Flemish musicians take to stage at one of Wallonia’s biggest festivals

Ronquières is in Hainaut, 20km south of Halle. It’s best known for its unusual inclined plane boat lift on the Brussels–Charleroi Canal. It’s also become known in recent years for its three-day festival of the same name, launched in 2012.

With a capacity of 25,000 people, Ronquières is the fourth-largest festival in Wallonia, after Les Ardentes in Liège, Dour and Les Francofolies de Spa. It is larger than the Cactus Festival in Bruges and slightly smaller than Suikerrock in Tienen.

“Thanks to our location, we welcome several thousand Flemish people every year: a minority of our audience,” organiser Jean-François Guillin told VRT NWS. “How many visitors cross the language border naturally depends on our line-up. We aim for mainstream names from the pop-rock world.”

With this focus on the broad pop-rock genre, Ronquières sets itself apart from the larger Les Ardentes and Dour. They feature a more diverse range of genres and niche artists, with a significant proportion of hip-hop and electronic music. Les Francofolies promotes French-language music.

Every year Ronquières targets one major international act, who performs exclusively at their festival. They agree not to perform at any other Belgian event that summer. This year, that act is the American rapper Macklemore, who will headline on Sunday.

Last year, the festival secured actor and performer Will Smith for his first Belgian concert in 20 years. Italian rock band Måneskin’s first Belgian concert in 2021 was also held there, shortly after they won Eurovision. Both acts attracted several thousand Flemish fans. 

“We’ve often joined forces with the Lokerse Feesten. There’s no formal partnership, but we help each other wherever possible to secure artists,” Guillin says. “Their festival also takes place in early August. We share artists by booking them for both events, as we’re doing with Oscar and the Wolf. He’s playing an exclusive Walloon show for us.”

Oscar and the Wolf are the first Flemish act to headline the festival’s first day, and Pommelien Thijs is set to be the first ever Dutch-language act at the event on Saturday.

“Last year, we heard rumours that her management was considering a gig in French-speaking Belgium,” Guillin says. “I went to her show at Pukkelpop and was immediately won over.”

Thijs is very talented, and not just as a singer, he says, referring to her involvement in fashion and directing her music videos. “She’s an interesting contemporary artist: it’s high time the Walloon audience got to know her. We’re delighted to have her on our line-up. I’m curious to see the reactions.”

Her appearance will help her shake off the label of “pop star in half her country”, as she was called by the New York Times after journalist Alex Marshall discovered that the millions of plays her songs receive on Spotify come from only half of Belgium – the Dutch-speaking part.

With Hooverphonic and ISE, there are other Flemish artists on the programme in Ronquières. “We’ve been keeping an eye on the Flemish music scene for some time, because there’s a lot of quality to be found there,” Guillin says. “We’re keen to offer these artists a platform so our audience can discover new Belgian music: it’s a win-win situation.”

“What Pommelien Thijs is doing right now is truly exceptional,” Sam Jaspers told VRT NWS. As founder of Ultratop and the PlayRight chart, he follows the Belgian music scene closely.

Most Belgian artists stay within their own language region, but Flemish artists who sing in English, such as Hooverphonic, find it easier to break through in Wallonia than the other way round, he explains.

“Walloon artists who sing in French are more likely to make a name for themselves in Flanders than the other way round, especially big names like Angèle and Stromae. To my knowledge, there has never been a single Dutch-language hit by a Flemish artist in Wallonia.”