Description

During the first ten years of his career, lutenist and composer Tristan Driessens mainly devoted himself to the classical music of the Ottoman court. In 2011 he founded the acclaimed Lâmekân Ensemble, recording four albums and performing in Europe, Turkey, and Central Asia. After becoming a accomplished oud player during his training in Istanbul, Tristan Driessens returned home in 2016. That’s when he founded Soolmaan, an ensemble for which he writes original compositions that reflect his multi-sided identity.

In 2022, Tristan Driessens wrote a cycle of new material as part of his creative trajectory as an artist-in-residence at the Concertgebouw of Bruges. The outcome is Kashgul, a contemporary modal music album made up of powerful contrasts and flavors from India, Persia and Greece.

Press

“The Belgian oudist Tristan Driessens has so far been known primarily as a specialist for Turkish music. On his new production, he sets off into new realms with the newly formed soolmaan sextet: The musicians from Greece, Turkey, Luxembourg, Italy and Belgium create largely leisurely, dreamy sound tableaus that float freely between the Bosporus and India, with flute, sax, ney, cello, piano and tamburello igniting an imaginary folklore infected by jazz, but never becoming too demanding.” JazzThing (DE)

“A timeless masterpiece, convincing on all aspects” Moorsmagazine (NL)

“In recent years, the composer and accomplished oud player Tristan Driessens has mainly worked with the classical music of the Ottoman court as a soloist or with his “Soolmaan” sextet, thus building a musical bridge between the Orient and the Occident. His latest work, which was created together with musicians from Turkey, Luxembourg, Italy and Belgium, also follows the tradition of Arabic and Middle Eastern music. Tristan and his crew combine improvisational elements with jazzy dramaturgy and enchanting harmonies.” Frank Zöllner, InMusic (DE)