As a composer, improviser and explorer of world music, Manuel Hermia is first and foremost committed to a global approach to music. As an instrumentalist, he has evolved in parallel as a saxophonist and on the bansuri flute - from northern India. After studying at the University of Southern California and the Brussels Royal Conservatoire, he embarked on an international career with projects ranging from contemporary jazz ( Darrifourcq/Hermia/Ceccaldi, Freetet, Orchestra Nazionale della Luna) to global music (The Whisper from the Orient, Bahdja, Majid Bekkas Afro Oriental trio, Slang), contemporary music (Fluid Suites for Cello) and interdisciplinary performances.

Initially, he tried to integrate into his language all the cultural elements that his path and his travels invited him to discover. In a second phase, he also developed his own melodic-harmonic system through his "rajazz" theory, offering a bridge between tonal thinking and a modal approach to music. This contemporary system is potentially usable in any stylistic framework.

Since 2014, he has been teaching at the Brussels Royal Conservatoire, offering courses such as the improvisation seminar in the classical Master's program, or how to approach ragas and maqaams in the jazz department.

Whether it's through his live projects, his recordings or his teaching approach, his approach is expressed through a combination of multiculturality, diversity of musical styles, a multi-disciplinary approach and social commitment. His projects are regularly inspired by a commitment, sometimes philosophical and spiritual, like his double album "Le Murmure de l'Orient/The Whisper from orient". Sometimes political, like the CD "Austerity... and what about Rage". Sometimes between philosophy and politics, like "Freetet", or ecological, like "There is still Live on earth" by the Orchestra Nazionale della Luna.

He has recorded some twenty CDs as leader or co-leader, on the Igloo, BMC, Jazz Avatars, Hector, Cristal Records and Carbon 7 labels.

He has also received several awards and grants in his career, including the Octave de la Musique in 2005 and 2011, the Sabam Award for a confirmed jazz artist in 2017, and the FRArt grant in 2023.