Watching @De7deDag opening its Sunday morning politics and culture show with a half-hour section on Arno (RIP) and thinking about cultural connections and cultural islands. He was from Oostende but sang mostly in French and was strongly anti-nationalist.
Culture in Belgium is interesting. Divided across languages, but francophone culture is a tiny part of la Francophonie while Flemish culture a much bigger part of Dutch-speaking culture. Where it becomes unique is where those pieces cross over, and Arno was a great example.
Example: a good piece in @destandaard this morning about how he mixed up languages in his songs (not just recording different versions in NL and FR) standaard.be/cnt/dmf2022042…
And one of his best known songs was “Putain, putain”, with the chorus “Nous sommes quand-même tous des Européens” (here performing it with @Stromae in Feb at @ABconcerts) youtu.be/THXzF60V-6U?t=…
@karinelalieux called him a “great Belgian” and there’s something about his life and music that speaks to Belgium at its best – a mixing of cultures, a certain hedonism, a particular attitude – and stands against small-mindedness.
The Grand-Place played his music over the speakers yesterday as well twitter.com/PhilippeClose/… RIP.
Originally posted as a thread of 6 tweets on Twitter on 24 April 2022. View the original thread.