Simon Leleux

Shaped like a tumbler, the darbuka, whose traditions are as diverse as the refined ways it can be played, provided the starting point for his percussion journey and his interest in many other instruments, techniques and styles.

Having trained with masters such as Ahmet Misirli, Zohar Fresco, Pedram Khavarzamini, Madjid Khaladj, Pandit Sanju Sahai, Niti Ranjan Biswas and Azzedine Jazouli, he has been focusing on studying the doholla (bass darbuka) since 2014 with the artist who broke new ground with this instrument: Levent Yildirim. Following Levent’s philosophy, his work with doholla has lead him to a soloistic and melodic approach to the instrument.

Apart from soloing, he is a founding member of two projects: Spëcht (ex- Hands in Motion), and Auster Loo (Collective). On top of these very personal projects, he also had the privilege of participating to numerous collaborative works with many celebrated artists including Fabrizio Cassol, Kudsi Erguner, Ross Daly, Ibrahim Maalouf, Khaled Alhafez, Tcha Limberger, Claron McFadden, Ugur Önür, Ghalia Benali… To name a few.

In addition to performing, he currently teaches at the Brussels world music academy, MuziekPublique, as well as Royal Conservatory of Brussels, having graduated in pedagogy from Namur Conservatory in 2013 and Rotterdam Conservatory (Codarts – Master of Music) in Turkish percussion in 2015.