Hilke Bauweraerts

Hilke grew up in a musical family and was smitten with folk music from an early age. It was inevitable that her roots would lead her to begin practicing music herself. She started her musical studies at the Academy of Music in Schilde, which later on was accompanied with the Arts School in Turnhout. After that she obtained a master’s degree in “music therapy” at the LUCA, School of Arts, campus Lemmens Leuven. 

Although she has practiced numerous instruments since childhood, it was the diatonic accordion that eventually won her heart. At the age of 16 she devoted herself to this great love as an autodidact. To open up the potential of her playing style and let in a fresh breeze of inspiration, she followed workshops from Didier Laloy, Anne Niepold, Martin Coudroy, Simone Bottasso, Stephane Milleret, Aurélien Claranbaux and Emile Verstraeten.
Hilke plays an instrument by the French builder Bertrand Gaillard.

Hilke appeared on several stages with her first folk group 'Sakura', with whom she won the competition at the Lindeboom festival in northern France and released a CD in 2011. With Duo Brabants Bauweraerts she also performed for many years. Being a creative and composing musician, she doesn’t shy away from giving it her all to make sure that the music gets the energy it requires.
She is currently active in Hidrae (CD 2020), Marvara (CD 2021), Threo, Duo Bauweraerts Van Hees (CD 2017), theater company Tal en Thee, … . Hilke also teaches different courses at the Music Academy of Herentals, Mortsel and Deurne and the Art School Musart! in Hasselt. Besides that she gives/makes many workshops for the KIDconcerts of Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and she gave folk workshops in Kalmthout and Gooik and several other workshops for the organisation Wisper. 

Marieke Van Ransbeeck

Marieke Van Ransbeeck (°94 – Aalst) has roots in the Belgian folk music scene as a musician, music pedagogue and organiser. She began playing the bagpipe at the age of eight in Gooik, Flanders, with her teacher Jean-Pierre Van Hees. Passing through Ethno Flanders as a teenager she understood for certain her calling as a musician. Like Hans Christian Andersen puts it: “Where words fail, music speaks”. From that moment on, it was clear that she wanted to become a musician, share her music with the world, and emotionally carry an audience.

In 2013, Van Ransbeeck got the opportunity to study a master in Flemish bagpipes and baroque musette at the early music departement of LUCA School of Arts in Leuven. After Marieke graduated in 2017, she wanted to deepen herself more into folk music. That is why she continued her studies with the “Nordic Master in Folk Music”. This study took her around the Nordic countries for two years, where she studied at the folk departments of the Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm, the Syddansk Musikkonservatorium in Esbjerg, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Ole Bull Akademiet in Voss. Currently Marieke is working as a freelance musician in several folk and baroque projects like Hidrae, the international band Farandi and her own project Marvara (BE, FI, SE, DK). 

Malicorne Buysse

Named after a legendary folk band and the child of two folk-loving parents, Malicorne grows up breathing the world of traditional folk music. During her classical music education she quickly acquires a taste for the violin. Her teacher Ann Lafaille knows like no one else how to convey passion and musicality in her lessons and subsequently plays a major part in Malicorne’s musical development. She later establishes a substantial interest in the pure Centre-France violin style (in which the bourrée auvergnate take centre stage) due to several folk internships, including those at Jean-François Vrod and Luc Pilartz. Furthermore she starts exploring various musical projects (Chitty Bang Bang, Famuze, Kotjesvolk, Kadril, Zjef Vanuitsel, Les Sauvages), where she always looks to combine improvisations with subtle accompaniments. Malicorne sees folk music as a perfect way to differ from her day-to-day scientific research.

Zjef Van Steenbergen

Zjef Van Steenbergen (°1994, Arendonk) began playing the electric bass when he was twelve. After high school, he started his musical studies at ‘De Kunsthumaniora’ in Antwerp in 2012, where he was taught by Piet Verbist. The following year he continued these studies at the conservatory in Ghent. Here he was taught by Nicolas Thys, Yannick Peeters, Vincent Pierins and Janos Bruneel, amongst others. In the meantime, Zjef has graduated with a master’s degree in electric bass and completed his teacher training in combination with one extra year double bass study under Janos Bruneel.

He currently plays in various projects, including Briskey, Fenix, Broes and Hidrae and has recently released 2 CDs: one with the project Schemer (portret) and one with the project Hidrae (Hydraulic).