NadaTrio is a fusion project formed by sitarplayer Nicolas Mortelmans.
They are playing improvised concerts based on Indian classical music.
During the proces of improvisation they might explore other music styles like jazz, oriental, gypsy and folk.
Nada is a Sanskrit word that means 'sound'.
It comes from the root 'nad', wih means 'to flow' or 'river'.
The primal, inner, cosmic sound or first vibration from wich all creation has emanated.
The first manifestation of the unmanifested Absolute.
Divine music wich is heard in higher state of consciousness.
In many other languages 'nada' means 'nothing'.
Nicolas Mortelmans: sitar
Renaud Crols: violin
Leen Minten: tabla
BIO RENAUD CROLS (Violin)
Renaud Crols is an extremely talented musician and one of the leading violin players in Belgium. He plays in Les violons de Bruxelles, Sitardust and many more projects.
Renaud Crols learned to play the piano at the age of six and the violin at the age of nine. At seventeen he made his debut at the Royal Conservatory of Liège and left with the First Prize in violin, in Chamber music and in music theory. At the same time he fell in love with jazz playing and improvisation and he got himself involved in different bands. By the age of twenty-one, he moved to Brussels and started his voyage of discovery into gypsy music from Romania and the Balkans. He focused on jazz, and more specific on Manouche jazz. He had the opportunity to perform several times with the famous Romanian gypsy orchestra “Taraf de Haïdouks”. Three years later, he toured in Canada with the Belgian sitar player Bert Cornelis and internationally renowned Indian tablas master, Partha Mukherjee. He also went on a world tour with the ballet representation “Pitié” of Belgian choreographer Alain Platel. Today, Renaud Crols mainly performs with classical or jazz ensembles.
BIO NICOLAS MORTELMANS (sitar)
Full Moon Babylon:
"Nicolas is a very talented multi-instrumentalist from Belgium, who is also one of the most promising young musicians in Europe seriously dedicated to Indian Classical Music. He started playing and studying music since he was 8 years old, learning guitar and drums. It is only at the later age of 22 that he began playing the sitar. However, he fell in love with the mystical sounds of this instrument and began to deepen in it studying intensively in the traditional way with sitar maestro Pandit Shivnath Mishra, whom he met in India. In addition to the sitar Nicolas plays several other instruments such as Caisa, the Native American flute and various percussion instruments (djembe, darbouka & drums), and takes part of various crossover musical projects."
Nicolas performed with artists like Leki, Jean Bosco Safari, Ben Crabbé, Wouter Berlaen, Nessi Gomes, Emile Verstraeten, Matt Watts, Tikki Masala, Aura Rascon,
Joeri Wens, Prashant Mishra & many more.
In 2014 Nicolas played more then 60 concerts in Belgium, Holland and India.
In 2015 Nicolas performed in Het Sportpaleis, De Roma, Muziekpublique & more.
BIO LEEN MINTEN (tabla)
Leen Minten studeerde piano, notenleer, kamermuziek en voordracht aan het stedelijke conservatorium te Hasselt.
De laatste 25 jaar studeerde zij tabla (Noord- Indische percussie) in India (Mumbai/Delhi) en San Francisco bij Ustad Allah Rakha en levende legende Ustad Zakir Hussain. Zij studeerde eveneens Indisch harmonium en kanjeera (Zuid- Indische percussie) in Pune en Madras.
Leen toert al meer dan 20 jaar met verschillende projecten in Europa, Amerika en Azië. In België speelde zij onder andere in Het Paleis, De Roma, Jazz Middelheim en culturele centra.
Leen voelt zich thuis in verschillende muziekstijlen zoals folk, Indische klassieke muziek, Arabische muziek, Sefardische muziek en jazz. Ze heeft verschillende keren samen gewerkt met theater en televisie. Leen gaf ook les in de Jazz-studio te Antwerpen.