De Manen Opzij

De Manen Opzij (The Manes Aside) is the title of a project where 4 musicians from different disciplines have come together. Thomas Hoste and Maarten Marchau are two experienced musicians from the Flemish folk scene. Together they form Mótha, an improvisation project that starts from traditional instruments, but produces a completely new sound by means of electronics. Simon Segers is a drummer for De Beren Gieren, Black Flower and MDCIII, among others. Colin H. Van Eeckhout is the frontman of sludge metal band Amenra and has an experimental solo project that bears the letters of his name: CHVE.

In November 2018, these four musicians came together around the idea of making a piece inspired by an old saga (Malegys) from the Heuvelland region. In this saga, three girls are seduced by a wonderfully beautiful horse. The horse takes them on a two-day trip where the boundaries between reality and dream are replaced. At the invitation of Muziekcentrum Dranouter they got together and started to improvise. This created different musical atmospheres based on the elements of the story. This was worked on during a year in residency at the music center. With a unique set of instruments they alternate improvisations with intense drum rolls, deep and warm bass drones and experimentally distorted hurdy-gurdy tones.

During the creation process, a visual work of art emerged that began to influence the music and vice versa. A dance performer was also involved at a later stage. Nele De Baets-Lemmens dances through the visuals and tones like a fleeting ghost. This is how De Manen Opzij eventually came into being, which is more than just music, a true total work of art that makes connections between past and present, between different artistic disciplines and movements in music. This special whole was captured in an audio recording that will be published on Consouling Sounds and will be shown on stage later this year.