aBOUT
Yamen Martini (1985, Aleppo) is a Belgium-based trumpet player and composer whose music blends eastern and western music across genres such as jazz, blues, oriental “maqam”, Balkan, and experimental music. Building on his transnational artistic background, he strives to transgress borders and to challenge binary visions on identity and belonging.
Yamen’s versatile and improvisation-rich style has shined on stages across the Middle East and Europe, performing both solo and with numerous groups. In 2022 he was a resident at BOZAR as part of Halaqat’s Impro Sessions, guided by Amir ElSaffar. Yamen has also written compositions for theatre plays and a wide range of artistic projects. In 2017 he composed music for Rachid Benzine’s Lettres à Nour, in the repertoire of the Theatre of Liège, Belgium as well as for MOVE, an inclusive theatre project by Caroline Rottier.
In 2018 he joined Jaune Toujours for the recording of the award-winning Europeana album, which was launched at Ancienne Belgique – and toured across Belgium. He has since collaborated with formations such as 3’Ain or Comartinuts, among others.
He is also further extending his teaching and coaching experience at kleinVerhaal, an Ostend-based non-profit organisation, where he leads – and contributes to – projects such as TOSO (The Ostend Street Orchestra), YaGoon, Jam Sessions, MUZINE, and 1 on 1 sessions, as a composer, coach and musician.