Nicolas Mortelmans is a passionate sitar player and multi-instrumentalist from Antwerp. He regularly travels to India to study Indian classical music and learn traditional sitar techniques from various sitar masters. Since 2017, he has been trained by the world-renowned Anoushka Shankar.
In April 2024, his debut album MĀYĀ was released by WERF Records. In each song, Nicolas tries to approach the sitar in a different way, building a bridge between his love for Indian music and his roots in Western genres like electronic, jazz and rock music. The album features a host of guest musicians from abroad vb Ravichandra Kulur from India (aka Anoushka/Ravi Shankar, John McLaughlin, Aka Moon,…), Benny Bettane from Australia (handpan) and also Belgian friends such as vb Roland van Campenhout, Tim van Hamel, Stef Kamil Carlens and Simon Segers.
On Sfinks, Nicolas comes to the Club as a quartet with the fantastic musicians who can also be heard on the album:
Tarang Poddar (tabla/India), Jonas Meersmans (electric guitar/BE), Greet Meert (tanpura/BE).
