Geoffrey Desmet

Geoffrey Desmet discovered his passion for percussion — and more specifically for West African polyrhythms — while studying agricultural science in 2000. Devoting most of his free time to listening to and practising this music with his friends, he gradually realised his calling.

He trained with numerous masters from West Africa, including Mamady Keïta, Thomas Guei, Harouna Dembele, Adama Diarra and Ibrahima Sarr, while also taking regular classes with the great Babara Bangoura at the Mandingfoly percussion school in Brussels. Several extended stays in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso allowed him to immerse himself in the cultural traditions that gave rise to these repertoires. He subsequently broadened his musical horizons with Arnould Massart at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles and developed an approach nourished by influences from many traditions around the world.

With a bachelor's degree in rhythms and percussion, he completed his training by studying jazz, classical percussion and piano at various academies in Brussels, thus enriching his practice with solid musical versatility.

Over the years, Geoffrey Desmet has participated in numerous artistic projects combining music, dance and live performance. He has collaborated with companies such as Contre-tendance, Ballet Malou and Ssst... un ange passe, and has been accompanying African dance classes since 2006 with numerous choreographers and teachers.

On stage, he has long played with Bernard Orchestar as well as with various projects such as Bolokan and Na Dioubé. Today, he brings his rhythmic and melodic influences to the percussion collective Sysmo, for which he is part of the artistic direction team and with which he has been practising the language of signed rhythm since 2014. He is also a balafonist with the group Aboubakar Traoré & Balima, where he participates in composition and arrangements.

A committed teacher, he has been teaching the balafon since 2008 in various group and individual settings. He leads workshops and courses in signed rhythm within the Sysmo collective, where he has been teaching this language of instant composition since 2020. In 2026, he joined the Rhythm and Rhythmics Department of the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles to teach the Rhythm Vocabulary course.