Belgium - Gent and the rest of Flanders

 As we're hanging on in the beautiful port and university city of Gent (or Ghent), we encounter some already familiar faces in instrumental folk and Gypsy jazz quintet Broes.  Their line up includes violinist Anouk Sanczuk and guitarist Florian de Schepper, which we have already met on this trip as Duo de Schepper-Sanczuk.  This is the title track from their 2015 debut album Route du Soleil:

Also from Gent were folk band Ambrozijn, who were active from 1997-2008.  Apart from traditional polkas and mazurkas, they also played Anglo-Saxon inspired folk, and they sing in English and French.  This song from their 2004 album Botsjeribo is more Gypsy influenced, and I suppose with Christmas just behind us is quite apt: Jésus qui joue l'Accordéon:

Instrumental folk band Elanor started off in Gent in 2013 and have only 1 full album to their name so far entitled A Clear Look.  Their material is very much traditional balfolk with the addition of an electric bass for a more contemporary feel.  Here's a pair of tunes from the album called Blown Away & Nuit Noire (Cercle):

Singer and sculptor Willem Vermandere was born in 1940 in Lauwe in West Flanders.  He now resides in Veurne, where he has become an honorary citizen.  His songs often have a socio-political content, which has made him a target of far-right groups.  He sings and talks in the south-western Flemish dialect.  Here's one of his songs from 1991, which is as current now with the Black Lives Matter movement as it was then: Bange Blanke Man (frightened white man).  His latest album, Confessies, is available now.

There isn't much information available on Flemish progressive folk band Klakkebusse except that they were formed in the seaside town of Blankenberge in 1984 and that they rework 18th and 19th traditional French Flemish songs.  Presumably they are now inactive, but I uploaded one of their songs some years ago, but can't remember for the life of me, which album it came from.  The song is called Guezelied.  Gueze is a style of Belgian beer:

This is it from Belgium, next stop my home country of the Netherlands.  As usual you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Belgium - Towards Gent

 Heading down to the small town of Gooik in the province of Brabant we meet the Garriau family consisting of father Paul (hurdy-gurdy/guitar), son Koen (saxophone) and daughter Greet (Diatonic accordion/vocals), who formed the heart of folk group Fluxus from 1996-2006 as well as run regular workshops on traditional music in Gooik.  Much of their music is rather hard to get hold of these days, but their 2001 album N.O.Ë. is still available.  Their folk is a bit Jazz infused at times with Koen's sax, mostly their own material and sung in Flemish by Greet.  This is a song from the album called Dag en Nacht (Day and Night):

Just down the road is the small town of Haaltert, which is home to the Wildboar record label, which was started by members of the Flemish folk rock band Kadril.  They formed in 1976 around the Libbrecht brothers Erwin (guitar & bouzouki), Peter (fiddle) and Harlind (mandolin & cimbal).  They are the oldest Flemish folk band still active.  The name Kadril is Flemish bastardization of Quadrille, an old salon dance.  In 2004 they released an album called La Paloma Negra in collaboration with Galician folk band Alumea, which features songs in Spanish, Galician and in Flemish.  Here's song called De Spanjaard in Gent (The Spaniard in Gent):

Spilar is a new folk band formed around the voices of sister and brother Eva and Maarten Decombel and accompanied on strings and keyboards by Ward Dhoore and Jeroen Geerinck, who also run the record label Studio Trad, which is based in Erpe in East Flanders.  The material on their debut album Stormweere is a mixture of own compositions and traditional material, all sung in the West Flanders dialect.  They have even come up with a Flemish translation to the Jacques Brel classic, 'Pourquoi faut-il que les hommes s'ennuient' (Why do men have to get bored), which they call Pertank, which is the Flemish version of Pourtant, meaning Yet:

And finally another family affair with the aforementioned Ward Dhoore and his 2 brothers Hartwin and Koen, who form the instrumental folk band Trio Dhoore, based in Gent.  They have been performing together since 2010 and their latest album musically tells the story of August, an 18th century Flemish fisherman, who survived 33 dangerous journeys between Belgium and Iceland to feed his family.  The instrumentation is comprised of diatonic accordion, hurdy-gurdy and guitar, complemented with some electronic effects.  Here's a tune from the album called Poldervuur:

That's it for today.  We'll explore Gent further next time and the rest of Flanders.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.

Belgium - Antwerp and Around

 From Brussels we are heading north towards the province of Antwerp, starting at the town of Turnhout, near the Dutch border.  I'm not sure where the folk duo or quartet Naragonia are actually based, but one of the founders, Toon van Mierlo seems to come from Turnhout originally.  He started out together with Pascale Rubens as a folk duo in 2003.  As a quartet they perform a distinct repertoire of instrumental folk music.  This is a lively and danceable track from their 2018 album Mira called Lapwings - Crossbills

Fiddle player Anouk Sanczuk also grew up in Turnhout and she has her fingers in many pies around the Belgian and Dutch music scenes.  She plays anything from jazz to Gipsy, from classical to folk.  Together with guitarist Florian de Schepper she forms the Duo de Schepper - Sanczuk, where they explore a mixture of these styles, inspired by folk tunes from around Europe without loosing the Flemish roots.  Here is the title track from their 2019 album Port de Taipana:

Folk singer Wannes van de Velde (1937-2008) was a bit of a legend in the Belgian folk scene and was awarded honorary citizenship of the port city of Antwerp.  He grew up near the city's red light district and just around the corner of the Museum Vleeshuis, which is dedicated to the history of the local music.  I should make a point of visiting the museum on my next visit, rather than my usual frustrating visit to the traffic jams on the Antwerp ring road.  Anyway I digress, Wannes sang mostly in his local Flemish dialect and this is a song from his 1969 album Laat de Mensen Dansen (Leth the People Dance) called Zwijg Me van de Vlaamse Kwestie (Keep Me Silent About the Flemish Issue):

And since it was Saint Nicolas Day yesterday (6 December is when Santa Claus visits children in most of Europe) we are moving west to the small Flemish town of Sint Niklaas, where we encounter 5-piece folk band Hidrae, who have just released their debut album Hydraulic.  They play a lively balfolk with traditional instruments including the Flemish bagpipes and hurdy gurdy.  This is a tune called Plage de l'Amitié:

This is it from around Antwerp for today, next we'll head further west in to Flanders.  As usual you can follow my virtual wanderings on my Tripline map.