Tristan Driessens: oud
Christos Barbas: ney, piano, lavta, vocals
Nathan Daems: tenor saxophone, ney, kaval
Annemie Osborne: cello
Occasional guests: Levent Yıldırım: doholla, bendir, percussion set-up, Bijan Chemirani: tombak, percussion set-up, Pavlos Spyropoulos: double bass, Andrea Piccioni: tamburello, bendir, riqq.
Soolmaan is a Belgium bases band consisting of several quartet line-ups led by Belgian oud player and composer Tristan Driessens. Their music can be described as stormy sound tableaus that float freely between the Bosphorus and India, an imaginary folklore with a jazzy touch carried out by masterful improvisers. The band played in major venues and festivals including BOZAR, Concertgebouw Bruges and Istanbul Express.
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, which recorded four albums and gave performances in Europe, Turkey, and Central Asia. After becoming an accomplished oud player during his training in Istanbul, Tristan Driessens returned home in 2016. That’s when he founded the Soolmaan Quartet, a band for which he writes original compositions reflecting his multi-sided identity. Influences from Eastern and Western classical music traditions and contemporary modal music fuse into highly versatile and inspirational sounds where improvisation is the connecting factor.
About their first album Letters to Handenberg (Homerecords, 2017), the press wrote: Oud magician Tristan Driessens takes another step in his musical journey with the Soolmaan Quartet. In Letters to Handenberg he writes mesmerizing melodies in which all his influences flow together to create an atmosphere of complete boundlessness. A mesmerizing album born from the union of four musicians at the peak of their art. (Bazar Magazin, BE)
In 2022, Tristan Driessens wrote a cycle of new material as part of his creative trajectory as an composer-in-residence at the Concertgebouw of Bruges. The outcome is Kashgul (Seyir Muzik, 2023, Zephyrus, 2025), an album made up of powerful contrasts and flavors from India, Persia, and Greece.
WHAT THE PRESS WRITES
One is to imagine landscapes carried by music, and they are beautiful, sometimes stormy, sometimes nostalgic.
Le Soir***** Thanks to its free improvisation and its instrumentation of almost sacred purity, Letters to Handenberg is a release highly recommended to be discovered.
Written In Music (BE)A timeless masterpiece without borders.
Moors Magazine (BE)The Soolmaan Ensemble unites eclectic musical references in a timeless as well as contemporary expression. Influences from Eastern and Western classical music traditions and contemporary modal music fuse into highly versatile and inspirational sounds where improvisation is the connecting factor. A mystical element derived from several traditions shines through their music.
Kefa Moras (ES)Tristan and his crew combine improvisational elements with jazzy dramaturgy and enchanting harmonies.
InMusic (DE)This music is timeless, and carries an almost unbearable calm and warmth.
New folk Sounds (NL)
Photo credit: Violène Coppenolle
