Sakina Abdou & Peter Orins

Sakina Abdou (sax, flute) and Peter Orins (drums), both from Lille, have been working together for several years, including a trio with pianist Barbara Dang and with various projects of the ensemble Toc. In Rataplan they will perform as a duo, something they rarely do.

Sakina Abdou is a saxophonist, flautist and visual artist who studied the flute (early and contemporary music) and the saxophone (classical/contemporary/jazz) at the Music Academy of Lille and Roubaix. Since 1998, she has been a member of various bands in the Lille area that operate within the range of jazz, improvised and contemporary music. These bands include Bi-Ki?, the La Pieuvre Orchestra led by Olivier Benoit, Vazytouille, Eliogabal and the Toc Compulsive Brass Band. She has collaborated with Dedalus Ensemble and artists such as Satoko Fuji, Eve Risser, Jean-Luc Guionnet and Raymond Boni. In December 2022 she released her first solo album ‘Goodbye Ground’ on the Relative Pitch label.

Peter Orins has been playing jazz since the mid 90’s. He graduated from the conservatory in Lille in 1997 and also studied musicology, improvisation (with Fred Van Hove) and composition (with Jean-Marc Chouvel and Ricardo Mandolini). In 2010, he created whats is now probably his best know band: KAZE. With this French-Japanese quartet that includes pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpet players Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost, he has been touring internationally for the past decade. The quartet released several albums, including collaborations with Ikue Mori and Sophie Agnel. His recent collaborations include performances and/or recordings with Dave Rempis, Joke Lanz, Paulina Owczarek and Ingrid Laubrock. Orins is also artistic director of the Muzzix musicians’ collective and the Circum-Disc label since its initiation.

Charel Maes – Youniss – Orlan Ghekiere

After the superb projects with artist such as Yves De Mey, Julien Tassin and Suzan Peeters, the Antwerp based Strange Meeting collective presents yet another surprising collaboration at Rataplan. Alto saxophonist Charel Maes invites multi-talented artist Youniss for a riveting clash of styles. After releasing music under the Corrupted moniker, Youniss recently released his second album ‘White Space’ under his own name. With musical and political influences ranging from Amiri Baraka, Boris and Moor Mother to Radiohead and Kassa Overall, he gives voice to his inner existential outcries with heralding vocals bathing in polyphonic fragility, shrieking guitar sounds and rattling patched-up drumwork with electronic-like textures. Drummer Orlan Ghekiere, active as a solo artist and in different bands and projects ranging from pop to free improvised music, completes te puzzle.