updates
Jaune Toujours ‘Mr. Theo’ from their first EP 0 (1998), lateron compiled on the collector’s album 20sth (2016). Piet's father used to run a thrift store, he invented that concept even before ‘Troc’ or ‘Kringwinkel’ existed. And he made a good living out of it for his family. As the store was situated on the illustrious “chaussée de Ninove” = "chaussée de Bruxelles”, he had all sorts of customers, from Ninove, from Brussels, and from elsewhere. One of them was a very kind asylum seeker, who really liked to pass by and have a chat with him. Until one day, he received orders to leave this country… Before obeying, he went to my father’s, to take a picture with him, a polaroid selfie, to be able to show “over there” that there were real good people in Belgium… Mr. Theo… As we’re not able to visit you these days: high five from Brussels!
Listen to the original studio version from the very first EP "O" HERE
Jaune Toujours 'Ciel Orange' which can be found in a first version on the EP AfroBelBeat (2012) and later in an more edited version on the album ROUTES (2013) - created together with the incredible Gangbé Brass Band from Cotonou in Benin where we had a tour in 2012. Hence the yellow shirt, a very known piece of clothing in Cotonou, worn by the Zemidjan (the taxi motorbike drivers - Zem-i-gens = les gens des "zems", Zem is/was a brand of motorbikes, if I'm not mistaken). We all bought such a shirt, all Jaune Toujours musicians, which made us a real exotic revelation over there: yovo's (white guys) in yellow shirts of the Zemidjan, calling themselves 'Jaune Toujours'.
Listen to the original version on Bandcamp, Spotify or Youtube.
Day 37 of the Covid19 quarantine:
Ik zonder/ Moi sans den Theo: 'Robots' from the album Ik en den Theo / Moi et le Theo 2.0 (2016) incl. power cut at the end! (but no panic the guitar is still operational: I managed to get the sound switch button in between 2 positions - a first! never happened before!)
Bilingual in French and Dutch for all those lovely wee ones out there!
Listen to the original version from the second album on Bandcamp!
Here's some nice anecdote about this guitar: it hung as decoration in Piet's room in the small house he used to live in at the end of his university years. When he had Timothy "T.V." Smith (yes, from 70's punk band The Adverts!) staying over after a concert in - at that time - the smallest Belgian music club Jeugdhuis Het Uur, which he started up with the incredible Filip van Ongevalle (and to be honest, we started it up together, but he really did run that club). Long story short: TV Smith advised Piet to get the guitar of the wall and have it repaired, as he recognised it as a genuine Hoffner Galaxy (yes the guitar the Beatles played on!). And the rest is history!
Day 36 of the Covid19 quarantine:
"Fiësta", by The Pogues, performed by Piet Maris
Special mention for this part of the lyrics: "We have the song of the cochona / We have brandy and half corona"... (what the...?)
Day 35 of the Covid19 quarantine:
"Julia Julia", a Roma traditional, performed by Piet Maris.
Take a look at the really wild version by Mec Yek and with Kesaj Tchave at Balkan Trafik Festival on Youtube!
"where is your blanket,
what's your story?
I went to the bar
I ordered her beer
beer, she didn't want to drink
so I bought her chocolate"
Day 34 of the Covid19 quarantine:
"Menthalité à la Menthe", by Jaune Toujours, performed by Piet Maris.
A song to urge you to stay home from the album Kolektiv (2009).
Listen to the studio version on Bandcamp!
Day 33 of the Covid19 quarantine:
"End of Season", by Jaune Toujours, performed by Piet Maris.
"Looking back on the festival times / The end again of our camping life / Folding the tent just one last time / Closing the caravan door with a sigh / Once more rolling up the sleeping bags / Summer set behind our back / Freedom stays at the concert site / On to reality double check"
The end of the festival season comes before it even started this year...
A big blow today for the whole music sector, incl. musicians and audience: big festivals won't take place during summer in Belgium ànd Germany...
Listen to the studio version from the album Europeana on Bandcamp or Spotify
Day 31 of the Covid19 quarantine:
"One step beyond", by Madness, performed by Piet Maris.
Day 30 of the Covid19 quarantine:
"Ska-Man", by Jaune Toujours, performed by Piet Maris.
In the dialect of his once home town Ninove, a ska man is a weird man. Uhuh.
Listen to the version by Jaune Toujours on Bandcamp!