beloved freedom !
“Beloved Freedom!” Two words thrown like a slap, a raw cry that comes from the depths. Freedom, that slightly rough treasure that must be protected like our last breath, that thing that makes art beat like a frantic heart, propelling it towards endless horizons.
“Beloved Freedom!” These two words clash and intertwine, carrying a raw and untamable force. They remind us that freedom is this sacred quest, this right that no one should take away from us. Like a tenacious muse, it awakens in us desires we thought were extinguished, unpredictable dreams, and ambitions we no longer dared to whisper.
In hidden corners where artists drag their melancholy, “Beloved Freedom!” resonates like a promise of escape, a key that frees minds from their chains. It is an invitation to send conventions flying, to defy prohibitions, and to get lost in still unexplored paths.
arno : « vive ma liberté »
ARNO
Arno Hintjens, born in the dark alleys of Ostend one day in 1949, was never meant for the comforts of ordinary life. No, this guy had fire in his belly and shots of whiskey as fuel. His first steps into the world of music were taken with one foot in the mud and the other in rock ‘n’ roll, treading the seedy bars where beer flows freely and dreams drown in ashtrays.
Arno was a broken face, with a voice as rough as an old sponge soaked in gin. He sang with his guts, with his bones, with the pain of those who never had a chance at the light. The man spewed out his songs like others spit blood, each word a slap, each note a burn.
He cut his teeth with Tjens Couter, then took charge of Ostend and Brussels with TC Matic, tossing out anthems to grime and battered love. His lyrics were Bukowski set to music, slices of sordid and magnificent life, tales of stillborn loves and endless nights.
With his tousled hair and wolfish gaze, Arno never sought to please. He sang in French, English, Flemish, mixing languages as he mixed genres, from blues to punk, with a touch of French chanson. His concerts were pagan masses where the faithful drank from the well of his gentle madness.
He never stopped touring, creating, shouting his truth in the world’s face. Even when life threw its worst horrors at him, he kept going, like a dazed boxer who refuses to fall. And with each blow he took, he responded with a song, a poem, another musical punch.
Arno was the singer for the lost, the barstool poets, the fallen lovers. He left behind a trail of melodies and words, an indelible mark on the slippery pavement of life. He’s gone now, but his songs continue to resonate, like an old vinyl record you never tire of playing, cigarette in hand and glass half empty, or half full.