Laïs

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Laïs ("llais" is Welsh for voice) is a Belgian group, bringing contemporary folk and world music in a unique manner.

The female vocal trio part of Laïs are three young women from Kalmthout:

Jorunn Bauweraerts
Annelies Brosens
Nathalie Delcroix

They are accompanied by four men:

Fritz Sundermann (electric and acoustic instruments, harmonium)
Hans Quaghebeur (squeezeboxes, hurdy-gurdy, whistle)
Ronny Reuman (percussion)
Bart Denolf (electric and acoustic bass)

They are known especially for their polyphonic close harmony songs, occasionally a cappella, based on self-composed melodies with lyrics dating back to the Middle Ages.

Their career started in 1994, when Jorunn and Annelies performed a song at the folk festival in Gooik, near Brussels. Nathalie joined the group somewhat later. They had their breakthrough after their appearance at the folkfestival of Dranouter, near Ypres, in 1996.

Their debut CD album was released in 1998. They performed in South Africa, Canada, France (as a supporting program for Sting), the Netherlands and China. In April 2004 they released their third CD to the market under the title Douce Victime, with covers from Jacques Brel and Herman van Veen. It was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.

They have won the respect of several greats in the music business, such as Emmylou Harris and Sting.

With their album The Ladies' Second Song, released in September 2007, Laïs is breaking new ground. Their music can no longer be characterized as folk. On the contrary, they have stepped, through some experimenting, into the world of electric guitars, loops and electronic beats. It gives their music a jazzy swing with distant echoes from progressive rock and dance music. Their lyrics have equally undergone a thorough overhaul. Instead of drawing their lyrics from old songbooks, they have turned to poetry from William Butler Yeats, Paul Verlaine and Pablo Neruda.

Laïs has also renewed their band:

Elko Blijweert (guitar)
Bjorn Eriksson (guitar, elektronica),
Jeroen Stevens (drums)
Filip Vandebril (contrabas).
Dan Lacksman (synthesizer, former Telex (band), Dan Lacksman's Alliance, producer) did the mixing at the sound console.