FREE MUSIC (1975 - 1988)
LP in printed inner sleeve + insert. Cortizona proudly unveils Cortizona Heritage, a new sublabel created in partnership with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (SVM) to revive and showcase hidden chapters of Flemish music history.The debut release sets the tone: blending the exuberance of a marching band with the unpredictability of free improvisation, WIM Fanfare brought raw, joyful musical anarchy to city squares, parades, and unsuspecting audiences.
| Genre | Experimental |
|---|---|
| Style | Free Jazz, Experimental, Avant-Garde |
| Format | VINYL |
| Cat. no | CH001 |
| Label | CORTIZONA HERITAGE |
| Artist | WIM FANFARE |
| Release Date | 26/09/2025 |
| Carrier | LP |
| Barcode | 5414166686001 |
| Stock | In stock |
In stock
Tracklisting
FREE MUSIC (1975 - 1988)
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Cortizona proudly unveils Cortizona Heritage, a new sublabel created in partnership with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (SVM) to revive and showcase hidden chapters of Flemish music history. This heritage imprint will dig deep into the archives, restoring and reissuing rare, often overlooked recordings with the care and context they deserve. Its mission: to let unheard, thrilling, and underrepresented episodes of Flemish music history resound again, presented in beautifully crafted editions.
Blending the exuberance of a marching band with the unpredictability of free improvisation, WIM Fanfare brought raw, joyful musical anarchy to city squares, parades, and unsuspecting audiences-especially during the Free Music Festival, where they became a tradition.
This LP not only captures the untamed spirit of a group that refused to march to anyone else's beat - it also launches an ongoing series dedicated to documenting, completing, and sharing the singular story of Fred Van Hove, WIM and the Free Music movement.
Recommended if you like:
Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Irreversible Entanglements, ICP Orchestra, Shabaka and The Ancestors, Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, Phil Cohran & The Artistic Heritage Ensemble, Moondog, Colin Stetson Ensemble, Fire Orchestra, Mette Rasmussen Trio North, Sun Ra Arkestra, Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra, BRAHJA, Roscoe Mitchell, Archie Shepp, Max Roach Freedom Now Suite, Global Unity Orchestra & good music
Proto-street punks tearing into instruments they were never meant to play but delivering splendid tunes.
The Muppet Show Band feeding off each other's madness and vibe on the pulse of the pavement.
"WIM Fanfare was founded in Belgium in 1975 by pianist Fred Van Hove and others as a splinter group from the Workshop for Improvising Musicians – itself formed two years earlier as a protest against disparities in pay between US and European artists at the Jazz Middelheim festival. The protest was sealed by the launch of Free Music Festival in Antwerp, at which WIM Fanfare became a fixture over the years, popping up in unlikely locations to startle and amuse. These live recordings from between 1975 and 1988 – released on vinyl for the first time – capture WIM Fanfare in all their ragged glory. Imagine a traditional middle European street marching band that’s been seduced by the chaotic possibilities of free improvisation and you’re heading in the right direction. Militaristic marches lumber along like Herman Munster in lederhosen, only to be ripped apart by jagged accordion freakouts, huge gales of massed horns and savage sax irruptions. There’s a hint of Albert Ayler’s folk-influenced themes here and there but, essentially, it taps into the same impish and distinctly European theatricality that characterised Van Hove’s associates in the Dutch Instant Composers Pool. It’s daft, daring and a whole lot of fun." - Boomkat