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A while ago, I was chatting with drone/ambient experimentalist Barst about these series. At one point, he mentioned "all that research must take hours". He was right about that. I often spend a lot of evenings searching through Wikipedia and all kinds of websites specialized in Belgian music. However, although the research is the most work, the hardest part of writing these series is finding a decent intro. So, this time, I'm not going to write an intro. Oh, wait....
"Oh, a photo of a carillon instrument, that must be Belgian too", you might think. And guess what, you are twice right.
A carillon ('Beiaard" in Dutch, 'Glockenspiel' in German) is a musical instrument that is typically housed in the bell tower of a church or municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells. The first carillon was built in Flanders, where a carillonneur performed music on the bells of Oudenaarde Town Hall in 1510 by using a baton keyboard.
In recent years, the sound of the carillons still wanders through the Belgian landscapes (as well as Dutch and French). Quite often, people use these instruments to play local or international hits, including K3, Yevgueni and this version of Gorki's 'Mia'.
Oh, and the second time you were right? Well, apparently, the JPEG conversion is a Belgian invention too, courtesy of physicist and mathematician Baroness Ingrid Daubechies.
A carillon ('Beiaard" in Dutch, 'Glockenspiel' in German) is a musical instrument that is typically housed in the bell tower of a church or municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells. The first carillon was built in Flanders, where a carillonneur performed music on the bells of Oudenaarde Town Hall in 1510 by using a baton keyboard.
In recent years, the sound of the carillons still wanders through the Belgian landscapes (as well as Dutch and French). Quite often, people use these instruments to play local or international hits, including K3, Yevgueni and this version of Gorki's 'Mia'.
Oh, and the second time you were right? Well, apparently, the JPEG conversion is a Belgian invention too, courtesy of physicist and mathematician Baroness Ingrid Daubechies.
Notorious Noise
For many people around the globe, noise music is something to be frowned upon, not to be taken seriously. People don't understand it, throw it aside as useless spielerei but here, we are damn serious about it.
Our most notable avant garde noise creator was Henri Pousseur, who was born in Malmedy in 1929. He studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1952. He worked along Boulez & Stockhausen on dodecaphonic and serial music in Cologne (1954) and Milano (1957) before founding his own studio in Bruxelles (1958).
His most popular composition is probably the 'Scambi' project, released in 1957, a strange piece of electronic noise. During his career, Pousseur created countless of the otherworldly compositions. He became an influence for avant garde, musique concrete and noise artists all over the world.
Our most notable avant garde noise creator was Henri Pousseur, who was born in Malmedy in 1929. He studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1952. He worked along Boulez & Stockhausen on dodecaphonic and serial music in Cologne (1954) and Milano (1957) before founding his own studio in Bruxelles (1958).
His most popular composition is probably the 'Scambi' project, released in 1957, a strange piece of electronic noise. During his career, Pousseur created countless of the otherworldly compositions. He became an influence for avant garde, musique concrete and noise artists all over the world.
These days, our underground music scene is teeming with these uncategorizable projects. Many of our cities harbor these often gritty and raunchy venues where noise in all forms barks through speakers. In Antwerp, Club Moral has been making industrial noise for over thirty years, here and there featuring guest appearances by Mauro Pawlowski, Aldo Struyf, and many others. On the other side of the language border, we find Bruital Orgasme, a harsh and uncompromising duo that celebrates its tenth birthday this year. And then there are hundreds, if not thousands of bands and projects dwelling in the caverns of noise, dark ambient, drone, musique concrete and avant garde. Some build walls on noise on their own, others come together for extreme improvisation sessions. In many cities in Belgium (much like many other country), harsh noises and everything related blasts through speakers and living rooms, small venues and obscure festivals.
A country resonating on beats
There is a lot to say about the Belgian electronic music scene. If you look at the line-up for one of the world's most exciting dance festivals, Tomorrowland, you will get a decent overview of our electronic history, or at least the mainstream version. After Telex (see previous edition), thousands of Belgians have been experimenting with synths, computers and drum machines. Neon Judgement, Snowy Red, A Split Second, Nux Nemo, Fatal Error, Praga Khan, Zolex, Stromae, the list goes on and on.
If you want to know more about Belgian dance music, you might want to check the movie 'The Sound Of Belgium', which beautifully illustrates this history. But don't think it stops right there, on the very contrary. In every street in this little country, someone is producing music. For example, somewhere in Antwerp, there is an Ableton-guru who operates under the moniker Boatman. With straight-on techno and house music, he is perfectly capable of filling dancefloors everywhere. So are many others.
Once you take a look into our EDM-history, you will notice that our alternative scene is just as loaded with bands and projects as the commercial, mainstream one. Of course, we will look deeper into our electronic scene in future editions of these series.
If you want to know more about Belgian dance music, you might want to check the movie 'The Sound Of Belgium', which beautifully illustrates this history. But don't think it stops right there, on the very contrary. In every street in this little country, someone is producing music. For example, somewhere in Antwerp, there is an Ableton-guru who operates under the moniker Boatman. With straight-on techno and house music, he is perfectly capable of filling dancefloors everywhere. So are many others.
Once you take a look into our EDM-history, you will notice that our alternative scene is just as loaded with bands and projects as the commercial, mainstream one. Of course, we will look deeper into our electronic scene in future editions of these series.
We are brilliant cooperators
If you go to Boatman's soundcloud and scroll down a little, you will find a track by The Fitz. This track brings me to the final part in this edition of 'Belgium...', our flair for cooperating with other artists and the stunning results it produces. Maybe one of the best known musicians and cooperators is Toots Thielemans, who started performing with Benny Goodman's band when they toured Europe in 1949 and 1950. Throughout his career, Thielemans cooperated with an incredible amount of people, including Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, James Last, Julian Lennon & Paul Simon.
On to the heavier side of things, we find Christian Olde Wolbers. Wolbers was born in Antwerp in 1973 but gained fame when he started playing bass (and later guitars) in one of the world's most influential industrial metal bands, namely Fear Factory. Today, Wolbers is active in a band named Arkaea, formed out of former Fear Factory and Threat Signal members. Dirk Verbeuren, also from Antwerp, is well known for his prominent role behind the drum kit of Soilwork and, since 2016, Megadeth.
But we're not only great cooperators with foreign artists, oh noo. We also do quite well when asked to do something special. In 2016, the Trix venue in Antwerp asked a bunch of rock and metal bands to enter the studio with some of our most prominent hip hop acts. The goal was to commemorate Aerosmith & Run DMC's 'Walk This Way' and the legendary 'Judgement Night' soundtrack. The result was a blast of an album and apparently an unforgettable evening at Trix, proving that rock and rap still work quite well together. Here and there, some of the bands and acts did some performances afterwards but we're still waiting for a full-on album by some of these acts. I think that would be cool....
On to the heavier side of things, we find Christian Olde Wolbers. Wolbers was born in Antwerp in 1973 but gained fame when he started playing bass (and later guitars) in one of the world's most influential industrial metal bands, namely Fear Factory. Today, Wolbers is active in a band named Arkaea, formed out of former Fear Factory and Threat Signal members. Dirk Verbeuren, also from Antwerp, is well known for his prominent role behind the drum kit of Soilwork and, since 2016, Megadeth.
But we're not only great cooperators with foreign artists, oh noo. We also do quite well when asked to do something special. In 2016, the Trix venue in Antwerp asked a bunch of rock and metal bands to enter the studio with some of our most prominent hip hop acts. The goal was to commemorate Aerosmith & Run DMC's 'Walk This Way' and the legendary 'Judgement Night' soundtrack. The result was a blast of an album and apparently an unforgettable evening at Trix, proving that rock and rap still work quite well together. Here and there, some of the bands and acts did some performances afterwards but we're still waiting for a full-on album by some of these acts. I think that would be cool....
I'll leave you with that, a carillon instrument, some jazz, a bit of techno, some metal and a dash of rap. That should do with this edition of 'Belgium, The Capital Of The Underground Music Scene'. We will be back soon(ish) with more interesting stuff about that little country at the North Sea. Perhaps, next time I will finally write about that new beat thing, but I also might just elaborate on our awesome venues, or on how foreign artists love playing here, or about a thing called "Mincecore". See you then...
Serge
Serge
