Creative Guitar: Julien Tassin & Heikki Ruokangas / Room Conductor
The “Creative Guitar” series explores the many facets and trends of contemporary experimental guitar. Featuring guitarists from around the world, it approaches the instrument not only as a means of expression, but also as a field of research, listening, and creation.
It hosts concerts and seminars that bring together study, experimentation, and artistic practice, with an emphasis on sound as it takes shape through improvisation and personal exploration. Each evening showcases artists from the international scene with a distinct identity and personal sonic language.
The fourth night features performances by Julien Tassin (Belgium) and Heikki Ruokangas (Finland), while the program opens with the duo Room Conductor (Greece).
The series is curated by guitarist Giannis Arapis.
🔷 Julien Tassin and Heikki Ruokangas began making music together, sharing a common love for spontaneity. With two guitars that aim to sound as one, they combine melodic lines with more abstract and atonal sounds.
They met through the record label Ramble Records and traveled to each other’s countries, bringing together different cultures as well as shared musical influences. Their debut album, Behind The Mask, was released in August 2025.
Following a tour across five countries, their final performance in Brussels was recorded and will be released in May 2026 by the American label zOaR. In this live performance, the duo explores new sounds and instruments, such as the mandolin and bells, further expanding the boundaries of their music.
🔷 Heikki Ruokangas is a guitarist and composer from Oulu, Finland. Ruokangas has appeared on more than twenty solo and compilation albums. The dialogue between beauty and ugliness in melody forms the core of Ruokangas’s musical expression, with melodicism always at its center. His musical storytelling combines the longing of the Finnish waltz, the starkness of delta blues, the deep echoes of Western-style “twang” guitar, and the ecstasy of jazz. Together, these elements create Ruokangas’s vision of a slightly “askew,” distinctly Finnish sonic landscape.
🔷 With a unique and unmistakable approach to music and his instrument, Julien Tassin is a one-of a-kind guitar player. Using non-traditional techniques and original tunings, he creates music that blends elements of blues, jazz, classical, Oriental, and African traditions. The result is music born of openness and freedom. To date, he has released twelve albums under his own name, exploring formats ranging from intimate solo performances to the dynamic interplay of a quartet.
🔷 Room Conductor (Odysseas Tziritas, Giorgos Karoubalos) present the project “Spectacular Little Corners,” a collection of eight compositions for classical and electric guitar. The initial inspiration for this project came from the music of Daniel Santiago and Pedro Martins (Simbiose, Movement). Influences from Fabiano do Nascimento and Shin Sakakubo were subsequently incorporated. The compositions explore new ways for acoustic and electric guitars to coexist, combining different musical styles and approaches.