KURT VAN EEGHEM

TV-presenter, who has a popular program on Flemish Television called "De Drie Wijzen" (Three wisemen).

So how come he got a place in the Belgian Pop-Archives ??

1) he recorded a single with Jean-Marie Aerts (TC-Matic and about half of the other groups in the Archive) in which he came out as being a homosexual. Brave thing to do.

2) in the early 1980's he presented the TV-program "Hitring" through which a lot of the groups who are now covered in the Archives gained a place in the public eye. Although "Hitring" contained three parts (1. Flemish schlagers, 2. Belgian music (like we cover in this archive) and 3. International hits) it was the first time that the Belgian groups were given the opportunity to record video-clips for their songs. The public (that was huge, since the show was aired in prime-time) could decide each week what record would be re-aired on the next edition. Kurt Van Eeghem introduced the clips as Raphaël Goossens and in an impersonation of King Baudoin.
As Cas Van der Taelen (Lavvi Ebbel) recalls in "Big in Belgium" by Jan Delvaux : "The groups that were selected for Hitring immediately were known to the general public. Belgian pop finally got though to all layers of music-loving Flanders.
The quality of the clips was not so important. The fact that the group was shown a few times appealed to the audience. The way in which these clips were made, nicely coincided with the general atmosphere of the time : fast, dynamic, creative. Groups were given complete freedom of how their clip would look, as they got a camera for one day at their disposition.
The result was often astonishingly fresh. Normal : the groups were young and enthusiastic, and so were the camera crews and makers of the show."

Singles & 12'' :
- Cool hé, jongen / China jong (Parsley, 1982)
- Mafia (Parsley, 1982)

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