Festivity evening “Bont is de avond” (Saturday)

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At 8.30 PM we were invited to attend the grand festivity evening in the auditorium of Floréal Club Blankenberge. Now, the 10 year anniversary party of the ALS Leaugue was really about to begin. Together with numerous hotel guests and other people from the neighborhood we welcomed various celebrities. Our host of the evening, Marc Pinte, guided us throughout an evening of whirling music.

Marc immediately went ahead and introduced the pianist Remco. He would accompany most singers on the piano. First to perform was Andréa Croonenberghs. We were pleasantly surprised, because aside from her wonderful acting talent in Flikken, Windkracht 10, … she also has a beautiful and warm singing voice. She performed 3 English songs with deep lyrics which talk about relationships that didn't quite end well.

Next in line was David Davidse. He remarked it was an honor to perform in such a beautiful hall with good acoustics. Just like on Friday evening we enjoyed his beautiful baritone voice with an English song and two songs in dialect. These last two were translated from the works of Porter.

Marc Pinte then announced a woman who already has many projects on her belt and is still active in the musical world: Linda Lepomme. She sang, amongst others, “'t Glipt me door de vingers” from the musical Mamma Mia (Abba).

Remco, who accompanied Andréa Croonenberghs, David Davidse and Lepomme on the piano, was then told by Marc Pinte he could take a break. In the meantime Marc mysteriously talked of someone who had realized various projects in the past few summer months and who would now be a jury member on the X-Factor. There she was: Liliane Saint-Pierre. She started off with lively music and soon filled the hall with a fun atmosphere. Everyone clapped along and sang along at the top of their lungs. Afterwards there was a Dutch version of “Simply the best” and the encore song “Sascha”.

And there Marc Pinte was again with the announcement that we could take a breath with a drink in the foyer. The least mobile among us could stay in the hall and have a drink there.

After the break Leah Thys took the floor. She wanted to introduce a special someone, who had seen the light in Tienen in 1958 and had lived in Leuven since he was seven years old. He began his career at Radio Scorpio with “Bomma bakt ze bruin”, then he was a host at Radio Signaal where he was discovered by Studio Brussel. Nowadays he hosts between 1 and 4 PM “Je remedie tegen de middagdip” at Donna. It was no one other than Marc Pinte. He is to become the new ambassador of the ALS League and received “De Leeuw”. 

And there was Cois from Thuis, also known as Stef Goossens. He gave a fun sketch of a plumber specialized in toilets. He was privileged to, amongst others, check Leah Thys and André Croonenbergh's toilets. Apparently he also writes poems, which is why he had written one for the ALS League especially for this occasion. After reading this touching poem he introduced his colleague from Thuis: Noureddine Farihj, better known as Mo. Together with two other musicians he performed Moroccan music. Something very different from what we're used to hearing, but it was nevertheless very beautiful world music in which we discovered the string instrument “hajhouj” (or sentir or gembre), played by Mo.

After this performance, we heard the weather inland was very bad. This was why Jacky Lafont and Eric Goris couldn't reach Blankenberge. The technicians tried to make a phone connection during the performance so they could speak to us still.

Awaiting this telephone contact, Amaryllis once again performed her beautiful song “God in alle eenvoud”, with which she participated in the preselections of Eurosong 2004. She also sang the well known “Mijn Dorp” from Wim Sonneveld and ended with a song about saying goodbye, but still having to remember the good things.

And finally there was the phone conversation with Jacky Lafont (Rita from Familie) and Eric Goris (Rob from Familie). Eric Goris told us that there was a lot of lightning, thunder, hail and rain in the surroundings of Antwerp and Boortmeerbeek. Apparently there was also a problematic abundance of water. Jacky Lafont was very sorry she couldn't celebrate with us. She congratulated everyone, especially her colleagues and the organization of “Bont is de avond”. Both gave us big kisses and hugs. They promised they'd do their bit in the near future.

Just like on Friday evening we saw Mong Rosseel again. This time it was just him and his guitarist. Together they performed the latest version of “Het leven is een apenkot” and another song that he had composed especially for the ALS League. The lyrics of this song can be found on the website.

We came back down to reality when Marc Pinte announced that we were slowly heading towards the end. Remco returned to his seat at the piano and accompanied Leah Thys when she sang a song composed by Georges Gershwin of which the lyrics had been written by his brother Ira Gershwin after his death. David Davidse joined her and afterwards Linda Lepomme, Amaryllis and Liliane Saint-Pierre sang along as well.

This was the end. Marc Pinte wished us all a fantastic evening. Sadly, we left for the foyer, where we chatted about the evening with the various celebrities, and had another drink.

 

Translation: Sara De Roy