Brussels' "Ommegang" celebrates the Joyous Entry of Peter MandelsonThe party season really kicks off this weekend in Belgium. Weld music festival Couleur Café starts today, with not quite such a star-studded lineup as last year, when Zoe, the Twat and I saw one of the last performances of the late great Godfather of Soul James Brown, and got jiggy to Seun Kuti and Burning Spear. 
This year the main attraction has to be white Zulu Johnny Clegg on Sunday, there are one or two names that ring a bell appearing over the weekend - Cameroonian sax master Manu Dibango, Ziggy Marley, Prince of Rai Rachid Taha - but no real Monstres sacrés of weld music. And the weather's ghastly. I think I'll stay home and watch Songs of Praise.
Next week is the Ommegang, which is a procession re-enacting the Joyous Entry of Charles V (Quint) into Brussels in 1549. Lots of pomp, pageantry, Belgian nobility, costumes, flag-waving, stiltwalking, jousting, minstrels in tights, hey-nonny-no and all that codswallop. Like a sort of cross between Cirque du Soleil and the opening of Parliament. I missed it last year, and so I will make a point of bagging a front-row seat this year. Unless it's raining, in which case I shall repair to a pleasant little dive bar on the Place du Grand Sablon called The Black Sheep.
The guv'nor is a francophone Belgian married to a lady from Limerick, and could win Irish mastermind, he knows so much about the Emerald Isle. In fact he is a walking encyclopaedia about most things. If you are ever on your own in Brussels and in need of a friendly barman and/or a history lesson, visit this bar, order a pint, sit back and be educated.
This year the main attraction has to be white Zulu Johnny Clegg on Sunday, there are one or two names that ring a bell appearing over the weekend - Cameroonian sax master Manu Dibango, Ziggy Marley, Prince of Rai Rachid Taha - but no real Monstres sacrés of weld music. And the weather's ghastly. I think I'll stay home and watch Songs of Praise.Next week is the Ommegang, which is a procession re-enacting the Joyous Entry of Charles V (Quint) into Brussels in 1549. Lots of pomp, pageantry, Belgian nobility, costumes, flag-waving, stiltwalking, jousting, minstrels in tights, hey-nonny-no and all that codswallop. Like a sort of cross between Cirque du Soleil and the opening of Parliament. I missed it last year, and so I will make a point of bagging a front-row seat this year. Unless it's raining, in which case I shall repair to a pleasant little dive bar on the Place du Grand Sablon called The Black Sheep.
The guv'nor is a francophone Belgian married to a lady from Limerick, and could win Irish mastermind, he knows so much about the Emerald Isle. In fact he is a walking encyclopaedia about most things. If you are ever on your own in Brussels and in need of a friendly barman and/or a history lesson, visit this bar, order a pint, sit back and be educated.
12 comments:
So James Brown keeled over after performing in Belgium? Makes you think. Be careful where you perform in your old age.
He didn't keel over, he fell over Daphne's Pineapple hat.
Which flag will you be waving my dear?
Charles (Quint),Charles V "d'Allemagne" à ne surtout pas confondre avec Charles V "le Sage "Roi de France (1364 - 1380)
Ah! Dites-moi gentille bergère"Le Mouton Noir"une adresse à retenir!je m'y précipiterai sans hésitation ,non pas comme "le mouton de Panurge"de Rabelais !mais plus par curiosité ?
Mes hommages gente dame
Poor James Brown. There aren't many of us left!
Manu Dibango! Wow! You're lucky, Daphnée.
Now, them "Moutons de Panurge" look really good. Who's the talented painter?
I wish Banstead had the vibrant music scene of Brussels. All we get is a tramp howling at 3 in the morning.
I'd even settle for a pub as good as The Black Sheep sounds.
GB, they say "see Brussels and die", don't they?
Goth, as a vexillologist, I have designed my own - the ancestral blazon of the O'Harridan clan: a brace of fish knives rampant on an escutcheon of chintz cushions.
Dip-Dop, Charlie Quint a fete sa joyeuse entree. Mais dans qui?
Pat, you'll be like Keith Richards, you. Indestructible.
Cream, the artist is called James Marsh, according to the website I pinched it from. You can see more of his work at this website, as for Panurge's sheep, I've never read Rabelais. What's so special about them?
Lord Milky, but you have a village green surely, where the thwack of willow on leather betrays a healthy S&M tradition?
Sorry Daffers but I have just tagged you!
J'ai du mal m'expliquer !! sur la confusion que font bon nombre de gens ,entre le roi de france Charles V et Charles Quint (Charles de Habsbourg ) aucune importance ,j'ai juste l'impression d'avoir marché à coté de mes pompes (chaussure),je me sens très bien dans mes baskets. Et de temps en temps, je mets les pieds dans le plat .
Pour ce qui est de Panurge !! Puisque nous sommes deux à en parler ??
Cette expression est née du Livre de Rabelais. L’auteur y décrit la vengeance de Panurge, qui voulait acheter un mouton au négociant Dindenault. Celui-ci refusa et se moqua longuement de son interlocuteur. Panurge finit par réussir à acquérir un mouton et pour se venger, le jeta dans la mer. Tous les autres moutons du vendeur en firent autant!!
Panurge
Forgiveness I will not start again any more!
J'oubliai ...
Trois choses font un savant homme, la lecture, la conversation et la rêverie ; l'une enrichit la mémoire, l'autre polit son esprit; et la dernière forme son jugement.
Mais je n'ai aucune prétention , que des souvenirs !
Révérence
For the benefit of non-French speakers, our friend Dip-Dop has just said something very profound, a propos of nothing at all: Wisdom comes from three things - reading (to enrich the memory), conversation (to polish the mind), and daydreaming (to form the judgment).
Meanwhile I must go and carry out Scouse Doris's orders.
So must I apparently...
D x
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