Living Room Music Festival 2023
Tickets will still be available for the festival this Sunday, May 7th, in Oudergem’s Transvaal neighborhood.
1/ Favorise purchasing your 3 concerts pass (see below).
2/ On the day of, please visit our checkpoint located avenue Léopold Florent Lambin n°1 in 1160 Ouderghem, from 1pm to purchase your 3 concerts pass or even a last minute ticket for only one concert.
3/ If you don’t have time to reach the checkpoint, you can go directly at the place of your chosen concert (see program and schedules below) to purchase your solo ticket (only available for this concert – subject to availability – plan 5 euros/concert in cash).
Welcome to the Transvaal district in Auderghem, where the Living Room Music Festival celebrates its twentieth edition this year!
This Sunday, May 7th, 9 residents will open the doors of their living room to organize a concert of traditional world music and put the Transvaal neighborhood in the spotlight. Come and discover musicians from different backgrounds during this afternoon and meet some Transvaal residents, their neighbours, spectators and volunteers who are present at the festival. The special thing about the Transvaal neighborhood is, among other things, its serenity. You can enjoy a quiet walk from one concert to another.
How does it work? Choose 3 concerts from the 9 announced concerts. Each group plays 3 concerts of 30 minutes, alternated with 30 minutes during which the audience moves from one living room to another. Consult the program below and choose your 3 concerts! Be bold, it’s not every day that you can make a musical journey between the 5 continents in such a small area! The distances between the different locations can always be done by foot or by bicycle in a maximum of 15 minutes.
On the day of the festival: Take your ticket (on your smartphone or printed on paper) directly to the address of the resident of the first concert you chose. If you have any questions, if you’re lost or if just want to say hello, the community hall (located at L.F. Lambin 1) will be your go-to central information point. It is open and accessible for a drink and for a toilet break.
If you want to buy tickets for one single concert where there are still places left, you can also go to this checkpoint (open from 12pm on Sunday 07/05).
Happy festival!
The players of the National Lottery are happy to be able to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Living Room Music Festival. With a view to improving the image of a specific Brussels district, as well as focusing on Belgian intercultural artists from a niche sector, the project contributes to the national prestige of Belgium. The values around community building and “opening doors for” are beautiful and similar to those of the national lottery.
16h-17h-18h
1. Cumali duo at Laurent's
16h-17h-18h
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Multicultural and with an openness to the world, Cumali Bulduk’s musical background reflects his interest for other cultures but also his enthusiasm to bring awareness on the turquish popular culture. He has, by doing that, developed his own style through musical experiences with artists from multiple influences.Emi SHIRAKI is graduated from SAOI, Japanese university for the recorder (flute) and has obtained a master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels. She has also graduated at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels and at Tours in France for the ancient harp.This new project, initiated by Cumali Bulduk, along with Emi Shiraki playing the harp and the recorder is a significant step towards the fusion between a traditional approach on Turkish music, ancient and modern music.The combination of these two individualities towards a shared goal gives to this project and this music all of its assets, singularity, surprises, diversity, novelty, originality but above all love and sharing.Cumali Bulduk : baglama, voice Emi Shiraki : recorder, harp |
At Laurent’s
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It has now been a few years since Laurent started participating in different editions of the Living Room Music Festival as a volunteer! Fond of music and travelling, you’ll find new melodic atmospheres at his place that may resonate with his numerous pictures in foreign countries framed on his walls. This year, he swaps his position from volunteer to host for a concert, and will share with the audience his passion for traditional music from all around the world!
Rue des 2 Chaussées 25 |
16h-17h-18h
2. Shak Shakito (Congo) At Pascal's
16h-17h-18h
 |
Shak Shakito (guitar, voice) merges traditional Congolese rhythms from oriental Kasaï and Equador (basongue, baluba, ana –mongo) with occidental influences. Interpreted in kitetela and in lingala, his songs depict with eagerness the exuberance of life, the hopes and the Congolese daily life. They are true poetic and coded messages who serve the people and denounce injustices by pointing at the modern contradictions. This outrage expresses itself through an optimistic and festive energy which go beyond difficulties. |
At Delphine and pascal’s
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Pascal is an inhabitant that knows Muziekpublique really well. At the center of the nonprofit organisation’s project since its beginning, he opens the doors to his house for the Living Room Music Festival, welcoming a musical break for an afternoon. He is in fact the one who has recommended the warm and peaceful Transvaal neighborhood for this 20th edition. Welcome in Pascal’s, his cat’s Tigrou and his green plants’ bright little house!
Clos des Pommiers Fleuris 27 |
16h-17h-18h
3. Alfaia At Michel Vervloet's
16h-17h-18h
 |
Driven by Verónica CODESAL’s silky voice (Ialma), the warm tones from the oud and Adil Benhsain’s viola, backed by diverse ancient percussion instruments, ALFAIA brings us to the borders of distant lands where music rhymes with escape, languor and enchantment.We close our eyes and let go… And just like that begins a marvellous auditory adventure that meanders in a surprising and unique way, between Galicia and Maghreb, in a music and traditional chants repertory, tempered with classical touches and reinterpreted with more personal tonalities.A truly beautiful way to let us discover the great richness led by the gracious encounter between cultures which are finally not so different from one another.From moving vocals to mystic lyricism, Verónica CODESAL’s voice and Adil BENHSAIN’s music are able to unite with talent, subtlety and happiness. It’s beautiful, it’s delicate, it’s luminous.Verónica CODESAL (voice and Galician percussions) Adil BENHSAIN (oud, viola, voice and Arab percussions) |
At MICHEL’s
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Nested in his family house, Michel has already welcomed multiple concerts in his living room. Unfortunately, the Covid period has rushed the end of these concerts. That’s why Michel is especially enthusiastic at the idea of start again, but this time with Muziekpublique. Located on one of the main avenues in Transvaal, his house is at the center of the neighborhood. One of the reason for which, besides his obvious kindness, Michel knows everyone!
Avenue Joseph Chaudron 101 |
16h-17h-18h
4. Café Colaj At En Bord de Soignes's
16h-17h-18h
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Café Colaj distils the atmosphere and the intensity of the nights at kafenío, where we meet to have a drink and sing together. It’s in that spirit – the one of Kafé Aman who once brought together diverse communities of the Ottoman Empire – that the trio offers florilegia (or colaj in Romanian): Greek dances, Turkish lament, French cockiness, Rom real weeper and chilling bulgaro-romanians solos!Voices, accordion and clarinet even out each other in an intimate and powerful performance.Orphise Labarbe : singing, percussions Romain Karsenty : Accordion, singing Emmanuel Haessig : Clarinet |
At en bord de soignes’s
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The social housing’s Multipurpose Room of the Transvaal neighborhood is a space to gather and reunite. A welcoming and warm place, at the top of its hill, overlooking the area. This local is runned by “En Bord de Soignes“ which is Oudergem’s social housing society and used by the CEMPA: “Educational Cell of the Oudergem Prevention House”, made of educators helping with a personal following on youngers and adults requests. A spacious location, for exchange and meetings, to have a drink, a chat or attend a concert!
Avenue Léopold Florent Lambin 1 |
14h-15h-16h
5. Babela Navarro Miralles (Chili) At Edouard and Monica's
14h-15h-16h
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In the spirit of the legendary singer Violeta Parra, the young Chilean singer Babela Navarro Miralles merges poetic songs and political message. Solo or with her trio Hasta que nos echen, she creates her own composition inspired by the hard reality, but also the beautiful landscapes of Latina America. Of course, Violetta Parra’s work should not be missing from the program. Babela Navarro Miralles goes, with her songs, on a quest of this strong woman’s spirit.Babela Navarro Miralles: guitar, singing |
At edouard and Monica’s
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This belgo-colombian couple and their three kids has lived in the Transvaal neighborhoods for four years now. In this house, sentences switch from French to Spanish. Walls are colorful and their joyfulness will leave you with lasting memories. They told us: “we’re done with white walls!”. Curious and dynamic, Edouard and Monica along with their kids will be delighted to meet their neighbors and the audience.
Avenue Daniel Boon 69 |
15h-16h-17h
6. Turikumwe (afro-colombian) At FEDASIL's
15h-16h-17h
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TURIKUMWE is your chance to listen to, dance to and mostly live out the Afro-Colombian repertory from the Caribbean cost. On stage, three percussions, as rhythmic as melodic, and with chants responding to each other.At the crossroads of African, indigenous and Spanish traditions, this music conveys a power that invites the audience to a dance, that comes close to a trance. This profound and festive journey can show up anywhere, in bars, in neighbourhood’s celebration, in festivals, as long as there is space for eight musicians, their drums made from their stretched goat skin drums, and a usually moving audience. |
At fedasil’s
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This new Observation and Orientation center (which opened its doors on October 4th 2021) for MENA (minors from foreign origins and unaccompanied, without their parents or legal representatives) is the first grounding point of youngers landing on the Belgian territory. The 60 young residents are followed with the aim to be guided and oriented towards a hosting structure that corresponds to their profile. This essential project is located in a Transvaal stunning building and runned by an invested and caring team. A welcoming, human place that hosts with open arms the Living Room Music Festival project as well as Muziekpublique. On this site, you will not discover a proper living room but an area in which traditional music in Belgium take on their full meaning.
Avenue Jean Van Horenbeeck 192 |
14h-15h-16h
7. Aki Sato At Michèle
14h-15h-16h
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With Aki Vergels-Sato we will discover two of the most emblematic instruments from Japan. She is a teacher in the koto (cithara) in the « ikuta » school and in the shamisen (luth) of the « Nogawa » school. She is certified in the art of koto in the traditional instruments department of Osaka’s academy of music, but learned how to play the koto at the age of six with the professor Chiaki Amakawa. She then takes koto and shamisen courses with the ultimate reference, professor Hatsuko Kikuhara, considered as an immortal patrimony in Japan.We are therefore delighted that Aki Sato brings life to this ancient heritage for the Living Room Music Festival.Aki Vergels-Sato: koto, shamisen, singing |
At MICHELE’s
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This time, we are introducing you to another host from our program for who music has a prominent place. Usherette at “La Monnaie” during many years and fond of opera, Michèle is also deeply invested in her neighborhood’s live. Helpful and dynamic, Michel doesn’t hesitate to make herself available to help her neighbors. It is then logical for her to open the doors of her house to host a concert for Muziekpublique and to transform the lyrical chants recordings she listens to daily, in live from traditional instruments. Her home is located at the crossroads of “Avenue René Stevens” and “rue Jean Van Horenbeeck”. To reach her place easily, without detours, you can look up: « Le Petit Collège Saint Hubert ».
Avenue René Stevens 141/Corner of the Avenue Jean Van Horenbeeck |
14h-15h-16h
8. Moussa Niang & Pape Brahim Niang Cissokho (Senegal) At Alisée's
14h-15h-16h
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The Senegalese singer Moussa Niang (alias Moussa Diabate) rubbed shoulders with the biggest names of Malian music. He was one of the main singers in the Toumani Diabaté’s Symmetric Orchestra and has performed with Bassekou Kouyate. He then founds a musical ally in the young Senegalese kora player Pape Cissoko. « Pope of the Kora » belongs to the 72th generation of “griots”, musical caste whose oral tradition lives on. With his virtuoso play and Moussa’s powerful voice, we take a journey in Mandingo’s rich culture. |
At alisée’s
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Alisée is a regular at Muziekpublique. Passionate, this hostess is a music teacher and welcomes her students at her place for private lessons. Therefore, it is impossible to miss the magnificent harp displayed in her main room. A family atmosphere rules her spacious Transvaal house, warm and of course musical! You will appreciate the welcoming atmosphere brought by the warm family who is used to having concerts in their living room!
Avenue Jean Van Horenbeeck 260 |
14h-15h-16h
9. 3'Ain (Syria/Belgium) At Philippe and Françoise's
14h-15h-16h
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3’Ain is a trio in which Yamen Martini (trumpet), Otto Kint (contrabass) and Piet Maris (accordion) join forces. They play « worldwide jazz » influenced by the Middle East.
The name of the group is based on ع ,the eighteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet: a vowel known to be difficult to pronounce by the westerners. Because it is often showed as a 3 in chat conversations and text messages in Arabic and can be written as “ain”, 3’Ain seemed to be a fitting name for a trio that plays contemporary jazz and world music, with oriental influences. They present their first album: « Sea of Stories ». Their music and titles often refer to the environment and the atmosphere of the place where they were created, on Oostende’s port, but also to the oriental writers like Salman Rushdie. |
At philippe and françoise’s
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Philippe and Françoise’s house is filled with history. From the beginning of the 20th century, it was originally a farm until their arrival in 1987. The former barn then becomes a spacious living room and the potatoes field was morphed into a meticulously maintained garden that Françoise is dedicated to, and where she can enjoy sunbathing… in an actual bathtub! You may also run into Yaka (inspired by « y’a qu’à » which is a saying that means “we just have to do it now” in French), their adorable 18 years old dog.
Avenue Hugo Van der Goes 47 |
1. At Laurent's
2. At Delphine and Pascal's
3. At Michel Vervloet's
4. At En Bord de Soignes's
5. At Edouard and Monica's
6. At FEDASIL's
7. At Michèle's
8. At Alisée's
9. At Philippe and Françoise's
Reservations for the Living Room Music Festival are highly recommended due to the small amount of tickets available.
A ticket for the festival costs 15€ (or 12€ for Muziekpublique members), and gives you access to 3 concerts of your choice.
Choose the type of ticket you want, and the amount for each of them. (member or non-member).
Then, select your 3 concerts, at compatible hours ! (if a concert is not available in the list, it means it is already sold out)
Follow the instructions to the checkout page in order to complete and pay your reservation.
We accept paspartoe & article 27 reductions, but you need to pass by our ticket office in order to book with those reductions. (Opening hours on contact page here)