Zapp 4: classical bloodsuckers

For some years now, under the heading “Club K” (the K is for “klassieke muziek” – classical music, in Dutch), Klara, the Flemish public broadcaster’s cultural radio station, has been presenting classical music at locations where its fans wouldn’t usually expect to find it. “We are doing it now for the fourth time,” explains Hendrik Storme, curator of the KlaraFestival, “and it has been a great success every time.” This time, the adventurous string quartet known as Zapp 4 – four Dutch musicians in their forties – will play in the Brussels discotheque Mr Wong. Last year they released a CD entitled We Suck Young Blood. The Radiohead Songbook, which contained idiosyncratic, playful, groovy, and sometimes downright strange interpretations of the compositions of the British band and of Thom Yorke solo, including “The Eraser”, “Exit Music (For a Film)”, “Paranoid Android”, and “How to Disappear Completely”. As it happens, Radiohead is one of Storme’s favourite rock groups. “These aren’t just mere arrangements,” he points out. “Zapp 4 shows a tremendous respect for Radiohead’s music, while at the same time they are convincing as a string quartet. The vocal parts are transferred to the violin in a really beautiful, but simple way. For me, it’s an exceptionally successful example of how classical musicians can approach music that is regarded as non-classical. Moreover, it is perfectly in tune with the theme of this year’s KlaraFestival: melancholy.” The evening will be introduced and will end with a DJ set. And, of course, only classical music will ring out from DJ for the occasion Frederik Sioen’s speakers – or maybe not quite?

KLARAFESTIVAL: Zapp 4 + DJ Sioen 12/9, 21.00, €15, MR WONG, Zwarte Lievevrouwstraat 10-12 rue de la Vierge Noire, Brussel/Bruxelles, 070-21.02.17, www.klarafestival.be