Stéphane Galland & The Rhythm Hunters Stéphane Galland

• 1Morpheus07:54
• 2The Lindy Effect06:20
• 3Positivv07:33
• 4Ipseity08:10
• 5Artemis07:29
• 6Transe Culture05:07
• Total Runtime42:33

Info for Stéphane Galland & The Rhythm Hunters

Hunting for rhythm, as if our lives depended on it, as if, without rhythm, we’d starve to death. Can body and soul live without rhythm? Seizing its different forms, dissecting it, ingesting it, digesting it, could very well be akin to the Rhythm Hunters’ creative process. What are the rhythmic principles that lead us to develop its polyphonic, groovy and trance-like aspects (Africa), or mathematically complex ones (India), or irregular pulsations that transcend asperities (Balkans), among others? To go on a rhythm hunt, why not explore all these places, appreciate the infinite diversity of rhythms and, back home, try to understand and experiment with enriching your own rhythmic vocabulary with the basic principles underlying each musical tradition. What can these principles contribute if you transcend borders and begin to adapt your musical knowledge and experience to the new ramifications of the rhythm you’ve just discovered? The music of The Rhythm Hunters is one of the answers.

A few years ago, the musicians in this band and I began a specific practice on unusual mixes of rhythmic ideas, inspired by traditions from various parts of the world, with the intention of integrating them until they became a personal vocabulary and means of expression. The result is on this album.

Sylvain Debaisieux, alto saxophone
Shoko Igarashi, tenor saxophone
Wajdi Riahi, piano
Louise van den Heuvel, bass
Pïerre-Antoine Savoyat, trumpet
Stéphane Galland, drums

Stéphane Galland
was born into a musical family and received his first drum set at the age of three. He decided to take lessons in classical percussion when he reached the age of nine, at the conservatory at Huy (Belgium) and started playing jazz with his fellow pianist Eric Legnini two years later. At the age of 13, having had the opportunity to play with the best jazz musicians in Belgium, he developed a growing interest in this musical field. Always in search of new musical experiences, he met Pierre Vandormael, Fabrizio Cassol and Michel Hatzigeorgiou, and later with the last two, formed the band called AKA MOON. The band, which recorded 16 CDs and performed worldwide (Europe, Africa, Asia, the United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean Islands, India…), has been a unique and invaluable field of development and experimentation with different musical traditions. This led Stéphane Galland to record and perform with the Malian star Oumou Sangare, Senegalese master Doudou N'diaye Rose (Miles Davis, Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel...), the Great and undisputed South Indian master of Mridangam Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, the Turkish master of percussion Misirli Ahmet, and many different artists from Africa, India, Asia, Europe and America.

Other than that, Stéphane Galland has been playing and recording with numerous famous artists from different horizons including Joe Zawinul, Joe Lovano, Toots Thielemans, Philip Catherine, and singers Ozark Henry, David Linx, Axelle Red, Zap Mama, Novastar, Claron McFadden, Cristina Zavalloni as well as many different groups using new developments in rhythm and harmony such as Dhafer Youssef, Nguyên Lê, Nelson Veras, Thôt, Kartet. Stéphane was the drummer for many special projects including African Voices (with Oumou Sangare, Me’shell Ndegeocello, Baba Sissoko), Aka Moon & 600 children (with a unique gathering of a 600 Children choir), Homage to Jaco Pastorius (with Toots Thielemans, Othello Molineaux, Felix and Julius Pastorius, etc....), to Jeff Buckley (with Marie Daulne (Zap Mama), Kris Dane & David Linx), Homage to Friedrich Gulda with Martha Argerich, Alexander Rabinovitch and Gautier Capuçon, Philippe Boesmans’ opera “Wintermärchen” (on Deutsche Grammophon), Anne-Teresa de Keersmaeker Rosas Dance Company “In Real Time” and more than 260 shows with Alain Platel’s widely acclaimed “VSPRS” and “Pitié!”.

In the summer of 2011, he founded his own project called “LOBI”, exploring multiple ancient musical traditions in a modern, futuristic and alchemistical approach. Stéphane Galland’s “LOBI” is a meeting of some of the most sought-after musicians today, coming from different traditions: Magic Malik on Flute and Vocal (Guadeloupe/Ivory Coast), Malcolm Braff on piano (Brazil, Senegal, Switzerland), Petar Ralchev (Bulgaria), Misirli Ahmet on percussion (Turkey) and Carles Benavent on bass (Spain).

He has been teaching drums, rhythm and ensemble in different schools and conservatories in Belgium (presently teacher at the KCB, Royal Music Conservatory of Brussels) and France, and gives seminars, Clinics and Master classes worldwide.

This album contains no booklet.