Week in arts & culture (28/08/2024)

The World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent have announced the nominations in the three top categories for the 13th edition, which takes place in the city on 19 October during the International Film Festival of Flanders. Nominees for Best Composer of the Year are Mychael Danna (Life of Pi), Alexandre Desplat (Argo, Rise of the Guardians, Zero Dark Thirty), Danny Elfman (Frankenweenie, Hitchcock, Silver Linings Playbook), James Newton Hower (After Earth, The Bourne Legacy) and Thomas Newman (Side Effects, Skyfall). Canadian composer Danna is also among the nominations for Best Original Film Score of the Year and Best Original Song. The prolific French composer Desplat will be at the ceremony to hear fragments from his work played live by the Brussels Philharmonic. The public can vote for the Public’s Choice award on the organisation’s website.  www.worldsoundtrackacademy.com

More than 1,000 fans lined up outside the Fnac store in the Brussels district of Elsene last Wednesday to get the autograph of the dance and hip-hop musician Stromae, who just released his second album, Racine Carrée. The popular Brussels singer, who has a Rwandan father and a Flemish mother, also hit the headlines a few months ago when videos were released of him apparently roaming the streets drunk. He soon revealed they were shot for his new video “Formidable”. All Stromae’s upcoming concerts in Brussels and Antwerp are sold out, but he will play in Brussels on 27 September as part of the Festival of the French Community.  www.stromae.net

After 11 solidly successful months in Ghent, including winning the Flemish entrepreneur reality show Topstarters, the owners of the Wasbar have opened a second location in Antwerp. The combo bar and laundrette has received much attention from the national and international press and won a Silver A’ Design Award. The new location in Antwerp is on Graaf van Egmontstraat in the ’t Zuid neighbourhood.  www.wasbar.be