Ha'fest: De Piepkes

This concert is part of Ha'fest. Not included in the festival pass.

Lyrics and presentation will be in Dutch.

You could say that, like a wine, musician Roland Van Campenhout has matured in different barrels. Together with Frederik Sioen and Pieter-Jan De Smet, he formed De Piepkes. Drawing from their childhood imagination, they wrote their own songs for a young audience from five years up, but also for parents “because parents are only human”.

The three musicians are not usually associated with children’s songs. The genres they represent differ too widely from each other. Yet, they found each other because of their mutual annoyance at the patronizing way children are often addressed, and because they somewhat bemoaned the demise of the repertoire of children’s songs in Flanders. Together they went looking for an alternative.

They dressed up their own fantasy world and enthusiastic stage ‘play’ in a furry coat in their own style. The rough edges are not filed down; the issues are not diminished.

Musically it is amazing how harmonious the three voices sound together, despite their varying timbre. The melodies are often simple and playful, the texts rather associative. They tell about the burial of Count De Graef, or the death of Aunt Sellie. Sometimes absurd, sometimes funny, sometimes unexpectedly realistic, all moulded into merry tunes.

This concert also kicks off Ha’fest, the new festival run by Handelsbeurs which officially starts on May 8th. This festival will take place inside and outside our walls, with a total of seven concerts. On May 10th, everyone is cordially invited to contribute musically to the Grand Finale, by joining en masse our orchestra on the Kouter during Radio Crochet. The music is by Roland and Peter Vermeersch, and the conductor will be Wim Opbrouck.