SINGING & CHOIR
Dounia Depoorter (Kinshasa, Congo °1973)

Singing and choir lessons are possible from the age of 8 years old.

Lessons can be followed in English or French.

Contact Dounia: 0485 57 00 15 – divamatshka@gmail.com

Dounia Depoorter is a singer, dancer and actress. She has been teaching singing and body/voice control in workshops, individual and group lessons since 1995. In 2005 she was coach for acting and singing, and in charge of vocal arrangements for the show Salomé (director: Richard Kalisch) in Villers-La-Ville.

She began her artistic training in the High School for Plastic Arts at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. She later did higher studies at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Ixelles. She has taken many courses in performing arts. In 1987, she began taking singing lessons and studying classical singing techniques and voice control, following the methods of Serge Wilfaert (along with Marcelle Decoman and Kadi). 1989-1994: classical singing, music theory and verbal arts in various academies. 1994-1998: jazz singing at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels (with Judy Niemack and Phil Abraham) – In 1997, she was the singer in the Conservatoire Big Band. From 1997 onwards, she took various courses in Eastern-European songs: Slavonic songs with Ida Kelarova (International School for Human Voice - Czech Republic), traditional Macedonian songs with Véra Miloshevska (Skopje) and Albanian songs with Gjovalin Nonaj. She has personally developed a wide repertoire of songs through travelling and experience. In 2001 she took courses in traditional Afro-Cuban songs in Belgium and Cuba (Gregorio Hernandez “El Goyo”, Franca Aïmone, Didier Degroeve …). In 1994, she began taking various dance classes: African dances (Katina Genero…) and Afro-Cuban dances (Gregorio Hernandez “El Goyo”, Franca Aïmone…) and, since 2000, contemporary ballet, contact dance and improvisation. From 1995, she also completed drama lessons, improvisation and acting. She began her singing career in 1993 as backing vocalist to the band Les Frères Brozeur: CD Les Frères Brozeur vous font une Fleur - Mini-CD C’est bientôt Noël - Clip Remue-le – Toured in Belgium, France, Québec, Spain, Germany… - Francofolies in Spa, La Rochelle and Montréal … - 1999: show Cirk’alors! (Les Frères Brozeurs et Huit Circassiens – a production of l’Espace Catastrophe, director: Anne Van K). Since 1995, her repertoire has included “realistic” French chanson, accompanied on accordion by Vincent Trouble or Gwénael Micault.

Dounia has taken part in various shows and creations. 1995-1998: the Magic Land Theatre, in which she sang and acted for events and collective creations (director: Patrick Chaboud). 1995: Le mystère du château d’Hoogvorst. 1996: Les nuits du Magic Hall. 1997: La malédiction du docteur Schnitzel, a short film by Éric Figon in collaboration with the Magic Land Theatre which won the public prize and the Canal + prize at the International Festival of Fantastic Film in Brussels. 1998: Le musée des erreurs (collective creation). In 2000-2001 she was dancer, singer and actress for the Compagnie Jean-François Duroure (France) in the show La Paix (a production of the Théâtre Royal de Namur and the Festival de Limoge) in Macedonia (director: Jean-François Duroure). The show played on stages in France, Belgium, Italy, Macedonia and Bulgaria. 2005: Mary M (as backing vocalist and star singer).

As a musician she has participated in various projects and bands. She created Gadja in 1999. This band plays songs inspired by gypsy, East-European, Balkan and Mid-East music, and polyphonic songs. She is a singer, alongside Nathalie Boulanger, with Daniel Stokart (sax & flute), Tuur Florizoone (accordion), Sal La Rocca (double bass) and Gauthier Lisein (percussions). In 2000 she composed, with Bruno Billaudeau, music for the show Inaccessible Chronique, a choreographic creation by Jean-François Duroure for the Ballets d’Alsace-Lorraine. In 2002-2004 she was the singer of Bao, performing in Belgium and Cuba with a repertoire of Afro-Cuban Music and dance. In 2003 she sang, accompanied by Gjovalin Nonaj en Albrapsodie, in the band Sebashku.

In 2004, she became lead singer of the band Rue Haute. 2005: recording of the CD Rue Haute (C4 Records 060101) in Brussels. 2006: official release of the CD Rue Haute in Brussels, in the Chapelle de Boendael (Centre Culturel d’Ixelles). 2007: Creation of the show Rue Haute at the Residence (Centre Culturel d’Anderlecht). 2006–2009: Tour and promotion of the CD Rue Haute in Belgium and recording of a 2nd CD.

In 2008 she was the singer of the band Camaxe. In 2007 she created Patshiva, a polyphonic a capella choir for which she is the choir leader. Patshiva performs at the St-Boniface church in Ixelles, at the festival Sacré Profane (Mons), at the festival Voix sur Meuse (Liège), at the festival L’art d’être différent en musique (Centre Culturel de Manage), at the Botanique (Brussels) with Gjovalin Nonaj and Albrapsodie, and at the festival Sans Fil ni Courant (Brussels). In 2009 she has been backing vocalist in the band Mika & the General dub progress. At the end of 2009, she will be coaching young singers and working on musical creations for a production by Le Théâtre des Tanneurs (Brussels) (director: Ivan Vrambout).