DAAU (short for Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung) is a classical, jazz, experimental and multi-genre music group from Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The band was founded in 1992 and borrowed its name from the novel '' Der Steppenwolf'' (1927) by

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual's ...

.Anarchists indeed
, Flanders Today, 14 April 2010. "...the tongue-twisting name – taken from the 1927 Herman Hesse novel Steppenwolf" The current line-up consists of Roel Van Camp ( accordion), Han Stubbe ( clarinet), Hannes D'Hoine (

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

) and Jeroen Stevens ( drums,

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

). Founding members Buni Lenski (

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

) and

Simon Lenski Simon Lenski is a cello player from Antwerp, Belgium. His main activity lies within the band DAAU which he co-founded in 1992. As a cello player, he is a highly sought guest musician for other artists and music groups, often together with his br ...

(

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

) left the band in 2006 and 2013. In the course of DAAU's history, other musicians have joined the quartet for a limited period: Adrian Lenski (

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

), Janek Kowalski ( drums), Angélique Willkie (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

), Fré Madou (upright bass) and Geert Budts (drums). On record, the band also collaborated with An Pierlé, Ya Kid K (

Technotronic Technotronic was a Belgian electronic music project formed in 1987 by Jo Bogaert, who originally gained popularity in Europe as a solo artist with various new beat projects, including Acts of Madmen and Nux Nemo. Together with rapper Manuela ...

) and David Bovée (Think of One).

Career

In 1994 they debuted with their acoustic self-titled album on the label Jack&Johnny, which also released the first material by

Zita Swoon Zita Swoon is a Belgian indie rock group. They entered the music scene of Antwerp in 1993, still under the name A Beatband with the EP ''Jintro Travels The Word In A Skirt''. The group is typical of the music scene in Antwerp, with members play ...

(back then called A Beatband) and dEUS. For dEUS, DAAU also recorded a version of the cult-hit "Suds & Soda". In 1996

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...

signed the band, re-released the debut album, and released the follow-up ''We Need New Animals'' (1998). The album was recorded in the Spanish village

Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

and introduced vocals, electronics, drums and guitar to the sound of DAAU. The band was invited to support

16 Horsepower 16 Horsepower was an American band based in Denver, Colorado, United States. Their music often invoked religious imagery dealing with conflict, redemption, punishment, and guilt through David Eugene Edwards's lyrics and the heavy use of traditi ...

on tour in Europe. The record sold very few copies and Sony decided to shift the group to Columbia Records, which released their third album ''Life Transmission'' (2001) before sacking the group later that year. Even though record sales were once again below expectations, the group scored some small radio-hits and toured extensively in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...

and played for large crowds at Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop festivals. In 2002 the band set up a record label of their own, titled Radical Duke, and released an EP of music they composed for a dance play ''Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain'', also known as ''Colours''. Later a compilation of outtakes and alternative versions was released, titled ''Ghost Tracks''. Two years later the group returned to the acoustic approach of its early days and released their fourth record ''Tub Gurnard Goodness'', including a cover of Radiohead's " 2+2=5". On tour, DAAU expanded itself to a sextet with a new

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

section. ''Tub Gurnard Goodness'' was released in Europe and the group played many concerts in Germany, Czech Republic and in France with electro dub crew Ez3kiel. In

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

they were present at the

Sziget festival The Sziget Festival ( hu, Sziget Fesztivál, ; "Sziget" for "Island") is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island"), a leafy 108-hect ...

, in Denmark at Roskilde Festival. In 2006 the band released their first record as a sextet, ''Domestic Wildlife''. Shortly after, bass player Fré Madou decided to leave the band. In 2010 the band released ''The Shepherd's Dream'', now as a quartet. In 2011 Simon Lenski composed and recorded the soundtrack for the short movie ''Motor'' by Dutch movie maker Simone Bennett. For this musical piece a special electric twelve string violin was built for him by experimental luthier

Yuri Landman Yuri Landman (born 1 February 1973) is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japan ...

. For their work in '' Last Winter'', they received a Magritte Award nomination in the category of Best Original Score.

Line-up

* Buni Lenski (violin) (1992–2006) *

(cello) (1992–2013) * Han Stubbe (clarinet) (1992–present) * Roel Van Camp (accordion) (1992–present) * Adrian Lenski (piano) (2001–2002) * Janek Kowalski (drums) (2001–2002) * Geert Budts (drums) (2004–2006) * Fré Madou (upright bass) (2004–2006) * Hannes D'Hoine (upright bass) (2006–present) * Jeroen Stevens (drums) (2013–present)

Discography

# ''Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung'' (1995) # ''We Need New Animals'' (1997) # ''Life Transmission'' (2001) # ''Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain'' (2002) # ''Ghost Tracks'' (2004) # ''Tub Gurnard Goodness'' (2004) # ''Domestic Wildlife'' (2006) # ''The Shepherd's Dream'' (2010) # ''Eight Definitions'' (2013) # ''Hineininterpretierung'' (2017)

Side-projects

* Simon Lenski with

Bo Wiget Bo or BO may refer to Arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre *Box office, where tickets to an event are sold, and by extension, the amount of business a production receives *'' BA:BO'', 2008 South Korean film * ''Bo'' (film), a ...

* Bear Guts Quartet * Donkey Diesel *

Kiss My Jazz A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Belgian experimental musicians Musical groups established in 1992 Belgian alternative rock groups Belgian progressive rock groups Belgian folk music groups Belgian jazz ensembles Belgian orchestras Contemporary classical music performers Jazz fusion ensembles Avant-garde jazz ensembles