OP DE KOFFIE #20 - SIMON LELEUX

When I met Simon, he was a teenager, but one of the kind who knows. He knew what he wanted, where he was going, and how he was going to get there.
We got to know each other much better somewhat later playing, together in the Lâmekân ensemble and opening up the space of percussion dialogue there. It's in that period, during one of the nightly conversations in an Istanbul hotel room, that he shared his dream of starting a percussion band. It was a dream of exploring the realm of rhythmic composition, a dream of playing music that is at the same time intelligently constructed and groovy, that speaks to the mind, the heart and the body alike.
It's been a trip, since. A journey of musical discovery, of pushing each others boundaries, of growing together... and of growing a close friendship.
There's not many better doholla players in this part of the world, and this man is in a constant and very personal search for extending the possibilities of his instrument. Apart from that, he is an excellent band leader, always aiming at the highest possible artistic level without ever loosing sight of the human relationships, always treating people with love and respect.
We are playing for you a peace that was partially inspired by a groove from a Brazilian jazz tune and first arranged for a workshop we taught together, playing with different layers of 7 beats. And then an improvisation echoing a bit Simon's research of translating Indian tabla language to doholla.
Do yourselves a favour and listen with decent headphones or speakers. Some of the good stuff in this music happens in a frequency range that is not rendered by small speakers and it would be a shame to miss out on that.
"Op de koffie" means so much as "visiting for a cup of coffee" in my mother tongue, Dutch. The whole year 2023, I invited people to meet in Studio Galinella, this wonderful place I share with some friends. We have fun together and play some music, connecting through the most beautiful language we have.

[@0ptymista]

wielka przyjemność patrzeć i słuchać! dziękuję!

[@drifterh7240]

wouuuuuh ouh ouh tuerie

[@douglasl2409]

WOW! What a great thing to see and hear. It shows that y’all have played together for a long time. Thanks for putting this out there.

[@michieldpiano]

Love it!

[@MatthiasHaffner]

Yeah! Simon - great! And Robbe - anyway!! Bravo

[@robbekieckens]

Thank you Matthias

[@douglasl2409]

What is the band y’all mentioned at the beginning of the video? I love the Hands in Motion album I have and would love to find more of your music! Is there a link to this other project?

[@robbekieckens]

Hi, very glad you like what we do. The band is called Spëcht. Just released an album called Triptyques.