Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul: ‘It was love at first conversation’

On Topical Dancer, the musical tandem Charlotte Adigéry and Boris Zeebroek, alias Bolis Pupul, does something not many have done: they bring current themes such as racism and sexual harassment to a place where escapism reigns supreme, the dance floor.

Meet the musical tandem Charlotte Adigéry and Boris Zeebroek, alias Bolis Pupul. Their Topical Dancer is an album for body and soul. The dance floor never sounded more alive. Bolis Pupul: “We met on the set of Felix van Groeningen’s film Belgica, we were both in a fictional band. Stephen and David Dewaele of Soulwax composed the soundtrack and were so impressed by Charlotte that they invited her to their studio, where I regularly did work. They paired us up. They certainly know people because it clicked immediately and after a few days we already had a handful of songs ready.” It was love at first conversation, Charlotte Adigéry adds: “But platonic. Boris gives me energy. Suddenly, the musical soulmate I had been looking for was there.”

On Topical Dancer, the pair does something not many have done: they bring current themes such as racism and sexual harassment to a place where escapism reigns supreme. Adigéry: “We wanted to describe our world more than we had done on our first EP Zandoli. Topical Dancer is the result of hours of often profound conversations between Boris and I in the studio about the most diverse, but often sensitive topics. We first thought it was a cool play on words, it was only later that we realised that this balance between the cerebral and the instinctive was quite applicable. A journalist from the newspaper De Morgen told me that she was dancing along to “Blenda” in the kitchen, but got a little uncomfortable when she suddenly heard me sing: ‘Go back to your country where you belong.’ I thought that was a nice compliment.”

The icing on the cake: everything is spiced up with a dose of humour. “We can’t chat even for an hour without making a joke,” Pupul laughs. “The heavier the issue, the more we feel the need to make light of it. It would help if we all took ourselves a little less seriously, in particular in times of polarisation when everything is super-sensitive.” Adigéry: “We do avoid ridiculing or simply laughing things off. But if you laugh lovingly, you can laugh about anything.”

CHARLOTTE ADIGÉRY & BOLIS PUPUL
20/4, 19.00, Ancienne Belgique, www.aboncerts.be