Rock Werchter

At the end of the 1960s many young artists linked their revolt against bourgeois culture with broader social criticism. Their cry for freedom went together with the anti-war slogans, a growing consciousness of the environment and criticism of capitalism.

One of the committed artists was the Antwerp folk singer Wannes Van de Velde. In 1967, as a young musician, he accompanied with his bagpipes festival visitors from the station to the site of Jazz Bilzen. However, Van de Velde was not a real festival singer – his small-scale work was more suited to dark auditoria and traditional pubs than great meadows. But he had lots of sympathy for the hippies, the provo’s and the whole counter-culture of the 1960s. So in his song texts he opposed the new building projects in the centre of Antwerp and the growing power of king car. Van de Velde also sang of the ‘old people who are fed up with the torment’ in his I want to lose myself in the streets tonight/Dans cette nuit j’ai envie de me perdre (1973).

For the politically committed music theatre show Mistero Buffo Van de Velde translated and adapted Italian folksongs. In his later work he also remained critical of society, for example, of the arms industry, in the song Oorlogsgeleerden, an adaptation of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War.

In the 1980s the Flemish discos emerged as laboratories for music renewal. DJs experimented full on with the possibilities of vinyl and technology. By playing discs at a lower speed, they created a slow, sultry beat that was combined with heavy bass. This ‘New Beat’ immediately caught on on the nightlife scene, where a hit like The Sound of C by the Confetti resounded until the early hours.

The music was quickly commercialised, as a result of which the pioneers of nightlife lost interest. At the end of the 1980s New Beat had passed its peak. But as a trailblazer for electronic music like techno, house and acid, the genre had a lasting influence.

Electronics became a recipe for international success. Belgian artists, bands and record labels were in the forefront. Among the latter were Bonzai Records and R&S Records, both of whom built up an international reputation. The group Technotronic even scored a world hit with the house number Pump up the Jam, with lyrics by the Congolese-Belgian artist Ya Kid K.

Electronic music developed in a completely different biotope to rock music. Initially the genre was subsequently not to be heard at the big festivals, which were often rock-orientated. But the success of electronics was unstoppable. Gradually both cultures found each other and DJs also conquered the festival stages.