For almost 20 years, the guys from Snaarmaarwaar have been performing on balfolk stages. Three-stringed instruments: guitar, mandola and mandolin. A set of spare strings and a lot of willingness to play – that’s all they need to ignite a magical live dance spark with their tunes. Their latest album is titled ‘LYS’, a reference to the fascinating winding path that their music has led them down, like the lovely river Leie meandering between Ghent and Deinze in Belgium.
The album was recorded in the old style at Studio Trad: three men gathered around a microphone. In terms of content, it became a ‘return to the source’, a rediscovery of the mysterious way their string sounds blend together until you can’t remember who is playing which exact riff and who is launching the next melodic line.