(headline image: Toasaves – Photo by Laura Soriano)
Toasaves is a Belgian music collective founded in early 2021 by ud player and artistic director Tristan Driessens. Its name, written phonetically, means “home ports” in the Antwerp dialect, aptly reflecting the group’s cross-cultural ethos. Notably, Toasaves draws inspiration from archaic Flemish folk songs. At the same time, they explore their intersections with early European music and Eastern musical traditions.
The ensemble brings together nine musicians from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and Cyprus. Each member contributes a diverse artistic background and wide-ranging expertise, creating a collective sound that transcends regional boundaries.
Their debut album, Zwerver (Dutch for “Wanderer”), centers on compositions from the Groot Liedboek by Wannes van de Velde (1937–2008), the Antwerp singer-songwriter known for revitalizing medieval ballads and litanies. Driessens arranged both anonymous medieval pieces and original songs by Van de Velde, weaving in musical elements from the East, an influence that has long been a hallmark of his work.
This East-West dialogue aligns with the nomadic spirit that Van de Velde embodied, reinforcing the enduring vitality of early music repertoires. Moreover, the album’s instrumentation underscores this synthesis. Toasaves employs an unusually rich palette of traditional instruments, serving both as a bridge between cultures and as a foundation for experimentation. These include medieval flutes, drums, fiddles, and citterns; Eastern instruments such as the lavta, ud, daf, bendir, and Spanish pandero cuadrado; and others like the hurdy-gurdy, Flemish and Irish bagpipes, Eastern violin, and Indian dilruba.
In 2025, Toasaves were selected to perform at WOMEX in Tampere, Finland, a widely respected conference and showcase for world music professionals.
Discography:
Zwerver (Muziekpublique, 2022)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.