Toasaves is a Belgian music collective fascinated by medieval Flemish song and its connections with early music (Trecento, Ars Nova and Flemish polyphony) and Eastern music. Toasaves is phonetic and means “homelands” or “home ports” in the Antwerp dialect. The ensemble was founded by oud player and musicologist Tristan Driessens and brings together nine musicians from different countries and traditions, each with a wealth of artistic experience and expertise. In November 2023, their first album, Zwerver, was released on the Brussels label Muziekpublique and was critically acclaimed.

Like ‘Zwerver’, ‘Tussen zonnen en manen’ takes as its starting point the Groot Liedboek (Great Songbook) by Wannes van de Velde (1937-2008), the singer-songwriter who breathed new life into the oldest Flemish ballads known to our time. In ‘Tussen zonnen en manen’, Tristan Driessens’ folk/world music approach gives way to a whole new perspective through Dick van der Harst’s arrangements. With his profound and unorthodox vision, shaped by the extensive knowledge of both medieval and contemporary music he has accumulated throughout his career, Dick van der Harst challenges traditional precepts to weave a new modal language. The songs on ‘Tussen zonnen en manen’ thus take on a whole new life.