Where musical jazz notes meet the taste of beer
Belgium has an international reputation for hosting major music festivals such as Rock Werchter or Tomorrowland. Even jazz events like Middelheim or Ghent Jazz. But here you can also live and appreciate jazz live concerts by simply going out to a pub around a beer with friends. In Hasselt, they turned that into a special event.
I come from a small city called Moulins in the heart of Auvergne in France where mountains and fields are the main landscapes, nevertheless where real music lovers know where to spend a good evening : the jazz-club cave. If you are looking for a suspended moment where musical notes and rhythm rock you around a softened atmosphere with people sharing the same feeling as you are, jazz live concerts are the place to be.
By traveling in Belgium for a whole year, I was searching for this kind of feeling there. In the capital of the region of Limburg, in Hasselt, I found again what makes me vibrate, and for others too.
At the beginning of November, an annual jazz event arrives in Hasselt : Hasselt in the Mood organized by Jazz in Hasselt, a non-profit organization that wants to stimulate the presence of (live) jazz in Hasselt. Indeed, they achieve this by organizing the annual jazz pub crawl ‘Hasselt In the Mood’ and also by collaborating with a number of partners:
- Horse’s Tale Cocktail Bar;
- Mon Café, Jenevermuseum;
- Klavier Meester Orchestra;
- De Ploeg in Diepenbeek.
“the language of jazz is very much about interaction, about trying to get together” — Kim Versteynen
On 10th and 11th of November 2022, Hasselt turned into the jazztown of Belgium. Live jazz concerts were in more than twenty restaurants and pubs throughout the ring of the city, performed by Belgian but also musicians from other countries.
Indeed, during these two days, I had the honor to meet musicians performing all over the city in such a comfy atmosphere full of enjoyment and uplifting.
First, I met Tim Finoulst, a guitar player, at the BareFoodGIULIA: “it’s a very diverse program, and we are having fun playing at this event”
His words are joining those of Claude Diallo, a Swissman jazz pianist and Martijn Vanbuel, a contrabas musician, playing together with also James Williams at the drums, at the Horse’s Tale Cocktail Bar: “It’s very well-organized and last year it was already a success and now it is two days and it’s still a success and it’s very nice” — Martijn Vanbuel.
“To me music and traveling really go together, and jazz is a never ending journey. I’m not only talking musically, but encounters with different people. So it’s a beautiful journey and I have the privilege to do that. […] In Switzerland, we have a similar event but the difference here is that in Switzerland this kind of events are more like parties, […] but here in Hasselt in particular it seems that more than the half of the people here are here for the music, there is a better respect towards the art of jazz here in Belgium, and I like this event” — Claude Diallo
Indeed, Claude Diallo’s way of comparing jazz music as a journey is really significant in his own music. You can especially enjoy it on his Youtube channel.
These words are an invitation for enjoying what this kind of event has to offer to us, and are connecting with those from Jazz in Hasselt’s member, Kim Versteynen, a professional jazz singer, and teaches jazz and pop singing in Hasselt: “We revived this pub crawl five years ago and it was a success, people were enthusiastic so we did it again and again and now it’s two days, every pub is full. […] Every week there are at least two live jazz concerts in Hasselt”
Considering this success from Hasselt in the Mood and through my travels throughout Belgium, I discovered there is a real interest in jazz in the country of waffles and chocolate. Indeed, Dinant, the city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur in Belgium, had become a symbol of jazz music with the birth of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone.
In order to know more about the popularity of these events, I searched on the internet and discovered many events in the whole country: the Brussels Autumn River Jazz Festival, a musical surge to share in a friendly atmosphere where 14 concerts and 1 exhibition, at the Marni, at the Jazz Station and at the Senghor are connected or also the Open Music Jazz Club in Comines, a section of the Belgian town of Comines-Warneton located in Picardy Wallonia and Romanesque Flanders in the province of Hainaut, invites musicians to attend the concert of Andy Emler and his MegaOctet.
My travel in Belgium made me feel at home in terms of music and what it makes me feel. Indeed, I noted, like Claude Diallo, that there is a real interest and respect in jazz live concerts here, which I did not necessarily testified in my previous experiences.
Meeting up in a pub around a beer or a cocktail while listening to a live jazz concert throughout the country of Belgium seems to become a ritual for some and a pleasant discovery for others. So, are you ready to join the jazz community and book your tickets to Belgium?
