Michèle Cuvelier about why De Tijdloze also has a place on TV: ‘This is the only list that really counts’

The Timeless on television, what exactly do I have to imagine?

“Of course we go a lot further than just following the list on the radio, because in principle we have been counting down to the list for a number of days or even weeks. It is mainly a search for the stories behind the songs and the list, together with a number of timeless Belgians such as Joost Zweegers, Selah Sue and Frank Vander Linden.

“In addition, Bent Van Looy has scoured all possible VRT boxes in search of facts and figures, Lennert Coorevits’ wacky musical brain distils the ingredients from a timeless song and Olga Leyers, who wrote her law thesis on musical plagiarism, collides with some painful confrontations with our favorite songs.

“Am I forgetting something now? Oh yeah, one of the most important things. Lara Chedraoui has gone to one of the purveyors of De Tijdloze!”

She went to a bar with Tom Barman?

“Could have been, but no, to the UK, a country with a lot of quotations. Among other things, she went to the engine room of De Tijdloze: a farm in Wales, somewhere between the sheep manure, where ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen or ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay was written.”

Is De Tijdloze also the list for you?

“There are some lists in Belgium, but for me it’s the only one that really counts. I also notice with many listeners that De Tijdloze is on a special scaffold. Not only because it is a very long list, already 35 years, but also just the emotional charge. That’s New Year’s Eve – and earlier Christmas, for that matter. It feels like a vital list.

“It’s hard for me to explain that feeling to myself, but I just don’t want to miss anything from that list. For example, I can be really bummed about the 31st if I still have to do some shopping and because of that I missed ‘Hotel California’.”

The snacks have already been served, aren’t you still listening with half an ear?

“Absolute. That’s literally my New Year’s Eve.”

Is the list itself timeless? I have the feeling that younger generations are increasingly shrugging their shoulders for De Tijdloze.

“I think we can easily talk that feeling into anything and everything. Out with the old, in with the new. But I can assure you that a lot of young people are voting. Any list on any channel of the VRT, De Tijdloze is loose about the number of voters. So there is no lack of relevance.”

“The content of the list also continues to evolve. A few years ago you had the ‘De Tietloze’ campaign, which tried to turn the list’s high testosterone levels. And the plan to get Toto’s ‘Africa’ high on the list was also devised by a number of young minds from Lokeren.”

Is there a song that you would like to put Toto-wise in the list?

“Now I might be the indies snob, but there are a number of songs that are up to fifteen years old and of which I notice: I really carry them in my heart, and they already feel timeless to many of my contemporaries. I then spontaneously think of ‘Blood Like Wine’ by Balthazar, or ‘Spanish Sahara’ by Foals. But I’m fairly convinced that those songs themselves will eventually make it into the list, so just to be clear, this is not interference.” (laughs)

You are making your debut as a TV presenter. Does this feel like a launch moment?

“Absolute. Don’t drop the ball, is buzzing in my ear all the time. I find it very exciting, I’m not going to hide that, but it is a dream environment. Because it’s about music, about something that I breathe every day and is genuinely intertwined with my life. As far as I’m concerned: I’d like more of this.”

The Timeless, Canvas, 9 p.m. ‘The timeless 100’, Friday 31/12 between 10 am and 8 pm on Studio Brussel.

–