In a Belgian concert tour that lasts through April, Yasmine will present a selection of her favourite poetry, all of which reflects in some way or another on her own work as an artist. A VJ’s suggestive images will accompany the poems: word and image will melt into one.

The book centres around four major themes: desire, loss, surprise and progress. She includes both classic, such as 17th-century poet Joost van den Vondel, and contemporary, like Leonard Nolens and Herman de Coninck.

To keep the synergies piling up, she puts some of the poems to music. You can listen to them on the CD that, conveniently, comes with the book. Which comes with the tour, or vice versa.

Who is Yasmine?

Who is Yasmine, you ask? She is in fact everywhere. Through the years, she slowly but surely evolved from an inconspicuous starlet to a widely respected, first-name-only personality. You may have spotted her as a presenter on TV één. She is the friendly but cheeky girl, generally slightly tomboyish, who comments on Flemish and international showbiz in the popular nightly show De rode loper.

Or perhaps you know her as the singer who brought the songs of Leonard Cohen to a Flemish audience in 2004. Or maybe you've seen footage of her much talked-about wedding in 2003 to another woman – Marianne Dupon. Dupon had orbited into fame a few years before as the winner of the first edition of De Mol (The Mole), a hugely popular reality series. In 2007, the spotlights were fixed on them again when the couple’s daughter was born: Ella Louise.

None of this could have been predicted when Yasmine debuted in 1991 with the album Mooi zo (Beautiful That Way). She was just your average girl-next-door then, obediently singing other people’s (often corny) Flemish pop lyrics. In those early days, she presented Tien Om Te Zien, a legendary live show a bit like the British Top Of The Pops, but with mainly Flemish pop singers with a penchant for kitschy tunes and quirky dance routines.

A lot has changed since then. Gradually, Yasmine began to take matters into her own hands; the turning point really came in 2004, when she decided to translate and cover Leonard Cohen songs. The beautiful and intelligent way she handled the icon Canadian singer’s material won the heart of many a “serious” music lover. Moreover, she shook off the shackles of the music industry and started het own record label, Skillshotsounds.

This paved the way for her next CD, Licht ontvlambaar (Highly Flammable) in 2006. She amazed friends and enemies alike by delivering an authentic rock album, writing most of it herself and working with alt rock musicians like Stef Kamil Carlens of Zita Swoon and Frank vander Linden of De Mens.

It comes as no surprise to Yasmine fans that the 36-year-old is now embarking on a literary project. Her translation of Cohen lyrics pointed to a sensibility for poetic language. In the last two years, she has also penned regular columns in newspapers De Morgen and Het Nieuwsblad. Straight from the heart, but always with an eye for life’s little ironies, she tackles subjects as varied as advertisements for toys, the Taliban, the Eurovision Song Contest, lesbian motherhood, women in sports, and the entry of Turkey into the EU.

On top of all that, Yasmine is one of the few famous Flemish lesbians who are out of the closet. As early as 1998, she and her then-girlfriend openly discussed their relationship in Humo magazine. Since then, Yasmine has never hesitated to stand up for gay rights. The lesbian and gay community has expressed their thanks on several occasions: she was voted “Biggest Belgian Lesbian” in 2005 and “Most Fun Gay Person” in 2006 for her positive, non-stereotypical image.

It all heightens the expectations for Yasmine houdt woord, coming soon to a concert hall (or a bookshelf or a CD player) near you!

The kick-off concert is sold out, but there are tickets available for other concerts in the tour. Visit the website for details

online

www.yasmine.be