\u00a0There’s a kind of “nothing in the hands, nothing in the sleeves” kind of thing, which is absolutely beautiful in its simplicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main groups I play with (Snaarmaarwaar, MANdolinMAN, Naragonia Quartet) have been around for a long time, usually with unchanged line-ups.\u00a0That feels like a blessing to me, a great comfort.\u00a0Because it creates the space for real deepening, you know each other’s small sides, but above all you know where each other’s talents lie.\u00a0That just makes your music better.\u00a0Bands that create together in constant tension, it wouldn’t be for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s definitely different, but I like both.\u00a0It’s great to play for dancers.\u00a0You feel even more the connection between players and audience and the impact of your playing is immediately very visual.\u00a0Sometimes the finesse of your musical story is lost, but energy, swing and arrangement make up for a lot.\u00a0At the same time, there is nothing more beautiful than when you let your instrument sing in all facets and registers and you can hear a pin drop with a listening audience that is completely on board with your trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a G\u00f6ze concert there was no space behind the stage, so we entered through the back of the hall.\u00a0Lights go out, applause, we step through the audience towards the stage.\u00a0We bow in advance but I hadn’t seen where the chair was.\u00a0So I sit down right next to my chair and I fall completely backwards, followed by a hellish noise, a guitar that was almost total and my ribs bruised.\u00a0Then that typical 3 seconds of absolute silence after which a buzz rises, a mix of concern and weak laughter at the funny scene.\u00a0The ice was immediately broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was 12, I saw Angelo Branduardi with his band at the theater in Bruges.\u00a0I couldn’t take my eyes off his guitarist, who very calmly supported and directed everything diagonally behind him.\u00a0That seemed like a wonderful place to sit: let his singer shine from the back line, but at the same time be an indispensable link in the whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fourth album of Snaarmaarwaar will be released in the spring of 2023, for which I wrote all the music.\u00a0Spilar and Naragonia Quartet will soon be entering the studio for new recordings.\u00a0This season I have also been invited to play in the prestigious French music production SAUVAGE: an international orchestra of jazz, classical and folk musicians plays a modern reworking of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s harpsichord music.\u00a0It is a great honor for me to be the only Belgian musician to be part of this special project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, I am especially happy that the gently rumbling train of concerts, lessons, balls and encounters seems to be back on track after the corona standstill.\u00a0During that period of closed halls and canceled festivals, I realized even more how valuable music is as a motor of social life, as an \u201cinitiation\u201d to bring people together.\u00a0Hopefully, policymakers will not forget this in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1\/ Fugue BWV 1000, JS Bach https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VbfXzcN_66M<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2\/ Derni\u00e8re Route from Fuera, Jean-Louis Matinier & Renaud Garcia Fons https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hsnPVoS3_jk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3\/ Helicobtir, Trio Lopez-Chemirani-Petrakis https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=phqJG-4RyLg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4\/ Les Jours Heureux, Hamon Martin Quintet https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sfN1yvv4blM&list=RDsfN1yvv4blM&start_radio=1&rv=sfN1yvv4blM&t=0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n