NIEUWSARCHIEF

Periode : 29 november - 4 december 2000
In dit deel : Wawadadakwa, Brel, Hooverphonic, El Fish, Roland, Liquid ft. Sylvie, Sylver, Big Brother, Laïs, Ann Christy.

December 4, 2000

OOOH ... VOOR MAMA ...
If you ever heard a corny title to a CD, it must be this one: "Voor Mama" (for mama). And if you ever heard a peculiar name for a band, it surely is this one: "Wawadadakwa". The relation between these two is the fact that Wawadadakwa has a debut CD (out on Catamaran, distributed by Lowlands), entitled "Voor Mama".
As the bio says, "Wawadadakwa brings party- and dancemusic for everyone, done in an improvisational manner and spiced up with a portion of theatrality and childish behaviour. ... A concert of the wawa's bring you to all nooks and crannies of the music world: latin-american rhythms, northern-african trance, eastern-european sounds, folkloristic melodies, empty-headed disco, kitschy eighties pop, repetitive beats from contemporary dance, it's all in there somewhere. So, is Wawadadakwa another pretentious crossover clone of the nineties? Nothing further from the truth: the group brings all this in a completely free, spontaneous and uncomplicated way, and has a distinct sound that's just as recognizable as it is surprising." And this is all true ...
The band released their first ever single last June ("Emilio" ), and the spanking new CD was presented in CC Berchem last Thursday. Possible singles from it in the coming months are "Koken met Rachida" or "Broodje préparé" .
More info on Wawadadakwa at their site, or Wald&Schutz.

FILM ON BREL
The Brel-family have given permission to Dominique Deruddere & Marc Didden to develop a film about the life and times of the great singer Jacques Brel. Marc Didden (you should know him as a rock-critic for Humo and director of at least Brussels By Night) will write the scenario, Domique Deruddere (Wait Until Spring Bandini, Iedereen Beroemd) will direct, although nothing is sure on timing and financing yet ...
Meanwhile the story about the "forbidden" Brel-book (see below, November 20) is also developing along, as France Brel wrote a letter to the editors in which she regrets that they have set up a publicity campaign that abusively uses the name Brel and even "il va sans dire que je ferais tout ce qui est en mon pouvoir au plan judiciaire pour faire interdire votre livre sous le titre que vous envisagez" (if you go ahead with your plans, I will do everything within my powers on the judicial level to have you book forbidden under the title you're thinking about.
Other good news for Brel-fans is that there's finally a decent Jacques Brel website that's being developed by the foundation that carries his name : jacquesbrel.be. Pour le moment en français seulement, but there a Dutch, English and Italian version in the making.

December 3, 2000

THE BELPOPTOP
Another Belpoptop, another n° 1 (so far no one has succeeded in succeeding itself at the top of the list). The new leader is rightly Hooverphonic's "Vinegar & Salt", the 2nd single of "The Magnificent Tree", and also the 2nd one to come out on top.
There are also 6 new songs again, leaving Jan Leyers, Kamino, Fence, ABN & Praga Khan in the cold. The replacements are Tom Helsen, TC Matic (yes), K's Choice "busy", Angelico and Janez Detd.
There don't seem to be many single-releases these days (only compilation albums), but still there are some suggestions for the next edition:
- Paul Michiels "Forever Young" . This will be released as the second single from the "Team Spirit"-soundtrack, a cover of an original by Alphaville.
- Arno "Look What They Done to My Song" : the only new track on the compilation album "Le Best Of", a duet with Swiss singer Stephan Eicher.
- Stonedigger "Internet" . First sign of life of this Fence-like band from Sint-Truiden after a while, from the second album "A Collection of Headphone Songs".
- Laïs "(Houdt uw) Kanneke" , first single of the 2nd album "Dorothea" by this remarkable trio of female folk singers
- Wawadadakwa "Emilio" . This single was released in June, but now they have an album out, with the corny title "Voor Mama", and no single, so maybe you'll vote for it anyway ...
- The Whodads "Thunderball" . Another band with a festive new album, named "Bongo Festeris", but no single. Vote for whatever track of the cd you want. This is a John Barry cover.
- Urban Trad "Vodka Time" . Third and best single of the album "One O Four", in which Urban trad mixes folk music and a contemporary urban sound.
So go ahead and vote now ... You can even win a CD in doing so (either Kamino "Universal Love Music", or Star Club West "This is Howie", both out on Labelman).

November 30, 2000

EL FISH & ROLAND JOIN HANDS
El Fish, the belgian blues band with a sense of adventure, are still very much alive, and they want to prove it with a bunch of new initiatives.
First up is the release of a single "Sonny Boy's Advice", wanting to be a showcase of everything the band is doing nowadays, to "put an end to all the rumours circulating about the band since the sudden departure of singer-guitarist Filip Casteels". The single-track is from "Wisteria", a second song "7 cigarettes" is on the Cd in a version that was recorded live in Ghent, with Roland on guitar, and a third song "The Crash" is a bit from the soundtrack to the roadmovie "A12", as El Fish will be releasing a full-CD with that music soon. In that project Bruno De Groote and instrumentalist Geert Waegeman function as added members.
For next year, the band is undertaking a big tour, with no other than Roland van Campenhout as "Belgium's uncrowned blues-king and musical adventuror in heart & soul" with them on stage. The tour will start on 7 February 2000 in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, and will probably last most of the year.
In last week's Humo, Filip Casteels was interviewed about his reasons for leaving the band (mainly financial troubles), defending himself against being "the man that gave the Best Belgian Bluesband the kick of death". Roland won't be the "permanent replacement" in El Fish, as nothing was decided on that matter yet.
Buy "Sonny Boy's Advice" at

LIQUID = SYLVER
Record company B.Y.T.E. informs the world (and surrounding planets) that the band Liquid ft. Sylvie has changed their name to the equally slick sounding Sylver. The reason for this name-change comes from a protest that was filed from an Irish band, also called Liquid, who were claiming they were the only ones to rightfully use that moniker. Although the management noted that "it has been particularly quiet around the Irish formation for the past few years", they decided to comply to avoid any complications.
Liquid, damn!, Sylver is currently recording a full-cd. First up, there will be a new single "Skin" another production of Wout van Dessel & Regi Penxten (Milk Inc.). It will be released to the radio's medio December, and in the shops as of January. The full CD will be released in February. Even better is the news that "Turn the Tide" (their debut single which was a huge hit in our country) will also be starting an international career soon. Universal Germany is going to release the single internationally, including an expensive video-clip that will be shot in Berlin. At long last, the world is going to meet Silvie Melody!
Buy "Turn the Tide" at

ANOTHER BIG BROTHER SINGLE
I can barely contain my excitment, but there's news from the Big Brother front. As if total chart domination with one single wasn't enough, the greedy local version of the Dutch format is launching another attack on the charts. Three weeks ago, the remaining "inhabitants" of "the house" were given another microphone (as if they hadn't enough of those devices hanging around), and recorded "Een Brief voor Kerstmis" (a letter for Xmas). The song was written by Walter Grootaers & Berre Bergen (Linx!) and talks about how much Betty, Steven, Frankie, Bartie, Geronimo & Glennius long to be home for Christmas. We long with them.
Meanwhile "Leef", the theme tune to the show, has been dominating the Belgian charts for 5 weeks in a row now, selling over 75,000 copies already (double platinum, 5x gold), making it without a doubt the best-selling single of the year here.
It was also announced that the final of the Big Brother show, will again be a reason to stage a mini-festival on the grounds of VTM in Vilvoorde. Mozaïek and Walter Grootaers have promised to be there. Surprise! The whole thing will start at 17:00, until the live show which will last form 20:00 to 22:45. And then it will be over... (i hope).
Buy "Leef" at

DOROTHEA THE NEW GIRL IN LAÏS
To conclude on a brighter note, I had the news about the new Laïs album lying round.
Yes, the three girls have a steady band now, and with them they have been recording a second album, entitled "Dorothea". The first single of the album is "(houdt uw) Kanneke", another song that has lyrics from forgotten days about an innoncent girl that risks losing her virginity.
On the album are quite a number of songs with french lyrics, emphasising the ambition the group has to build upon the interest the tour with Sting aroused in France. Other tracks are "Tina Vieri" (of Hedningarna) and a remake of the song "de Wanhoop" which was already on their first album.
The female trio will tour extensively to promote the album, first in Belgium and Holland. The première was for Ghent last wednesday, other dates can be gathered on this page.
Buy "Dorothea" at

November 29, 2000

ANN CHRISTY ... THE CONTINUING STORY
There's a new CD of Ann Christy in the shops, even though the fragile female singer has been gone for over 20 years already. "Liefde voor het mooie" is a collection of unpublished songs that were rescued from oblivion by Erwin Ysebaert & her former husband Marc Hoyois. The material ranges from interpretaion of french songs (hymne à l'amour, non je ne regrette rien), dutch songs which never made it to a single (luister eens naar de anderen ...) and even a few jazzy songs (don't you come home Bill Bailey). Also included are "Waarom 2000", the first single which Topiek reissued, and "De Roos", the single-tribute which a number of Flemish artists put together earlier this year.
The team that was organising a tribute to the singer (that was planned for November 19 but was cancelled one week before) and has now released this cd, also has made a website about Ann (annchristy.com). Quite hilarious is the fact that at the lauch of the site (about two weeks ago), there was a rather long text on it, from the hand of Edwin Ysebaert, in which this former presenter of "the lonely hearts club" promised to be "open and frank" about why the tribute was cancelled. With loads of twisting and turning, he was manoevering toward "in all this, there was one factor I overlooked completely: the wife of Marc Hoyois, Liliane Saint-Pierre" but then ended with a "to be continued". However, by now this text has disappeared from the site and was replaced by a text in which Ysebaert & Topiek put the blame on "Dag Allemaal" (a weekly tv & gossip magazine) who supposedly had published a wrong date for the event, and screwed up a second announcement the week after. They are considering legal action against the magazine (see this page).
Buy "Liefde voor het mooie" at

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