Out of nowhere, Liliane Simons starts drumming on the table with her long, bony fingers. As if it is the most normal thing in the world, she then starts a rap: “Join the rap of the men at the postal service, because the problems there have not yet been solved and a lot of money is being spent on gushing.”
Simons is already over seventy and is known in Borgerhout and the surrounding area as MC Lily. She has built up a loyal audience in recent years with her socially committed rap songs. “Rapping keeps my mind young,” she says.
This weekend Simons is one of the guests at the Late Borgerhoutse End of Year Show in the Rataplan arts center, organized by the man who now sits opposite her in café ‘t Werkhuys: Geert Beullens, half beard, half roar. “Everyone can do something in Borgerhout,” says Beullens. “So there’s plenty of talent.”
Beullens teaches Dutch to non-native speakers and has been presenting himself as the ‘mock mayor’ of Antwerp for several years; With that parody of mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA), he actually obtained 191 preferential votes in the previous elections. Disguised as Peter Paul Rubens, he also organizes Rubens walks through the Scheldt city and is a regular guest in the Tuesday Club, the crazy revue by writer and performer Vitalski.
And this weekend he looks back on current events in the district where he and Liliane Simons live. The musical accompaniment comes from Stoffel Verlackt, Nele Paelinck and fanfare ‘t Akkord. Machoretsky’s male majorets put their best foot forward and actor Johan Petit also contributes, as do columnist and writer Amir Bachrouri and his friend Samir Taif. “Samir can balance anything under 200 kilos on his chin,” says Beullens. “He once discovered this when he was bored during a detention study and he will come and prove it to us with a racing bike.”
Mobility is therefore an important theme in Borgerhout, with the always busy Turnhoutsebaan that runs through the district like an artery. Beullens: “And there are also some popular cycling clubs in the area, which are connected to cafés such as Bar Leon or Mombassa.”
The founder of the latter pub, Bob Campenaerts, uncle of professional cyclist Victor Campenaerts, died unexpectedly last year and Beullens will certainly talk about him in his end-of-year show. During a cycling trip through Rwanda, he recently scattered some of Campenaerts’ ashes on a mountain overlooking a lake near the Volcanoes National Park where Dian Fossey had observed gorillas for years.
Gallic village
Beullens was born in Congo and has lived in Antwerp for more than thirty years, the last five of which were in Borgerhout. Simons, who is a member of the PVDA and worked in Haiti in the 1980s, grew up here. “When I was 12, the first migrants started arriving,” she says. “My mother gave them sweets and knew them all by name: the Rachid, the Mohammed… ‘They are people just like you and me,’ she always said. Afterwards, people started talking about Borgerokko and after Black Sunday the Vlaams Blok suddenly became the largest party. But lo and behold, thirty years later the situation has completely turned around and we have a completely left-wing coalition. I wrote a rap about that, it’s called ‘Diversity’.”
Beullens: “Borgerhout is sometimes called ‘The Gallic village’. The last district where N-VA is not yet in power. I don’t see this changing immediately in the next elections, although I have been told that there is a difference in voting behavior between Borgerhood, the part of Borgerhout within the Singel, and Borgerhills, the part around the Boekenberg Park, an allusion to Beverly Hills. .”
Simons: “In any case, we want more greenery. We are the most densely populated district, but we have the least green space. I made a rap about that too. Damn, I should have packed my rap folder.”
In the meantime, Jacques Brel is singing about love in café ‘t Werkhuys. Beullens and Simons gradually have to leave. Further studying their lyrics for the show and – who knows – writing down a new hip-hop song. “I always get inspiration on the bike,” says Simons. “So it could just be possible.”
