This year marks the 45th anniversary of Jacques Brel’s death. On Friday 8 December, Olivier Laurent will pay a unique homage on the stage of the Kursaal to one of the most important artists Belgium has ever known. The phenomenal songs such as “Marieke”, “Mijn Flat Land”, “Ne Me Quitte Pas” and “Voir Un Ami Pleurer” are known far beyond the national borders.
Olivier Laurent once went on a trip with his parents to the South of France as a little boy at the age of six. There they went to see a performance by singer and actor Yves Montand. He spoke to Olivier Laurent during the concert and sang a song especially for him. From that moment on he had the microbe of singing and performing. Not much later, Olivier started a self-assembled performance in which he did various imitations of great celebrities such as Jacques Brel, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Andrea Bocelli… A TV producer saw his Brel passage and told Olivier Laurent that he would do it with his special approach to the Brel repertoire can go far. After such a compliment, he bet extra on Jacques Brel imitations, and it was a bull’s-eye. He previously performed in Cirque Royal in the center of Brussels.
He sold out room after room effortlessly. He played an impressive performance in Stockholm in front of a packed house of 10,000 people and more than 250 shows in New York, Dubai, Montreal, Beirut, the Netherlands, Brussels, Ostend and Paris. There he performed for the very first time with a Jacques Brel homage in the legendary Olympia hall. Next to him there were other French artists such as Adamo, Joséphine Baker, Édith Piaf and international stars such as The Beatles, Nina Simone, Coldplay… Now the Belgian voice imitator Olivier Laurent returns to Belgium. After five years, he will be back in the Kursaal in Ostend on Friday 8 December. Olivier Laurent: “I am proud to perform in Flanders again. Besides the fact that I am mostly abroad, I still feel most at home here. My family lives in the area, I studied and partied here and that brings up a lot of nostalgia. To be honest, I am more stressed about performing in Flanders than abroad, he jokes.”
As a singer, together with four musicians (piano, accordion, double bass and percussionist), he brings back to life the amazing story of music, man and soul of Jacques Brel. He is seen as the man to interpret Jacques Brel’s songs. Olivier Laurent not only silences halls all over the world, he brings the world-famous chansons intensely, personally and creates a unique atmosphere, just like Jacques Brel himself did.
It is a happy reunion for Olivier Laurent to be back on stage in the city where his roots partly lie. His grandmother and her parents ran several pharmacies under the name De Pratere. Their clientele included James Ensor and Leon Spilliaert. Jacques Brel himself is also connected to the city. He liked to sail and got his sailing license in Ostend. This unique homage is the only chance to see Olivier Laurent at work in the Kursaal on Friday 8 December. (PADI)
Tickets en info via www.show-time.be.
