Krewe du Belge

Krewe du Belge

February 2017, Vanessa Tanghe and Christophe Mercier discover, amazed, New Orleans, and its famous Mardi Gras. Back in Brussels, they will bring together their musician friends and play the repertoire heard there: creative, powerful, joyful music that mixes styles and eras.

Little by little, a whole crew of musicians, of different ages and origins, professionals and amateurs, will come together to create the "Krewe du Belge", the self-proclaimed Belgian company of the Carnival of New Orleans.

Since then, each of their outings has been a party, a moment of celebration, discussion and dancing. Little by little, links are created with the musicians of New Orleans, where the Krewe return each year.

La Krewe du Belge plays Jazz as it is played today in New Orleans: a mixture of trad, funk, RnB, rap, all seasoned with Latin rhythms, Native American percussion, …

Inspiration

As in New Orleans, the band mixes genres and eras, drawing on the repertoire of Dr John, Professor Longhair, Louis Armstrong, John Boutté, the Marsallis, Galactic, Trombone Shorty, Wild Magnolia, and of course, the sound of these amazing brass bands like Treme, Hot Eight, Rebirth, Dirty Dozen, etc.

Gumbo Belgo-New Orleans

In order to appropriate this music and link it to its identity, the Krewe allows itself a few covers of popular Belgian hits, which it grooves with New Orleans sauce. Thus, “ça plane pour moi”, “On a soif”, “Banana split” and “Putain Putain” take on quite particular colours.

Original compositions

In December 2022, the Krewe released their first studio album, “De Bruxelles à New Orleans”: 9 tracks, with texts in French. Thus the rap “From Brussels to New-Orleans” recounts the shock of our encounter with New-Orleans; “Parc Duden Blues” expresses the spite of Brussels musicians, driven out of the city by gentrification; “Dat City” is a poem that conveys our emotion in the face of the city and its magic, “Grand Chef” expresses our disagreement with the slayers of cultural appropriation, …

Show (Art & Vie)

There are so many things to tell that this album has become a spectacle. "From Brussels to New Orleans" recounts the birth of jazz, the exchanges between slaves and Indians, which gave rise to the music and folklore of the "Black Indians", the birth of Rock'n Roll, Funk, how Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and how the inhabitants recovered from this ordeal, …