FREE BLUES FESTIVAL IN WESPELAAR

The 22nd edition of the festival in Wespelaar was held late August, and was one of many summer festivals which took place in Belgium.

At the end of the summer there is a weekend with the mellow sounds of blues music in a place not far form Leuven: Wespelaar. As we arrived there on Sunday evening, the closing night of a three-day festival, there were the sounds of Louisiana Red, a blues musician from the US. In a way this festival is not so unusual, except for the fact that it is being held in a very small village, and that most visitors are locals. However, I did come across a few of K.U. Leuven students from the physics department. I guess they are the blues kind of people :)

The atmosphere in Wespelaar was very relaxed, and most people were just sitting around in small circles, drinking beer and having large portions of fries. There were stalls with fries and beer all along the road which led to the main stage. It is considered as one of the most important things to make sure there is always a supply of fries at an event like that. After all, it is a typical Belgian scene as many of the new students to Leuven are about to discover themselves.

An interesting thing that occurred at the festival was the children who collected the empty beer bottles and then started to build a pyramid. One particular child caught my attention, because he was not only looking for the glasses meticulously, but also had to fight some wasps which were flying around the glasses. Therefore it was quite an endeavour to get the pyramid building job completed. In the end the whole scene seemed like a very inventive way to get rid of the trash, and at the same time the children had a lot of fun.

The last performance of the evening was Keith Dunn, an amazing harmonica player, which gave the perfect finishing tone to the evening. It was in many ways a great end of a cosy Sunday night.

Finally, the ending of summer in Belgium does have a certain kind of charm because of the events like the Wespelaar festival, and if you spend next summer in Belgium, perhaps working on your thesis (the way I was), the blues festival is just the right kind of recommendation for all of you. Don’t stress out too much about the university deadlines and obligations- just enjoy the blues.