news
"The sound is sparse, languid and easy-going, with silence allowed to breathe around the instrumentation."
Thank you Nathaniel Handy and Songlines for the review of our New Album Unland.
► Read the Full review HERE.
We’re gearing up for the annual Global Music Showcases! On Monday, October 12, music professionals with a passion for global sounds will have the chance to discover 8 promising acts performing live on stage. Don’t miss it!
On the program: 3'Ain, Aishinka, Jeroen Knapen, AwTaaR Moors, Ananta Roosens, Peixe e Limão, Quentin Dujardin & Nicolas Fiszman and WÖR
Register at https://clustermusic.be/nl/global-music-showcases
Monday, October 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., including lunch and closing drinks
De Casino - Sint-Niklaas
Organized by Cluster, in collaboration with Music Idea, Muziekpublique, Choux de Bruxelles - artist collective, and HalfmOon, with the support of the City of Sint-Niklaas and PlayRight
Another pair of ears has found its way into Unland.
Writing in the October issue of Songlines (UK), Nathaniel Handy describes the album as sparse, languid and easy-going, with silence allowed to breathe around the instrumentation.
He writes of “a trio exploring territory on the periphery of the known” and gives Oufti as the track to try.
We like that image.
Because Unland was never meant to describe a place on a map. It is more interested in what happens at the edges: movement, distance, belonging, unfamiliar ground.
Accordion. Trumpet. Upright bass.
Six pieces, leaving room for the unknown.
Thank you, Nathaniel Handy and Songlines, for listening.
► Read the full Review HERE.
20 years of Murga Agrum! 30 years of Jaune Toujours. One big celebration.
Last night, Murga Toujours at Cultuurcentrum Zwaneberg in Heist-op-den-Berg turned into the brassiest of celebrations.
Thanks to everyone who came out and made it a night to remember.
Next stop: Ghent! With De Ledebirds!
Bij' De Vieze Gasten, Ghent
17.10.26
Tickets on sale now!
https://www.deviezegasten.org/nl/programmatie/jaune-toujours-30-the-lede...
See you there.
Autumn is taking us places.
First Gent with another gang of loose bandits.
Then Jena.
Then Frankfurt (Oder).
Then Lille.
Then Antwerp.
Some dates with friends. Some festivals. Somewhere along the way, probably an accordion, a trumpet or a drum kit refusing to behave like ordinary luggage.
Here’s the autumn route:
17.10 — with De Ledebirds
Bij De Vieze Gasten, Gent
13.11 — KuBa, Jena
14.11 — Transvocale Festival, Frankfurt (Oder)
21–22.11 — Big Bang Festival, Lille
29–30.11 — Big Bang Festival, Antwerp
Come find us somewhere along the road.
This week. Different years. Same band. 30 years on stage. Brussels based. Jaune Toujours.
Some weeks are about the stages. Some are about the streets. And some involve three musicians sharing a very small pink bed.
1999–2004 Etterbeek. Mechelen. Ukkel. Brussels. Jurbise.School halls. City theatres. Community festivals. Radio studios.
2006 Ghent. Plauen. Berlin. Liga voor de Mensenrechten. Malzhaus. Kato. A power folk mix from Belgium. In Berlin, the band takes to the street.
People dance. And somewhere between all that, Mathieu, Théo and Mattias find a pink bed. Naturally.
2009–2012 Balen. Brussels. Fiesta Mundial. Sing for the Climate. The announcement promises that one day, perhaps, a statue will be erected. For now, the band remains statue-free.
2015–2016 Ghent. Brussels. A benefit for refugees. Kurdish Culture Week. Help Kobane. Music turning up where solidarity is needed.
2022 Brussels. Piet receives the Trésors Vivants award from Le Monde est un Village on RTBF. Piet on stage with an oud player. A new instrument beside a familiar voice.
2024 Vertigo. A cover. A black-and-white ska pattern. A tracklist. A new album out in the world.
From a school hall to a radio studio. From Berlin streets to a pink bed. From benefits and solidarity concerts to an award on stage. Thirty years of finding different rooms for the same thing.
Different places. Same week, stretched across time. We don’t archive the past. We carry it. Still playing. Still moving. Still showing up.
Still making the room move. Still open to the next room.
This week. Different years. Same band. 30 years on stage. Brussels based. Jaune Toujours.
Some weeks begin with a hole in a poster. Some involve emergency microphones and visitor badges. Some involve portable toilets. And some involve Piet multiplying.
1999–2004 Ghent. Oud-Heverlee. Brussels. Meerbeke. Ottenburg. Vorst. Komen-Waasten. Blanmont. Bree. Gent. Maaseik. Evere. Festivals. Fairs. Community events. A multidisciplinary project. A theatre premiere. A lot of moving around.
2008 Aachen. Soundcheck in daylight. Concert at night. Wim listening from the stage. Théo listening from behind his kit. The band filling the stage. The audience filling everything in front of it. Then the CDs come out. Piet and Mattias selling, signing, talking. The gig keeps going after the last note.
2009–2010 Antwerp. Vic. A closing party. Mercat de Música Viva. Two portable toilets beside the stage. A packed audience in front of it. Both, apparently, part of the scenery.
2014 London. BBC Radio 6. Cerys on 6. Visitor badges. Emergency microphones. Theo and Mathieu waiting. Bart drawing the room. Mattias figuring out the setup. A very Jaune Toujours moment.
2018–2019 Save Le Monde. A single. A clip. Piet dancing. And then several Piet Marises, apparently.
2023 Ixelles. Camp Flagey. A benefit for people without papers. A packed audience. The rhythm section in front of a banner: This is not a crisis. This is a crime of the state.
2024 Vertigo. A video. An album. Out now.
2025 Brussels. Piet, Mathieu, Loes, Yamen. Then Bart and Mattias joining the picture.
Different combinations. Same musical organism. From a festival field to a BBC studio. From soundcheck to CD table. From one Piet to several.
Still playing. Still moving. Still looking for the next place to plug in.
Different places. Same week, stretched across time. We don’t archive the past. We carry it. Still playing. Still moving. Still open to the next room.
Apparently, it’s still worth saying. MAKE MUSIC, NOT WAR.
Pictures: many thanks to Emma-Jane Down, Cas Laga, Sandra Peeters, Sarah Baur
Some things are worth keeping a record of. Before the guests. Before the extra horns. Just Jaune Toujours, warming up the room.
Keeping the whole thing in motion. Quietly. Relentlessly. With excellent timing. When the horns have something to say, they don’t always say it in a straight line. Two instruments. Thirty years of trouble. The warm-up is over. Now we’re in it. Yamen Martini. Refugiés sans Frontières. Sometimes the loudest moment in a concert is the one when an entire tent falls silent. Adding depth to an important song.
Réfugiés sans Frontières.
More voices. More stories. More reasons to listen Different voices. Different histories. One stage. Different frequencies. Same wavelength. No borders on stage. Not now. Not then. A guest on paper. Part of the band, really. More instruments. More voices. No walls between them. For a moment, the stage became a different place.
All eyes on the bass. Camping del Mundo, and one very well-supported solo. A room full of people. All with different ways of being there. And still, somehow, together. The revolution is exhausting. Backstage, four of us sit down.
MAIN STAGE. Manifiësta. And yes, we meant it.
This week. Different years. Same band. 30 years on stage. Brussels based. Jaune Toujours.
From village halls to festivals. From activist stages to German clubs. From Belgium and the Netherlands to Romania.
1999–2002 Lauwe. Waterlandkerkje. Genk. Alsemberg. Ghent. Bruges. Koksijde. Small rooms. Outdoor festivals. Community events. The band finding its way into all kinds of places, right from the beginning.
2004–2006 A press conference at KVS. Illegal Beauty at Antwerp’s Zuiderpershuis, a happening against discrimination and the criminalisation of undocumented residence. Universite d’Attac at the Halles de Schaerbeek. The stages may change, but the music keeps showing up where things are being questioned.
2011 Vilvoorde. Rock The Ring. A Greenpeace action. And the band playing its part in a day where music and activism share the same space.
2012 Marburg. Akkordion Festival.
2016 Germany again. Meldorf. Lübeck. And Anseroeul in Belgium. A smoky stage. Yellow light. Trumpets catching the glow. A rhythm section locked in. Backstage, a sleeping Bart. On the wall, the band’s own tag among the names of countless other bands.
2018 Manifiësta, Bredene. A festival crowd. The JT letters.
2022 Boom. Ubuntu Festival. The view from the stage, and the view from behind it.
2025 Satu Mare, Romania. A new country. A new audience. The same old ingredients.
Accordion. Brass. Bass. Drums. Bass clarinet. A crowd dancing. A crowd filming. A crowd reaching back towards the stage. And afterwards, Piet talking with people in the audience. Thirty years on, perhaps that is the thread running through it all. The stage changes. The countries change. The faces change. But the conversation between band and audience keeps going. Still playing. Still travelling. Still meeting people on the other side of the stage.
Different places. Same week, stretched across time. We don’t archive the past. We carry it. Still playing. Still moving. Still open to the next room.
This week. Different years. Same band. 30 years on stage. Brussels based. Jaune Toujours.
Some weeks are about what happens when the band is waiting backstage.
1999–2000 Brussels. Sint-Gillis. Venlo. Leeuwarden. Belgium and the Netherlands. The band already moving between languages, cities and audiences.
2002 Cognac. Coup de Chauffe. Silhouettes on stage. Bass clarinet in the wings. A sousaphone backstage. And Mathieu and Théo apparently discovering a whole new level of affection.
2006 Brussels. Hove. Antwerp. Mattias on bass clarinet. Yves on trumpet. Piet on accordion. And Tim De Jonghe dropping in on trumpet for Hovelive. Different combinations.
Same musical playground.
2009 Busking at the Fnac in Liège. A concert at Place Poelaert. Attac at Les Halles. The band turning up in all kinds of places, not just the ones labelled “stage”.
2010 Antwerp. Rataplan / De Roma. Theatre Festival. And Théo riding a pig. Naturally.
2017 Rotterdam. Nacht van de Kaap. Piet and Théo giving the drums, accordion and entire nervous system everything they’ve got.
2024 A music video for Vertigo. A train station. A camera. Sarah directing. The live band story temporarily becoming a film set.
2025 Veszprém. Pécs.
Pinball. Mural portraits. Moody bass clarinet and double bass. A phone on a tripod. A selfie with the audience. And a band laughing together after the picture is taken. Thirty years on, the archive keeps reminding us that there has never really been a single way to be Jaune Toujours. Concert hall. Street corner. Festival stage. Film set. Backstage. Pinball machine. Still playing. Still experimenting. Still finding somewhere to make a noise.
Different places. Same week, stretched across time. We don’t archive the past. We carry it. Still playing. Still moving. Still open to the next room.