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"an outstanding fiddle player" - folkforum.nlAs a baby I was parked on stage during concerts of my parents' band Crackerhash - the seed was planted early. At the age of 8 years I picked up the fiddle. Although not an obvious talent on the instrument, Irish traditional music was my favourite from early on, and things had started to pick up when ten years later I left for Ireland to pick up the music where it came from. I lived there for a year, taught the fiddle at University College Dublin's Traditional Music Society, and since then travelled back and forth many times. Around that time I started playing guitar and singing.
As a white-water kayaking guide in Europe and travelling through South America I was away from Holland for a while, but could be found with a fiddle around French campfires, on Patagonian boats and in Peruvian bars. Travelling widens the horizon, which expanded my repertoire from the swing and melancholy of Irish music to music from Israel to Venezuela and from gipsy-jazz to bluegrass, mixing in my own compositions - played with swing, passion, precision and a lot of fun!
For a few years now I've been back in Holland and playing music full-time: I played with Irish singer Joe Connolly, released a solo-CD 'my eyes', formed a trio with Irish accordion-player Gerry Murray and Belgian guitar-player Philip Masure. Currently I play in a duo with great mandolin/guitar-player Janos Koolen (with whom a few of the songs on this site were made), and with the band Maalstroom. I also do a lot of teaching (private lessons and workshops).
New CD 'janos & gilles' out now! You can preview two tracks from the album above. The album can be ordered now through www.gillesrullmann.com !
From the first reviews of the album:
'Fiddle, guitar and mandolin are played both with an infectious drive and with spine-tingling subtlety. It covers widely varying moods, from driving and swinging to touching and melancholic. It always sounds pure and the enjoyment sparks off the interaction between the two.' There's praise for the mixing of Irish and bluegrass-influences: 'You bet it works!', there are 'sparkling strings, soulful singing, exciting and engaging fiddle, bouncing mandolin'...(folkforum.nl)
Or the way they put it in Flanders: 'I'll get straight to the point: Janos & Gilles are a class-act on their instruments. Their skill is miles ahead of the average', or shortly: 'Great stuff!' (folkroddels.be).
'On the album "Janos & Gilles" the duo Janos & Gilles show that two can be enough... the music stands out because of the enjoyment and the challenging way in which the two musicians play with each other and react to one another. Beautiful improvisations and a wide approach to what folk music can be.' (Marcel Blok, concertzender.nl)
'Janos Koolen & Gilles Rullmann a perfect musical duo' (Rob Nielen, Stichting Mokum Folk)
The new Maalstroom album, Open Window, also got its first reviews: With the album Open Window Maalstroom proves it's one of the best folkbands in the Netherlands. With the quality of the band in mind, international success should be within hand's reach. folkforum.nl
Heaven, a leading Dutch pop-magazine wrote: Traditionally sounding, excellently executed folk-music with rhythmical or jazzy surprises here and there is what we find on Open Window by the outstanding group Maalstroom. Virtuosic, familiar and yet exciting. (rating: four stars = top of its genre)