A happening in Paris

Auctioning off the remains of a chanteur's life

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Steven Dewit

Brel was what we call "a frenchkiljon", that is someone whose roots are Flemish, but who has left the Flemish culture and language for the French -because he thinks Flemish is beneath his standing, and who wants French culture and language implemented in Flanders. So if the journalist calls him French he is not that wrong. Brel was raised in French. He lived in Paris most of the time and died there. He adored the French language so deeply, that he forbid his children go to a French language school in Brussels, because the French they spoke there was not "pure" enough. His persona is kept in the center of attention here in Belgium by "Belgicists", who see his art as the summum of "Belgian culture", and a proof that there is no such thing as a parallel Flemish and French culture.


Jabrenna, Postintern - Here is what Jacques Brel said in an interview back in 1971.As we can see the Belgian, Flemish and French-speaking troubles are not new."When I say I'm Flemish of thought, I can't prove this is true. However a man who spent 20 years talking about the flat land, Flemish... I was not talking about the Alps or the Adriatic! It's this country[Belgium] I was talking about. I'm obviously a french speaking person. But I don't see why a Finn couldn't write and talk about Finland in German. I'm french speaking because I think, may be naively, that we are in non-popular democracies. And we have the right to choose the way we express ourselves. And I have the right, as a born Flemish, to tell all I want in French. I think one has the right to be English. Not having red hair. Talk Portuguese and write poems in Portuguese. I don't see here a crime of Lèse Majesté. A Flemish can't prove he's Flemish. How can you identify a Flemish? Someone that speak Flemish? This is not a proof. A Mongolian can speak Flemish admirably. All this doesn't mean anything. It's racism. [...]Everybody has tooth pain the same way. Everybody looks his mother the same way. Everybody looks a woman the same way. Everybody like or not spinach the same way. I have the weakness to think that all this is about sordid low politics. I think Belgium is worth more than a linguistic quarrel."


tchvil - you're right he was Belgian not French. Major oversight by journalist here.
Postintern - true, he was Flemish but not just French speaking. Brel, like many bruxellois was bilingual. Indeed many of his songs were released in French and Flemish versions. And in some songs, e.g. Marieke, he mixed both lanuages.

Mike the Writer

What's interesting is that this about what I consider Brel's true strong point: his lyrics. He was a commanding performer, a good composer. But it is the haunting lyrics that really stand out, IMHO. Concerning the Flemishness of Brel, come on. He had this romantic notion of childhood holidays spent in Flanders, but apart from that was your typical Bruxellois.


I dislike music that takes the worse out of me...selfpitty, lack of vivid energy and sometimes lack of willing to live, as the author himself his way of living, his world description, through his music and's his own view of life. My goal is listen and read without becaming identifyied with, if possible Besides, some comments bring me up the idea of how difficult it is to create a common Europe, if we cannot put aside the tribal way of thinking


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