Ecstatic haven for experimentation
Once a year, Ha's stage fills with a melting pot of songwriters. Together with the backing band, they rehearse for a day, during which new, sultry versions of their songs quickly emerge.
The result is a steamy show that makes for a wonderfully spontaneous evening of music.
Behind the scenes
From the idea of the founders Cleo Janse and Laura Cortese to the first time on the Ha stage and the many editions since then: we like to give you a glimpse on stage and behind the scenes.
In the songwriter world, everyone sits in their own cubicle writing something. We thought it would be more fun if everyone got together sometime to sing those beautiful songs, with a regular backing band.
Laura Cortese
A Ghent idea
The Bright Lights Sessions saw the light of day in 2019, immediately with several smashing editions in the concert hall of Trefpunt in Ghent. Each time totally different and totally delightful. During the day the individual artists come together with a few songs under their arms, in the evening they shine together as a band for one night.
Again and again, the organizers managed to snare a string of impressive names, such as Meskerem Mees, Kids with Buns, Guido Belcanto, Lien De Greef, An Pierlé, Bram Vanparys (The Bony King of Nowhere), Gertjan Van Hellemont (Douglas Firs), Chantal Acda, Pieter-Jan De Smet, Kobe Dupont (Geppetto & The Whales), Naomi Sijmons (Reena Riot), Laura Cortese (Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards), Dietrich Strause (US), Rose Cousins (CA) en Sean Staples (US) and so on!
Special first edition at Ha
But it was a very crazy first edition because it took place via livestream, in the aftermath of the pandemic on February 24th, 2021.
The fact that musicians were able to reunite at that moment was very special. Songwriters and first-time participants Mooneye and Meskerem Mees wrote the song "Bright Lights" together backstage. They performed it on stage:
We immediately played the first version of the song that night as a bis. Mooneye released it afterwards as a single on his new record.
Cleo Janse
