Biharayto, Aramaic for “finally” or “at last”, is the recent debut album of Elias Bouchara. After many years accompanying other artists, he now takes centre stage himself. Through his own compositions, he shares his personal story, his outlook on life, and his deeply personal musical language Over the years, Elias has developed an exceptional command of both Eastern and Western musical traditions. His playing is marked by subtlety, imagination and depth, earning him recognition as a leading figure in his field.

With eight original compositions, he unfolds a musical universe where East and West meet. Effortlessly moving between modal, tonal and atonal worlds, he navigates from melancholic maqams to poetic melodies filled with emotion. Each piece tells its own story — a moment, a city, a memory — together forming an intimate journey through his personal and artistic evolution. During this concert, Elias performs music from Biharayto alongside other original compositions. In doing so, he shares a sound world shaped by the Syrian traditions of Damascus, enriched by the influence of his teachers Askar Alikbirov (Azerbaijan) and Munir Bashir (Iraq), as well as by his Western classical training with Professor Daniele Capelletti (Belgium).

Le Centre d’études tibétaines

Brussels, mid-1970s. Carlo Luyckx and Brigitte Cornelis are walking the city in search of a place to found a Buddhist centre. They don’t know exactly where, but their Tibetan master, Akong Rinpoche, has promised them they will recognise the house. Time and again, their steps lead them back to Rue Capouillet, in Saint-Gilles. One day, a “for rent” sign appears on the façade of number 33.

This is how Samyé Dzong was born, in 1977. The Brussels Tibetan Studies Centre was inaugurated by the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa himself, one of the great masters of Tibetan Buddhism. Today, under the spiritual authority of his successor, the 17th Karmapa, the centre is affiliated with Samyé Ling, in Scotland, the very first Tibetan Buddhist monastery founded in the West, in 1967.

This discreet address in the heart of Saint-Gilles has welcomed most of the great Tibetan masters who have travelled to the West over the past fifty years. The 14th Dalai Lama came to teach here in 1989. Kalu Rinpoche, the 12th Tai Situpa and Orgyen Tulku passed through too. A two-thousand-year-old tradition is transmitted here, just a stone’s throw from Place Bethléem.

All year round, Samyé Dzong offers activities open to anyone interested, whatever their beliefs. You don’t need to be a Buddhist to push the door open. You just need to be curious.