La Belle Epoque – vol. 1

Ships in September!

At the beginning of 2020 Danny van Tiggele (Mister and Missisippi & Tousch) decided to blow the dust off a couple of demo’s and fourteen of these songs found their way to La Belle Epoque Volume 1, a fantastic collaboration project of renowned Dutch artists. Tom Broshuis, Judy Blank, Anne Soldaat, Marien Dorleijn, Blaudzun, Pablo van de Poel (DeWolff), Ruben Hein and Yorick van Norden all contributed in the writing and recording process. “I have records from all artists in my collection, so it was a great honor to work together. Also, we’re mostly friends already and we had a lot of fun.”

“La Belle Epoque” literally translates to “the good times”. The term refers to a period of cultural, technological and scientific progress that took place between the end of the 19th century and the first World War. A time of optimism which was eventually overshadowed by the second World War. It was a time of great prosperity for the European culture (French and Belgian especially). The birth of Art Nouveau / Jugendstil; the opening of the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge cabaret; Haute Couture and the rise of casinos and opera houses in Paris. A vibrant scene developed of artists, poems, musicians and other artists who worked and created together.

In the current world situation, we’re seeing a similar reflection of La Belle Epoque. Society is changing; we’re living in unpreceded prosperity and still millions of people are runnig from poverty and violence. Communities have never been so polarized and a pandemic has ground the world to a halt. In such a world, there’s only one thing for an artist to do: to collaborate and to create. That’s what Danny did on La Belle Epoque Volume 1.