LUTHOMANIA SEXTET

Three major musical cultures meet in a popular and age-old instrument, the lute, played here by a Chinese, a Moroccan and a Belgian. They conduct a dialogue within traditional and new compositions, in which each musician performs his own local color: Chinese pentatonics, Arab taksim, European baroque and even jazz and contemporary influences. After many concerts and two award-winning CDs (Périples and Itinérances) Luthomania dreamed of a confrontation with another group of strumming instruments: the harp, an instrument with a millennia-long history, which is often found in the same three cultures.
The Chinese guzheng, the Arabic qanoen and the European baroque harp add a sensual touch to the original trio.  resulted in the album 'Peregrina'. In this program the musicians navigate from one culture to another. Luthomania evokes impressionistic and meditative atmospheres, but can also surprise in exuberant explosions of virtuosity.
Met Hua Xia (pipa), Philippe Malfeyt (baroque giutar, lute, theorbe, colascione), Abid Bahri (oed), Osama Abdulrasol (qanoen), Hannelore Devaere (baroque harp) & Li’Ling Huang (guzheng)