re#encounter

re#encounter is a Brussels-based hybrid trance jazz collective connecting people through festive ceremonies that bridge tradition and innovation.

re#encounter brings some of Brussels’ most soulful voices together around a trance-driven exploration of gnawa music and its global connections. 

Gnawa grooves fuse with cumbia chants, griot storytelling, and ecstatic jazz improvisation in a vibrant, danceable soundscape that breathes spontaneity, authenticity, and an affinity for all things sacred. 

More than a concert, a re#encounter is a living ritual — merging music, storytelling, audience participation, and visuals into a powerful shared experience. 

BIO

re#encounter is a prolific music collective from Brussels dedicated to resonating the city's cross-cultural dynamics through the lens of gnawa music and its connections across afro-diasporic and sufi music worldwide. Modeled on the Brooklyn Raga Massive, the collective aims to create an innovative hub around gnawa culture in Brussels and beyond through hybrid live performances, jams, ceremonies, workshops and storytelling.   

The project took root in 2024 following a carte blanche granted to founding father Robbe Bey Latré by MetX. In search of an accessible yet anthropologically dense way to foster dialogue across musical traditions, Robbe brought together some of the most captivating voices from Brussels’ jazz and worldwide music scene :

gnawa maestro Hicham Bilali and his Black Koyo, 

the thunderous griot Kaito Winse (Avalanche Kaito),

cumbia shamanka Paula León (Indios Beta, AMAWA),

rising star Lúcia Pires (Kanda),

space jazz poet Joos Vandueren (BSFOE, Abstract Inc., Aligaga), 

groove wizard Falk Schrauwen (Echoes of Zoo, Compro Oro, Sylvie Kreusch),

bass mother Anaïs Moffarts (Araponga, AiFanamenco).

re#encounter's collective sound is rooted in gnawa but blooming with infectious spirit jazz, in an innovative attempt to respect tradition while taking it to another, afro-futurist dimension. 

The first re#encounters were shaped by Robbe Bey into catchy tracks, launching a series of jam sessions in Brussels from 2024 onward before presenting their debut album Angels & Demons @ Play in September 2026 on W.E.R.F. Records.  

re#encounter presents:

Angels & Demons @ Play

In Angels & Demons @ Play, its first album and live project, re#encounter dives deep into its strongest common ground: trance. A thread runs between Hicham’s gnawa idiom, Kaito’s boundless energy, Paula’s back-to-the-roots cumbia, and the ecstatic jazz improvisations of Lúcia, Robbe and Joos — a thread further embodied by Falk and his mastery of Afro-Caribbean rhythms. At its core lies the Black Atlantic: that powerful, imaginative transatlantic nexus where spiritual connection, trance, and music intertwine across cultures. Angels & Demons @ Play becomes a living, danceable exploration of the musical ingredients of that connection — an attempt to make that shared ground resound in all its diversity.  

Through a musical trip, flowing like a gnawa lila ceremony in both form and energy, re#encounter sets up a dialogue between Hicham’s gnawa chants and the griot and cumbia traces in Kaito and Paula’s voices, weaving stories of ancestors, cosmic journeys, and djinns together in a highly localized afro-diasporic narrative. Lúcia, Joos, and Robbe shape vibrant soundscapes and infectious melodies based on gnawa traditionals, while Falk and Anaïs navigate this arkestral whirlwind with brio — tying it all together with engaging, world-wise rhythms.  

Spontaneity and improvisation are the norm, with hypnotic meditations giving way to festive explosions. Angels & Demons @ play brings a spiritual jazz idiom to life in the spirit of Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Shabaka Hutchings, Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, and Kamasi Washington — but with a distinctly Brussels touch. Afrofuturism, 100% bruxellois. 

In September 2026, Angels & Demons @ Play will be released as an album on W.E.R.F. Records. In an impressive live show, re#encounter not only aims to dazzle audiences with top-tier improvisation and a unique lineup, but also to actively involve them in a performance that feels more like a ceremony than a concert.  The Q&A format, dance, and repetition — all intrinsic to gnawa music — naturally invite audience participation. This is made possible through accessible arrangements, a wide array of percussion instruments available for the audience to use, and engaging visuals. These performances can evolve into open jam sessions during or after the set, depending on the setting. 

In this way, a re#encounter becomes a shared experience — a contemporary ritual that connects audiences with the deep cultural richness of Brussels. 

re#encounter is not only an unusual crossing of paths across Brussels' powerful cultural divides, but also a participatory experience in which musicians and audience meet in a common pulse. 

A re#encounter ceremony can be tailored to many formats: a full-blown staged jazz ceremony, a musical sharing circle, a new way to initiate a jam session, an infectious acoustic street performance,... Regardless of context, the common thread is a highly accessible live set of improvisation, storytelling, and energetic groove-building around gnawa trance music and its transatlantic connections. 

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