Gaume Jazz Festival : Stéphane Galland & the Rhythm Hunters

A source of energy, enthusiasm, beauty, peace, and serenity (Le Soir)

Stéphane Galland, drums / Shoko Igarashi & Sylvain Debaisieux, saxophones / Pierre-Antoine Savoyat, trumpet / Louise van den Heuvel, bass / Wajdi Riahi, piano

A magical sextet that integrates the rhythmic principles of Stéphane's extensive travels around the world to create an exceptional musical language: the voices initially sound modern and lively, sometimes rebellious and tormented, sometimes warm and soaring. Then it becomes volcanic, liquid, and ethereal: dizzying!

The project

The Rhythm Hunters was born from Stéphane Galland's experiments integrating rhythmic principles from various regions of the world into a personal musical language, as well as from the desire to develop ways of transmitting these new principles to other musicians.

Thanks to the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (Royal Conservatory of Brussels), where Stéphane currently teaches and conducts research on this subject, he was able to explore this idea further with some of the best musicians studying there. This is how “The Rhythm Hunters” was born, which Galland considers a sequel to his previous project “(the mystery of) Kem,” which followed the same development and creative process.

The goal is to explore different approaches to rhythm, which at first seem unusual and complex, and integrate them into a natural and fluid musical discourse. This approach requires in-depth collective work so that the entire group becomes familiar with these new rhythmic concepts and challenges.

The group is composed of Japanese Shoko Igarashi on tenor saxophone, Sylvain Debaisieux on alto saxophone, who also played in “(the mystery of) Kem,” French trumpeter Pierre-Antoine Savoyat, Tunisian Wajdi Riahi on piano, and Dutch Louise van den Heuvel on electric bass. As for Stéphane Galland, he naturally plays drums, and he composed the repertoire as different musical territories where the hunt for rhythms is Highly recommended.

Bring your explorer's ears. Stéphane Galland & The Rhythm Hunters' debut album was released on April 26th on the Dutch label Challenge Records.

See them at the Gaume Jazz Festival 2025!