It was late at night. I watched the fireworks and listened to the final beats of the festival. They had been there for two weekends. There were thousands of them, all equally mesmerized by that different world they had stepped into. I wasn't there but I could hear them from my balcony, twelve kilometers away. I wasn't angry or annoyed by them either.

In a way, I was proud. I was proud that a festival in this small country managed to do all the things that Tomorrowland can. It's become the landmark for electronic dance music festivals around the globe and it's an overwhelming spectacle for everyone involved. More than that, Tomorrowland is the apogee of Belgium's pioneering work in the dance music scenes, which started decades ago when a DJ accidentally invented Popcorn music (read about that in part one of these series).

When the wind turned, I could hear another festival, Sfinks Mixed, a world music festival that is free and family friendly. In more than one aspect, Sfinks is different from Tomorrowland. While the one has a corner with bouncing castles and slides, the other one is a playground for adults. Apparently, as I read in the newspaper, there had been an incident on Sfinks festival. Boef, a Dutch performer stopped the show after only a few songs. According to the story, the tent was packed to capacity, mostly with children who wanted to see their idol. The situation got out of hand when people started shuffling towards the stage. Adults pushed themselves between the groups of children. Several youngsters fainted and others got separated from their parents. The rapper had already told the adults to remain in the back but apparently, there is a difference between listening to music and listening to the artist. So, Boef had no other option than to quit. It was just not safe anymore.

Maybe it's because Belgian babysitters are becoming increasingly expensive but I see more and more children at festivals. I've been watching this trend in the past six or seven years, mostly because I've been watching out in order not to step on the little brats. Still, I don't think it's a bad thing to bring your children to a festival. Personally, I'd rather see my kid enjoying a good band instead of getting its brain numbed by television. I think it's a good experience for them and they can surely learn a thing or two (that there's more in the world than K3, for example). Yet, some conditions apply.

1. There has to be enough room. Kids are energetic little flesh bags and they like to run around for some bizarre reason. In the middle of a mosh pit, that running around can ruin the atmosphere so make sure that there's plenty or room for your little Duracell-bunny to rage. 

2. The kids must be guarded at all times. On a festival that's no different than in any other situation. It's called "responsibility" and it means that, when you bring your little rocker, you can no longer pass out drunk. 

In fact, when I wrote this part of this article, I was thinking of one of my facebook friends who occasionally brings his daughter to concerts and festivals. It's great to see how she brings some pure joy to an otherwise loud and intense event. People are getting to know her. They play with her, talk to her, party with her. She's probably a pretty smart kid too and she definitely enjoys the attention. By the time she will be old enough to develop her own musical style, she will be widely influenced and that is a good thing.  Even scientifically, that's a good thing, just read Dick Swaab's books.

Bandcamp currently has a special about weird Belgian music (read), which they call "The New Weird Belgium". That title made me giggle. There is no "new" weird Belgium. We have always been weird. Or better, we have always been experimental.
For me personally, the fascination with the more experimental ànd local sides of the music scenes started with a band from Hasselt. The bass player worked at the bar where I used to write my first lyrics. The band, led by the charismatic Mauro Pawlowski, won Humo's Rock Rally in 1994. 

After the band disbanded in 1998 Mauro went on to do amazing and bizarre things. He joined one of Belgium's biggest bands ever, dEUS and recorded heaps of albums under heaps of monikers. Another Evil Superstars member, Tim Vanhamel, formed Millionaire, another massively popular band in this area. Tim also played in Eagles Of Death Metal. But I know him from his time with Sister Poopoo. Yes, I am that old.

Today, the "weird' is everywhere. I recently watched Hypochristmutreefuzz do their thing at Gent Jazz. Coined as a noise rock act, these guys play with all kinds of genres and equipment, including noise, rap, rock and electronics. Hypochristmutreefuzz is simply another incarnation of the Belgian's experimental approach. Many bands have come before them and many will undoubtedly follow.

​At that same festival, DAAU (short for Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung) also played a few sets. The current line-up consists of Roel Van Camp (accordion), Han Stubbe (clarinet), Hannes D'Hoine (upright bass) and Jeroen Stevens (drums, marimba). DAAU does something exciting with jazz, klezmer and classical music. Long ago, they decided not to stick to one genre, something many Belgian artists have in common.

We have always been weird and we have never given a fuck about it. In 1958, Roeselare born Louis De Meester created this sonic nightmare, which is basically a slow, soundscaping assault on your mental state.

Apart from Studio 100, Belgian music is managed badly. But what would you expect, this whole country is managed badly. There is no easy guidance over here. When you record a single in Belgium, at least five people will immediately contact you. Not to help, only to fill their own pockets. A shady manager, a shadier copyright organisation, the tax man and those two facebook followers you thought were friends, they will all be there at your first gig.

Perhaps that's why many Belgian artists loved to work with Bidi Van Drongelen. Bidi passed away recently, sending a shockwave through the Dutch and Belgian heavy music scenes. As booking agent, he worked with Bliksem, Channel Zero, Cowboys & Aliens, Steak Number Eight and countless of other bands from all over the world. To most of them, Bidi was more than a booking agent. He was a friend, a living metal encyclopedia and a hedonist. He was the embodiment of the Dutch know-how and commercial talent that we Belgian mostly lack. I have never met Bidi in person but from behind my computer screen, I noticed his constant presence, coming through emails and facebook messages. I also read all the in memoriams and I watched all the tributes. Bidi will surely be missed here.

Bad management has always been an issue in this little country. It leads to band splitting before breaking through, artists ending up on the streets and other unpleasantries. If it wasn't for greedy agents and incompetent personnel, many of our bands would have been a lot bigger, especially in the underground scene. Some bands would have been huge instead of the one hit wonder they're known for today.

But, like the title said, we will manage. Apparently, nothing will stop us from forming bands, crawling behind a computer to create some amazing electronic music, sing in choirs or play piano on the shopping streets. We're a musical nation and deep within we seem to know how it should work. Just look at some of our scenes. Here in Antwerp there is a whole scene around the Rodeo shows/Antwerp Music City. Bliksem frontwoman Peggy now does amazing things with Interstellar Deathroll. Local bands are being picked up to support international headliners on a daily basis.

Oh, about that. There had been a little fuzz around a certain journalist who claims that support acts are useless. He wrote an article about it, asking organisers to stop booking local support acts. (Dutch readers can read the article here). He claims that if you want to see Slowdive (for example), you always have to watch some boring, unimaginative local band. I wanted to punch that guy in the face and I'm not an aggressive person.

So instead of whining about the lousy quality of an otherwise hard working support act, why don't you journalist person do the fashionable thing and just come late. If you don't want to be annoyed by amateurs, ignore them. Life would be so much better if more people would just ignore stuff. Besides, the rest of us, who support the support act can easily live without your bored sighs and childish yammering. 

Belgium is small. The average pool in Dubai is probably bigger than our entire country. But there is music everywhere. Not only are we talented, we also seem to learn the basic needs of getting your music underground thrive. We cooperate, we experiment and we show respect. In that line, I'd like to end this part of 'Belgium - The capital of the (underground) music scene' with a song that has moved me a lot in the past few weeks. 

AmenRa is currently one of Belgium's biggest things, especially in the world of slow and heavy. They too have a whole scene around them, which is called "The Church Of Ra".  Their beautiful cover of 'Het Dorp', originally recorded by Zjef Vanuytsel in 1970 is a genuine show of respect for the musical history of this country. The song has been playing numerous times a day in the past few weeks, with good reason too.

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.

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.

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. 

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 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....

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

Belgians are a weird folk but if there is one certainty, it is the fact that we know how to enjoy things. We love eating and we love drinking. Our beers are the best in the world, our chocolates are ridiculously expensive delicacies in Japan, our fries (you know, "French fries") have become side dishes ànd main courses all over the world. We turn chicory and Brussels' sprouts into tantalizing dishes. Waffles! I haven't mentioned waffles yet! We are the best cooks in the world but we're also open to other cuisines. In fact, I once heard someone say, "Belgians don't like foreigners except the ones who open a restaurant".  Something similar goes for our music...

We start this edition of our 'Belgium' series with an Englishman. Mr John Makin released this novelty song in 1998. It quickly became a one-hit wonder, especially in Belgium. "Potverdekke" is a Belgian curse word, something like "damn". It used to be "Godverdekke" but the Christians didn't like that very much. 

During the history of music, there have been a few songs about Belgium. The best known is probably 'België' by Dutch band Het Goede Doel a song which claims that we are a gentle and nice country, perfectly suited to spend your holidays. AC/DC thought otherwise, releasing the song 'Bedlam In Belgium' in 1983. The song describes the turn of events during an AC/DC show in Dancing Thierbrau in Kontich, near Antwerp. The building has been demolished a few years ago but the story will never be forgotten.

In October 1977, the motor club Outlaws, who had already served as security for AC/DC shows, invited the band to play in Kontich. The venue was not suited for a concert like this. The power supply was insufficient, causing the Outlaws to drive to Brussels to find a power group. Eventually, the show started a lot later than expected but AC/DC wanted to play their full show and refused to leave the stage. What followed was an hallucinant cat and mouse game between AC/DC, the crowd and the cops, who pulled the plug on the entire thing. ​The bass player, Cliff, took out one cop with his instrument. According to the band, the cops shot firearms in an attempt to regain control of the situation. 

In 1962, electronica giants Philips released the first compact cassettes, the so-called audio tapes which are still popular in the underground DIY scene. Although Philips is a Dutch company, the cassettes had been developed in Hasselt. The team at Philips was led by Lou Ottens. They wanted to find an alternative for the big, expensive tape recorders like the ​Magnetophon which AEG had invented. 

Twenty years later, Philips would come up with yet another immensely popular invention when they developed the CD in cooperation with Sony. Both devices eventually led to new ways for musicians to sell albums to their fans. They were smaller and easier to handle than vinyl, plus they made it possible to listen to music on portable devices. From then on, people were no longer restricted to their living room if they wanted to listen to their favorite music.

When Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846, he sparked something that would grow out into an entire scene. His invention reached military bands in New Orleans around 1900 and quickly became the instrument par excellence for the entire jazz scene when minstrel shows started adopting the instrument. 

Belgian musicians were among the first to make recordings of saxophone solos in America. Eugene Coffin, for example, made recordings on wax cylinders (1895–1896) and Jean Moermans on gramophone record in Washington D.C. (1897). But it was in 1927 when publisher Félix Faecq discovered jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist Charles Remue and his "New Stompers" when they were playing in a dancing in Namur. In June of that year, he took the band to London to record the first ever Belgian jazz album. The album contained a few covers from American bands but also seven self written tracks. That same year, jazz started to become a concept, cueed by the American film 'The Jazz Singer'.

Born in 1942 and the son of Léo Moulin, a sociologist and writer, and Jeanine Moulin, a poet and literary critic, Marc Moulin started performing as a solo pianist in 1960. In 1969 he recorded his first album, 'Jazz Goes Swinging'. Two years later, he formed a jazz-rock band named Placebo, obviously not to be confused with the English alternative rockers with the same name. Even at that early age, Marc Moulin didn't seem too happy with simply performing and recording jazz. He wanted to do things differently. With Placebo, he started experimenting with both jazz and rock music and after the band disbanded his interests shifted towards electronic music. 

Along with Michel Moers (vocals) and Dan Lacksman (synthesizer), Moulin formed Telex, a band credited as the first Belgian electronica act. The band first covered several pop and rock songs before they scored a worldwide hit with 'Moskow Diskow'. In 1980, Telex's manager asked the group to enter the Eurovision Song Contest, something that was not very popular with Marc Moulin and his band. The group entered anyway and were eventually sent to the finals, although they apparently hoped to come in last. The song, aptly named 'Euro-Vision', is a hilarious parody on the entire Eurovision Song festival. It eventually ended up being the second last.

Moulin's career would go on after Telex disbanded. He became a household name in the house scene where fans of deep house and future jazz adore his warm electronic sounds. He was a well respected producer, journalist and sound track composer. Marc Moulin died in 2008. His musical career is now succeeded by his son Denis Moulin who produces deep house anthems under the name La Malice.

Yes, we are exceptionally good at eating, drinking and making music but we also have a certain sense of humor and - obviously - that comedic aspect of our character also shines through in our music. Telex' 'Euro-Vision' song was already quite tongue-in-cheek but there are numerous of hilarious musical acts. Let's go over a few.

Urbain Joseph Servranckx was born in Dilbeek in 1949. When he was 25, he started performing as Urbanus Van Anus, named after his former backing group. For years, Urbanus was pretty much our only comedian, mainly influenced by Dutch cabaret. Yet, he scored several hits with songs like 'Hittentit', 'Bakske Vol Met Stro' and his "protest song" 'Madammen Met Een Bontjas'.

Humor has been a constant throughout Belgium's musical history. Everyone who is old enough to remember the late eighties and early nineties, will undoubtedly remember Frank Dingenen's takes on new beat. Some even say that follies like this one destroyed the credibility of the new beat scene. Dingenen, much like Urbanus, was a comedian and actor who sometimes scored a hit single. 

On the guitars and drums driven side of the Belgian musical spectrum, there is also plenty of laughs to be found. Now, I'm not so sure about the Walloon side of our country, but on the Flemish side, there are loads of artists who combine music with the Dutch language, often presented in a local dialect. In Antwerp, Katastroof is an immensely popular folk act that sings about sex, booze, more booze, and some more sex,.

Bands like Belgian Asociality and Clement Peerens Explosition are welcome guests on any self-respecting rock festival in this country. In Ghent, Flip Kowlier wishes everyone a 'welhemeende Fuck You' in his own dialect. In Eeklo, not far from Ghent, there are The Evil Pony's who combine local dialect with heavy metal, similar to Fleddy Melculy. Yes, even our band names are hilarious. Don't forget that even Revolting Cocks was partially Belgian!

Anyway, that will do for this edition of our series about Belgium. Next time we'll... I don't know, we'll see about that then. Thank you for reading and enjoy this song by Vuile Mong & Zijn Vieze Gasten which so perfectly describes how all Belgians feel about life...

Serge

Welcome to another edition of 'Belgium - The capital of the (underground) music scene'. Today we are going to dig a little deeper in some of this country's finest musical scenes and present you with some gems from our musical history. However, we're also going to try to answer one big question, which will indeed include some strong criticism. Obviously, we'll throw in some humor and we serve it all on a beautifully chaotic platter. So again, welcome to the delightful chaos of Belgium...

We Belgians do not always invent new genres, nor do we name them. Yet, we always seem to have a flair for making them our own. Post-rock certainly is not a Belgian invention but in the past decade or so, we have become an epicenter for the European scene, all thanks to a few stubborn fans of the genre, tucked away in a small town called Zottegem. In 2005 they decided to try to organise a little festival. Gradually, the festival grew and several ups and downs later, it is rightfully called 'Europe's finest post-rock festival'. With headliners like Russian Circles, Mono and Maybeshewill, Dunk! Festival crawled and dragged themselves into the hearts of post-rock fans all over the world. They have been through severe financial issues, saw government funding slip through their hands but still managed to put up a massive event and expand their know-how to the United States. Yes, Dunk! US is happening.

For me personally, my trip through the world of Belgian post-rock actually started with a band from Brussels, namedCecilia::Eyes. Before their album 'Disappearance' entered my mailbox, my knowledge about the genre was restricted to Explosions In The Sky, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai. However, Cecilia::Eyes quickly started fascinating me. Here was a band with four nice, modest guys who delivered a jaw-dropping album and were able to deliver a stunning gig. I read that they are working on a new album and I can't wait to hear that. 

Today, our post-whatever scene thrives on names like Ilydæn, Celestial Wolves, We Stood Like Kings, Terraformer, Briqueville, Wyatt E, Wayward Bound, Deuil, Hemelbestormer and Stories from the Lost, just to name a few. Many of them have already set foot on (or in front of) the stages of Dunk! Festival and guaranteed a massive show.

Dunk! is just one of our many highly praised festivals. We have countless of them, with Tomorrowland being one of the most must-have-experienced events on this entire planet. There are festivals in almost every city or village, ranging from small local events to mega happenings. In every genre we have our specialists. Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop are two of the world's greatest alternative rock festivals. Graspop is one of the ultimate attractions for European metalheads.  Ghent and Antwerp have their own jazz festival and then there are the 'Gentse' and 'Lokerse' feesten. Even our smaller festivals are amazing happenings. Rodeo Fest in Antwerp is becoming one of the cosiest events to be beaten into a pulp by all things heavy. 

Do you know what makes us this good? Well, we've been doing this festival thing for a long, long time.

Jazz Bilzen was an annual multi-day open air jazz and pop festival that took place from 1965 to 1981 in the Belgian city of Bilzen. Jazz Bilzen was the first festival on the continent where jazz and pop music were brought together. For this reason, Jazz Bilzen is sometimes called the "mother of all European festivals". Even bands like The Cure and Black Sabbath once stood on Bilzen's soil. 

But festivals come and go.

In the eighties, another Humo-sponsored event started taking over the Belgian festival scene. Torhout-Werchter was a several day festival with the same bill on two different locations, 146 kilometers apart from each other (which for many Belgians is a long distance). Other festivals came and went, some were successful, others vanished. Pukkelpop witnessed a disaster when several people died in a storm which raged over the terrain but the festival is still going strong today. Elsewhere in Limburg, the Eurorock festival became a shameful event of fraud, theft and lies. 

If you live in Belgium and you want to make it in the world of music, you have two options: be a commercial mastermind or move. True, we have a blooming scene but we also have creepy, ugly predators, lurking beneath the surface, preying on every cent you make. Sabam is one of the Belgian associations of authors, composers and publishers.

Copyright issues in Belgium are mainly limited to movements on bank accounts, usually from an innocent festival, party or concert organiser towards Sabam. The latter then transfer that money to either Helmut Lotti or Johan Verminnen. Yes, that sounds sarcastic but part of it is true. Sabam's initial goal to protect copyrights was a decent idea but somehow they have turned it into something that reeks of the Spanish inquisition. Even whistling Clouseau's 'Domino' on the street can get you sued by Sabam. It's true, whistling is 'public display of a copyrighted song' and thus should be paid for.

Crazy, isn't it?

Somewhere in a little club in Koersel (Limburg, again) a few friends organised a little festival named 'Copyleft Fest'. The idea was simple: no Sabam-registered bands, no covers, only demos from other non-registered bands. Believe it or not, but during the first band, two Sabam officials came in and demanded a payment. The man behind the counter refused, explaining the idea behind this whole festival (mess with Sabam). He said that they could come in. If they could find one cover, one registered song, the organisation would pay Sabam. The challenge was on, after the official paid their entrance fees - obviously. Two hours later, they left, completely deaf and pissed-off.

Someone once told me that the worse a country is doing the better its music is. He also told me that Ministry made their best albums during each Bush-era. Rebellion and music have always been going hand in hand in this country, which is normal since we have a lot to be pissed-off about. Formed in 1976, The Kids kicked the nuts of the establishment with intense punk protest songs like 'Bloody Belgium'. Nothing really changed. Belgian Asociality tried with the inspirational lyrics in the song 'Politics' ("bla bla bla bla bla bla blaaaaa, politics..."). 

The Belgian punk and hardcore scene also has its annual happening in the form of a huge event. Groezrock has been a constant for European punks since 1992, starting out as a regular pop and rock festival and eventually picking punk and hardcore as their specialist niche, similar to  what Graspop did in the metal scene. Groezrock is just another example of the Belgian know-how and of how eager foreign bands (especially American ones) are to play here. Because we treat them like kings. We know how to party.

There are more political and non-political issues that make being a musician so difficult in this country, and we'll talk about them in future editions of these series, but those do not keep us from making music. While I'm writing this, a jazz band is rehearsing in an apartment near mine. They are talented, and they are not the only ones. When I visit my brother on any given Sunday, a stoner rock band is covering Nirvana in a nearby garage. I'm sure that down the street, in a dark bedroom someone is producing what he hopes and believes is going to be a smash hit. Many Belgians know Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' from hearing a child trying to play it on a piano or violin (or from an ice cream truck).

Fact remains, each and everyone of those artists has a chance to make it, no matter how humble the beginnings. That completely normal looking guy you just passed on the street can one day become a massive star in our country. Admit it, apart from Praga Khan, each and every one of our famous musicians are normal, every day looking people. Look at Luc De Vos, dEUS, Front 242, Axelle Red, Toots Thielemans, Salvatore Adamo, Jacques Brel, Dani Klein (Vaya Con Dios), hell, even K3. They could all be the guys and girls next door.

We end this edition of 'Belgium - The capital of the (underground) music city' with some good advice. Belgium is a political mess where everyday Flemish and Walloon people have no idea about each other's existence. That has to end. Let politicians handle the language barrier like children playing with their little activity-center toys while the rest of us solve the problem by getting to know each other. 

The fact is, Flemish people know more Dutch bands than Walloon ones and Walloon people know more French bands than Flemish ones. Somehow, bands and artists rarely seem to cross that language barrier. When they eventually do, apparently we find out that we can perfectly communicate, in English. So, organisers from Antwerp, Ghent, Kortrijk, Hasselt, Leuven... try to invite Cecilia::Eyes, Wyatt E, Angakok and ask them to bring a few friends. Charleroi, Liège, La Louvière, do the same with Evil Invaders, The Hickey Underworld or Psycho 44. It will definitely be worth it...

Well, there you have it, some more rambling about the musical beauty of a country that is severely underappreciated. As mr Brel so beautifully chants, we're 'Le plat pays' (the flat country), so it can't be that hard to cross that language border... Which is exactly what we'll be doing in one of the upcoming editions of 'Belgium - The capital of the (underground) music scene.



​Serge

Donald Trump might claim that our country is a "hellhole", but if so, we sure are a great sounding one. For starters,  in 1840, the Belgian musician Adolphe Sax (photo left) invented the saxophone (and the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba), which makes our country partially responsible for the entire jazz scene, as well as some people's sex lives. 

Later, another Belgian, one by the name of Jeanne Deckers (photo below) became a best selling artist. She sold millions of copies and became the first - and only - Belgian artist to top the highly regarded Billboard Charts. She did that with a French song, 'Dominique' under the moniker 'Sœur Sourire' (The Singing Nun)..

In fact, since Johannes Ciconia (1370 - 1412), this little country has been throwing brilliant artists and musicians onto the world, Peter Benoit, Jean-Joseph Fiocco, Henri Pousseur, Wim Mertens, Toots Thielemans, Jacques Brel, Django Reinhardt, Luc Devos, Dirk Serries, Maurice Engelen, Axelle Red, Jo Lemaire... just to name a few. Bands like Praga Khan, Front 242, Stromae, Aborted, Agathocles, Channel Zero and AmenRa blast through speakers all over the world. Hell, we even had our own music genre for a while when New Beat was the biggest thing ever. And that is only the very tip of the iceberg.

In this series, we explore the rich musical history of a country that seems tucked away between Germany, France and the North Sea. We are a small country. We have our problems, like we've always had. Our politicians aren't any better than yours, but we have beer and chocolate. Our air is polluted but we have some of the best athletes in the world. It always rains here but we still have the best music festivals (Dunk! Graspop! Pukkelpop! Rock Werchter! Tomorrowland! Groezrock!). 

You can consider this series as an immense tribute, a glorification of Belgian artists, performers and labels of all times and eras. We delve, quite randomly, into electronic dance music, metal, classical music and so on. Much like all Belgians, we go with the flow on this one. We write what we think about when we think about it. So this article might look somewhat chaotic but you could consider that as just another beautiful representation of what this country is all about. We're weird but we make it sound awesome...

While people may see Renaissance music as something coming from France or Italy, Belgian composers have had a massive influence on early classical music. For some - still unknown - reason, there was a strong link between Rome and Liege, a city in the Walloon side of our country. Johannes Ciconia, Belgium's first known composer, was the son of a priest, born in Liege. He worked most of his adult life in Rome. Papal records suggest that Ciconia was in the service of Pope Boniface IX in Rome in 1391. Ciconia's music is an eclectic blend of styles, which, if you think about it, seems to be something extremely common for Belgian artists. We thrive on crossing over. 

Other influential figures in the old ages were Gilles Binchois, Johannes Ockeghem, Jacob Obrecht, Pierre de La Rue, Alexander Agricola, Gaspar van Weerbeke and Guillaume Dufay. The music of Josquin des Prez was considered an aesthetic model for much of the 16th-century High Renaissance. Classical music and opera are still a constant here, with baritones Jules Bastin and José van Dam being top level performers and Helmut Lotti becoming one of the most famous singers in the world with his popular interpretations of opera classics. Not everybody is a big fan of Lotti but still, he filled big venues all over the world.

We take a random leap to the eighties and witness other pioneers, this time armed with electronics and dressed in army uniforms. Front 242 were formed in 1981 in Aarschot, by Daniel Bressanutti and Dirk Bergen. They wanted to create music using emerging electronic tools. Their rough, abrasive and repetitive sound quickly became a landmark and caused a new genre to emerge. That genre was named "EBM", or "Electronic Body Music" and easily became a subculture. Even The Prodigy have mentioned Front 242 as one of their biggest influences.

From there, another genre started to emerge, blending electronic body music with Detroit techno, or "acid house". Belgians started picking up electronic instruments by the thousands now, resulting in an incredible array of electronic musical styles. With all those acts, a huge number of labels appeared as well. Antler-Subway, R&S, Bonzai Records,... each of them became successful and many of their singles are still massive dance floor fillers. The Belgian archives contain more projects and songs than you can imagine. With forerunners like The Neon Judgement, A Split Second and Snowy Red, Belgium grew into an electronic paradise, more varied than the Italo-disco craze in Italy and the French house scene combined. We'll get to Belgian electronics later.

​However, those were the eighties and those were NOT the first scenes originated or pioneered in Belgium. The Popcorn music scene first developed from dances held at the Groove discotheque in Ostend, where mid-tempo soul and ska music played by DJ Freddy Cousaert (photo left) became popular. Cousaert was later responsible for Marvin Gaye's move to Belgium in the early 1980s. Popcorn itself originated in Antwerp, in café 'De Oude Hoeve', which was renamed to 'Popcorn', courtesy of DJ Gilbert Govaert.  In some cases, DJs slowed down records, by pitch control and by playing 45 rpm discs at 33 rpm, to achieve the desired tempo and rhythm. Yes, we know, slowing down records definitely seems to be a Belgian thing. It's exactly how the whole new beat craze started too. 

The year is 1999. Somewhere in Kortrijk vocalist Colin H. van Eeckhout and guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove decide to form a new band, AmenRa. In 2005, they formed Church of Ra, a collective of collaborating artists which now includes Oathbreaker, Wiegedood, the Black Heart Rebellion, Syndrome, Kingdom and CHVE. AmenRa quickly turns into more than a band. It becomes a way of life. Loads of splits and full-lengths have been unleashed upon the world, followed by astounding performances on festivals and in unusual venues like churches and caves. The groundbreaking band, formed out of the ashes of hardcore band Spineless, is widely regarded as one of the greatest sludge metal bands of all time and can easily stand alongside acts like Neurosis and Eyehategod. 

Not far away, in the city of Ghent this time, a label opens in 2007, followed by a shop in 2014. The Consouling Store & Sounds quickly turns into a sweltering cesspool of drones, riffs, drums and screams. The Church Of Ra joins in on the fun. In only a few years, Consouling Sounds becomes a landmark in the Belgian music industry. In his own gentle way, owner Mike overloads record stores with releases by Alkerdeel, Nadja, Snailking, Thisquietarmy, Gnaw Their Tongues, Viscera///, Eleanora, Monnik, Charnia, Barst... The list goes on and on.

Throughout the years Belgium steadily grows into a slow, atmospheric sounding country,  and more and more bands start to appear. In the wake of this new found interest in slow sounds, an entire ambient and drone scene starts producing some masterpieces. Fronted by Dirk Serries (photo), who initially gained fame as VidnaObmana, drones and soundscapes seem to emerge everywhere. The capital here seems to be Antwerp, where acts like Stratosphere, Ashtoreth and Premonition Factory become household names. A beautiful testament of the Belgian ambient scene can be found on the compilation 'Belgium experimental underground 017 survey', edited by Unexplained Sounds Group (which Wagner reviewed). Here, the underground is teeming as well. Again, we'll get to that in a future edition of this series.

Back in 1967, a band named Adam's Recital, was the first band to use the heavy, distorted guitars the metal scene is so well known for. Their only heritage is the 'There's No Place For Lonely People' single (later covered by "The Belgian Ramones", The Paranoiacs)  but it somehow sparked ages of headbanging on Belgian fields. The first band regarded as a heavy metal band was Airquick, who released a few singles but quickly faded away.

Today, the Belgian metal scene contains an incredible multitude of bands. Unfortunately, our finest thrash metal band ever, Bliksem, recently called it quits but we still have plenty to be proud about. In the doom metal scene, Bathsheba are one of the best things that ever happened to the genre. Emptiness stubbornly follow their own path, resulting in one of the greatest full-lengths in 2017. Elsewhere, Evil Invaders are thrashing stages everywhere. Our most famous metalband will probably be Channel Zero but we also have Saille, Enthroned & Ancient Rites in the blackened scene and Aborted and Leng Tche in the death metal division. The grindcore scene adores Agathocles and Belgian Asociality appeals to beer-loading punks everywhere.  Hardcore, metalcore? We got it covered with Dead End Path, Deviate, Bark and the entire H8000 scene in West-Flanders.

So yes, I think I have plenty of reason to expand this little article into a whole series. There is so much more I want to write about. There are plenty of artists, festivals, venues, labels, writers, pioneers, masterminds. In the next few weeks, months, whatevers, we'll be publishing more glorification-ramblings like this one. We will dig deep into the underground and we will barf up some old favorites. 

​Welcome to the amazing chaos of Belgium...


​Serge