'Live at Cecil Sharp House' available NOW. deadbelgian1.bandcamp.com

'Grand Jacques'available now on the Limefield label. Order CD or download from http://deadbelgian1.bandcamp.com/

Dead Belgian are a Liverpool-based band playing the music of Jacques Brel. They began life in 2007, inspired to share Brel’s music with all who would listen. Each member brought their own influences to the band, from European folk to progressive rock, stripping the songs to their bare bones and fattening them up again using a ramshackle drum kit, ukulele, guitar, accordion, saxophone, mandolin, clarinet and flute. Dead Belgian have developed a playful and inventive sound that meshes dense melodic patterns, demonic waves of intensity and passages of sparse frailty with vocals that have drawn comparison to Edith Piaf, Anthony Hegarty and Nico. 

It is a sound unique to themselves while still capturing the beauty, passion and humour of the original work, a rousing and rowdy back-porch reinvention of Jacques Brel’s honest and poetic stories



“'Bringing the songs of Jacques Brel to an English speaking audience with near missionary zeal' ”
— Liverpool Daily Post April 2010

Initial Reactions to 'Love & Death'

"Dead Belgian's deliciously ramshackle approach deconstructs Brel the myth and icon to reclaim him as a street musician, chanson maestro and people's champion. The Band have their very own Piaf in Fionnuala Dorrity, delivering passion and intensity in bundles over arrangements that hit exactly the right levels of throwaway charm, joy, sorrow, frenzy and fraught desperation " 
- Colin Irwin, MOJO 

''Love and Death is rowdy, engaging and passionate. Despite the inevitable comparisons to the vocals of Edith Piaf and Nico, Dead Belgian have created a sound that is all their own, while remaining true to the spirit of Brel’s music and poetry.

Neil McFadyen, Folk Radio UK

''This is an impressive and welcome debut...... If you don’t know Brel, start here then get a compilation of his. If you do know him, buy this anyway and reward a spunky new band as well as your ears.''

Ross McGibbon, Vanguard Online

''Kudos to Dead Belgian for breathing oxygen into Brel’s poignant, dark poetry. Whatever project strikes their fancy next, I’m all ears'

Lisa Torem, Penny Black Music

''Simply superb album. Immaculate production that catches all the excitement of the lives shows and Fionnuala Dorrity turns in one of the best recorded vocal performances I've ever heard.''

Russ Chandler, Walthamstow Folk Club

Followers of Dead Belgian