Brussels Sprouts: Sid Gulinck takes us to Belgium

Haze welcomes DJs Attar! and Mickey for “Take Me to Belgium” this month, the first in a series aimed at putting visiting Belgian artists on Beijing’s electronic music map. Why would anyone want to do that? We asked promoter Sid Gulinck that very question.

What’s the aim of “Take Me to Belgium”?
We want people to get to know the real Belgium in 2012. It’s bigger than just a party. We’ve got support not only from the Belgian Embassy but also the BIJ (Bureau International de Jeunesse), a Walloon institution that provides funding for initiatives undertaken by young, French-speaking Belgians. We hope to make it into a regular event and have Belgian DJs and Neon/M Agency DJs collaborate.

If you took us to Belgium, where would we go?
Definitely to the frietkot to give you a taste of true Belgian fries with beef stew. Damn, I just brought up a wretched Belgian cliché …

When you tell a Beijing taxi driver you’re Belgian, what are the first three words they respond with?
Most of them have a decent idea of what our country is about. They’d probably start off with “Brussels,” “chocolate” and “well-off.” Other words I’ve heard were Jean-Michel Saive (the Belgian table tennis player), Tintin and the Smurfs.

Who’s the greatest Belgian ever?
Could it be Ambiorix? He was this bad-ass leader of a Belgic tribe in Gaul who resisted domination by Julius Caesar, leading Caesar to conclude: “Of all the Gauls, the Belgae are the bravest.”

Belgium doesn’t jump out as a hotspot for dance music in Europe …
Actually, Belgium played a massive role in the development of house music back in the ’80s and ’90s. It was also quite instrumental in the making of triphop and techno. Did you know “Pump Up the Jam” was a Belgian production?

We stand corrected. Who’s playing at the first event then?
Attar! is the long-awaited solo project from Renaud Deru, former member of DJ duo Mustang and a steady presence in the Brussels electronic music scene. He was a guest at our first Neon party at Migas last year. Mickey is a resident at Attar!’s Libertine Supersport club, and also produces his own stuff. They’ll team up to bring some excellent nu-disco and Italo-disco sounds, and some gems we’ve never heard before.

Join Sid, Attar!, Mickey and friends at Haze on Jan 14.

Click here to see the January issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photos: Courtesy of the organizers