Rutger Hoedemaekers (45) is a producer and composer. He composes a lot of film music, including for the Icelandic series trapped and for the movie The Princess, about Princess Diana, who just came out. Lives since 2020 Rutger Hoedemaekers with his French girlfriend in Brussels. ‘We lived in Berlin for a long time and wanted to go to another European city,’ he says. ‘For us, Belgium is the country between our native countries, where French and Dutch are spoken. Brussels demands less attention than Berlin or London and is therefore easily underestimated. But it’s a nice, very international city, so many languages and cultures and nationalities here. What immediately struck me is that people from Brussels are very flexible. Belgium is quite a chaotic country, things sometimes don’t work. But that doesn’t make people very angry or grumpy, they react quite calmly, or with a joke. Brussels has something surreal about it.’
Park with trees and language
Rutger Hoedemaekers: ‘We came to Brussels two years ago, at the start of the first lockdown. That was a somewhat delayed introduction to the city. I always met (and speak) with my resourceful French teacher in the Tenbosch Park to practice French conversation for an hour while sitting on a bench. The Tenbosch Park is small and romantic, with hills, winding paths, a sandbox and a petanque court. It was laid out by a tree expert at the beginning of the 20th century and apparently there are also all kinds of rare trees.’
Tenbosch Park, entrance on the corner of Lriksenstraat and Hector Denisstraat
Biodynamic wines
‘Tortue is not far from our apartment, in the Uccle district, on a corner in a quiet residential area. It is a tiny wine shop/wine bar, a place with colorful tiles, crammed with bottles. We have often drank wine here on the cozy terrace outside. You can also sit inside with a glass and a snack. The store is known for its wide range of organic and biodynamic natural wines. I can say that Tortue has now become our favorite pub.’
Tortue, Edith Cavellstraat 34
The best bistro
‘And this bistro with the dark green walls inside and out has become a favorite restaurant during our time here. We regularly picked up food from Madame. It’s a small restaurant with a nice plate of food, everything local and fresh, but unpretentious and not too complicated. They also serve good wine, have nice service and charge a good price. It’s hard to get more praise than that.’
Bistro Madame, Veydstraat 41
Roller skating rink turned gallery
“La Patinoire Royale has definitely been my savior during the first lockdown. The white building from 1877 was, unusually enough, the first indoor roller skating rink in the world. I think it has been in it for a while, it was a Bugatti garage for a while and even was a weapons storage for a while. But now the huge hall has been beautifully converted into a spacious gallery. And galleries were fortunately allowed to remain open, so I went there a lot of times. La Patinoire Royale has interesting, changing exhibitions, often with large works of art, which do not fit in smaller galleries.’
La Patinoire Royale-Galerie Valérie Bach, Veydstraat 15
vinyl maze
‘The best record store I’ve ever been to. Balades Sonores is a satellite of the Parisian store of the same name. I think Balades has an inspiring collection, jazz, avant-garde, indie, only vinyl. It looks small, but once you’re inside, you creep-by-sneak-through from room to room, it’s like a maze without end. And the classification of the music genres is expressed in a very funny way on the cards on the shelves.’
Balades Sonores Bruxelles, Saint-Gisleinsstraat 55
Studio in an old wood factory
‘DADA Studios is a beautiful recording studio in an old wood factory in the Schaerbeek district in the north of the city, a well-kept secret. Here I recorded music with violinist/harpist Margaret Hermant of Echo Collective, an ensemble I occasionally collaborate with. I would actually have played a concert of my solo work with Echo Collective in Hasselt in early December, but because all concerts were suspended, we had to make do with recording sessions like the one in DADA. Fortunately, at least that was still possible.’
DADA Studios, François Bossaertsstraat 101
Audio animal bar
‘In our neighborhood I discovered L’Altitude, a brand new listening bar. It’s a Japanese concept bar, where a DJ is always playing, the sound system is by definition great and you don’t have to talk, but you can also just listen. L’Altitude has good acoustics, an excellent hi-fi system indeed and a large collection of vinyl in addition. It is also a fine restaurant with an extensive wine list.’
L’Altitude, Molièrelaan 2
Culture in Hasselt
‘Technically speaking, Cultuurcentrum Hasselt is of course not located in Brussels and much closer to Maastricht. But Belgium suddenly became a lot smaller due to the lockdown and this cultural center became part of my limited world. Because all concerts had been cancelled, the lovely people of Cultuurcentrum Hasselt decided to invite composers to develop something for their 360-degree ‘immersive’ sound system. As a result, I was able to improvise in the small hall for three days in November, which will hopefully lead to an actual performance with an audience in 2022. So I see it as an important part of my short time in Brussels. It really struck me in Brussels how artists and musicians here, after draconian budget cuts and during the pandemic, still looked for all kinds of ways to make and play things, against the oppression.’
Cultural Center Hasselt, Kunstlaan 5, Hasselt