Belgium is one of the seven countries that
entered the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. For over
fifty years the two national broadcasters in the country have taken
it in turn to represent Belgium in the competition. Last year if
was the Flemish broadcaster VRT that sent Kate Ryan and "Je
T'Adore" to Athens, and this year its the turn of the French
language channel RTBF to select the entrants that will go to
Helsinki.
In recent years while VRT tends to favour high
profile, multi-artist selection shows, RTBF has tended to go for
internal or smaller public selections. Perhaps surprisingly it's
the French language broadcaster that has tended to do best at
Eurovision, providing the country with it's only Eurovision winner
with Sandra Kim's "J'Aime La Vie" and the only recent
Belgian entry to reach the Top 5: when Urban Trad's
"Sanomi" finished 2nd in 2003.
"Sanomi" was chosen through an
internal selection and this year RTBF has once again decided to
choose its entrants and song internally. Following a lot of
speculation on different acts, on February 25th this year's Belgian
Eurovision entry was finally unveiled on the "Bonnie &
Clyde" television show. However the song had leaked on the
internet a couple of days previously, and caused quite a few raised
eybrows as it was a very different entry from what the broadcaster
had previously chosen.
The group that represents Belgium in Helsinki is
the funk collective, The KMGs (The Krazy Mess Groovers) with their
own 1970s inspired dance track "Love Power". However what
surprised many people is that this is the first song in English
which has been submitted by Belgium's French language broadcaster.
The KMG’s were born from a meeting between two
fans of black American music, Wakas Ashiq (aka Sexyfire) and Piotr
Paluch (aka Mr Scotch). Studying jazz from an early age, but crazy
for funk and soul, the two multi-instrument musicians met by chance
when writing music for theatre plays. Very quickly, their musical
affinities united, and after taking on the jazz standards as a duo,
they branched out into composition, surrounded by a rhythm section
(the Groove Brothers), a brass section (the Whippersnappers) and a
backing singer (Lady Soulflower). The Krazy Mess Groovers were
born.
From the start, the KMGs left nothing to chance
and offered their audiences a real show: choreography, light
showsand outragous costumes, all spiced up with a pinch of humour.
Led by the charismatic Sexyfire, the KMG’s are first and foremost
there to make people dance and with that in mind offer a glowing
cocktail of seventies-inspired soul, disco and funk (influenced by
the American stars like The Commodores, Kool and the Gang, Earth
Wind and Fire and Herbie Hancock). Their only ambition is to spread
good feelings throughout the world with their funky soul power.
They
quickly released their self-produced first album, "Funky Soul
Power", which revealed enormous potential, while in its wake,
their live reputation allowed them to play in festivals and to
attract the attention of both professionals and the public. That’s
how RTBF discovered them and subsequently offered them the chance
to represent Belgium at Eurovision 2007. The song that the KMGs
will perform is "Love Power" written by the groups two
founder members.
Lyricist Wakas Ashiq (aka
Sexyfire) is a Belgian of Pakistani origin, who was born in
Charleroi in 1976. At 15 years old, he taught himself the guitar
and jazz, before studying at the Jazz Studio in Antwerp and the
Conservatory in Brussels. In addition to guitar, he enjoys the
tabla, harmonium, harmonica, piano and singing. The group’s
singer and guitarist.
Songwriter Piotr
Paluch (aka Mr Scotch) is a Belgian of Polish origin, born in 1982
in Brussels. His parents are both musicians. An eclectic artist, he
began with classical violin before tackling piano and jazz. He
attended the Conservatory in Brussels. His musical likes are
electro, rock, jazz and funk.
Because of
Eurovision rules; the KMGs will be down to a six piece group on
stage in Helsinki, reduced from their normal ten person line-up.
Those performing at Eurovision are leader singer and songwriter
Sexyfire and his co-songwriter Mr.Scotch, backing singer Lady
Sunflower (Chrystel Wautier) and musiciuan Mr.Cream (François
Cremer), Big Boss (Tuan N'Guyen) and Mr.French Kiss (Raphaël
Hallez).
Since being revealed as Belgian's
Eurovision representatives in February, The KMGs have had a pretty
low profile in terms of promotion and have not made any appearances
on other countries national finals. Their home made promo video is
very basic in comparision to some of the more expensive ones made
for some of this year's entrants. Belgium was however given a very
good draw position in the semi-final, although bookmakers and
internet polls suggest that the KMGs will have their work cut out
to become the first Begian entrants to qualify from a Eurovision
semi-final.
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BELGIUM @ EUROVISION