IN DE KRONKELS VAN MIJN GEEST

In those blessed days, Guido Belcanto was an anonymous street singer. He wrote songs by the conveyor belt and went to sing them in pubs all over Flanders. He was animated by the holy fire, the Holy Spirit was with him and irresistibly led him to the path of fame and glory.

35 years later, there are 15 records on his asset, a catalogue of some 300 songs and he is one of the figureheads of Flemish song.

The year 2019 was perhaps the most successful in his career. He played some 100 concerts, was lauded in Radio 2's Eregallerij and released the 3 double CD “Een Zanger Moet trachten de Pijn te Verzachten”, a deep quest into Guido's personal archive coupled with a live album. In addition, VRT featured a Belpop episode dedicated to Guido.

In 2020, everything changed. The country went into lockdown, the doors to the stage locked. Singers had to stay at home. Guido retreated to the French Pyrenees and spent six months there in forced exile.

The forced withdrawal from public life gave his creative spirit new wings and he actually started writing new songs on the conveyor belt, in an intoxication that had not been given to him since the days of complete obscurity. Or as he himself puts it, "I wrote 20 new songs in two months. It was like I was born again as a songwriter, like I was at a new beginning, like 35 years ago, like the gods were sending me, like the Holy Spirit was my guide. It was ‘all days party in the twists and turns of my mind.’

On “In the twists and turns of my mind”, we will hear and see Guido Belcanto as we know him: as our one true singer of the song of life, the troubadour of broken hearts who sings of the imperfection of life and love with great compassion and a soothing and comforting humour.

Is this the rebirth or just the continuation of a unique track in the history of Flemish song ? With Guido Belcanto you never know, he just keeps on surprising us.