Helder Deploige is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and a theatre maker and performer from Ghent, Belgium. Helder's been working internationally with renowned theatre companies like Nie (GB/CZ/NO), Kopergietery (BE), Riksteatern (SE), and with some of Belgium's finest bands like Sukilove, Het Zesde Metaal, The Rhythm Junks. He's been producing music for artists like Kommil Foo, Madensuyu and Berlaen, very often performing, recording, arranging and mixing most of the instruments himself.
One-man-band Helder released the album trilogy The King Lost His Crown (Lowlands 2003), The Ceiling Is Not The Sky (Lowlands 2006) and The Rhythm Of Change (Rough Trade 2012) on his one-man-label Jarko. Helder composed, produced, arranged, mixed and played every instrument in bedrooms, hotels and home studios across Belgium, Morocco, New York and Norway. The albums feature guests like Steven De bruyn, Pascal Deweze and Trixie Whitley and were critically acclaimed by Belgian and Dutch press, being labeled rootspop, singer/songwriter, americana and alternative. As a teaser for his upcoming solo album in 2025, Helder released the live recorded EP Traveling Man (Jarko 2019), featuring Lara Rosseel on double bass and Arne Leurentop on violin/piano.
Helder plays acoustic and electric guitar, drums, upright and electric bass, 5-string banjo, ukelele, mandolin, balalaika, accordion, harmonica, piano, hammond organ and more. Previously, Helder's been backed up live by a variety of brilliant musicians: Jan Goossens, Govert Deploige, Frederik Heuvinck, Pieter Van Buyten, Tim Coenen, Mario Goossens, Yannick Uyttenhove, Yannick Peeters, Jeroen Tilkin, Gino Geudens, Antoon Offeciers, Sjoerd Bruil, Bart Buls, Niels Verheest, Arne Leurentop, Lara Rosseel, Bert Huysentruyt, Stoffel Verlackt...