THE WORLD’S GREATEST BELGIAN

dEUS, the art-rock band from Antwerp, played Basel last Friday. Although Tom Barman and his colleagues put on a great show without either compromising the cinematic breath of their music or reverting to rockist posing, it’s irritating to have dEUS treated as if they were the first Belgian act worthy of international attention. What about Arno, Front 242 and Hooverphonic in their more experimental moments? And, above all, what about Jacques Brel?

The 30th anniversary of his death passed virtually unnoticed by the Swiss German press last Thursday when there should have in fact been full-page articles praising the many talents of the Belgian singer, songwriter and actor. Although it takes a more comprehensive command of the French language than I can muster to fully appreciate Brel’s lyrics, the English translations do give some inkling of his surrealist, subversive and sometimes bawdy poetry. Take for instance his brothel tango “Next” (introduced to the rock world by Alex Harvey), “If You Go Away” (a staple for Dusty Springfield and hundreds of other artists) or “Jackie” (made famous in Britain by Scott Walker). The English translations have come under attack from Brel’s widow, however, and my first unwitting contact with his music is a case in point. Back in 1974, “Seasons In The Sun”, a tremolo-drenched variation on Brel’s “Le moribund”, was a big hit for Terry Jacks while avoiding the cynical undertones of the French original. The song used to bring me to tears because the story at the time was that the Canadian singer was in fact dying and that “Seasons In The Sun” marked his impending exit from this world. That of course turned out to be a scam, as to my knowledge Mr. Jacks is alive and well and still producing records for other artists. Unlike poor Jacques Brel, who died of lung cancer on October 7, 1978. He was only 49 years old.