Panta Rhei

The original music of Eastern European countries has been given today’s sensibility by Belgium-based music group, Panta Rhei. While their repertoire is definitely culled from a number of countries and ethnicities, the group’s orchestrations and virtuosic musicianship give a bridge of cohesiveness. Based on French journal L’Express, “From Rumanian to traditional Flemish tunes, from Polish folk music to British jigs, from your French Valse Chinois to Swedish melancholy, Panta Rhei shows with complete reasoning that great music understands neither period nor frontier.” The Paradoxe publication of Dec, 1995, praised the music group for “offering us with original as well as the most daring musical exploits of the last many years.” The motivation for Panta Rhei was jointly conceived by jazz flute and saxophone participant Steve Houben and traditional folk violin and bagpipe participant Luc Pilartz. Combining music artists from different ethnicities and musical backgrounds, Houben and Pilartz created Panta Rhei in 1993. The group required its name from Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus’ slogan, “panta rhei kai ouden menei” (everything are in circumstances of flux and there is nothing permanent). Following a month of rehearsals in November 1993, Panta Rhei documented a demonstration tape and started to perform throughout European countries. Their debut recording Hopa!, released in Feb 1995, was included on lists from the year’s ten greatest albums published by Flemish journal Gandalf and Dutch journal Newfolksounds. In overview of the recording, Folk Roots published, “At one instant you are feeling you are in a Romanian town wedding, another hearing a chamber music concert, another at an exciting Irish session etc; yet the recording has a fantastic feeling of rightness and circulation.” A mini-CD, Tiganeasca – Julia Delaney’s, adopted in January 1996. The group’s albums had been reissued internationally with the French record label Buda Musique in Oct 1996. Panta Rhei’s third compact disc, Passchendale Collection, released in November 1996, was documented with United kingdom a capella trio Coope, Boyes & Simpson on the tranquility concert in Passchendale in Sept 1995. Furthermore to Houben and Pilartz, Panta Rhei features violinist Aurelle Dorzee, violoncellist Kathy Adams, diatonic accordionist Didier Laloy, guitarist Pascal Chardome, dual bassist Jo Vanhouette, and percussionist/vibraphonist Stephan Pougin.