Zita Swoon is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

group. They entered the music scene of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in 1993, still under the name

A Beatband Zita Swoon is a Belgium, Belgian indie rock group. They entered the music scene of Antwerp in 1993, still under the name A Beatband with the EP ''Jintro Travels The Word In A Skirt''. The group is typical of the music scene in Antwerp, with membe ...

with the EP ''Jintro Travels The Word In A Skirt''. The group is typical of the music scene in Antwerp, with members playing in numerous other groups. Singer, musician and composer

Stef Kamil Carlens Stef Kamil Carlens (27 September 1970) is a singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and record producer. Carlens is the leader of Belgian indie band Zita Swoon (previously known with the names A Beatband and Moondog Jr.).https://www.gentjazz.com/e ...

founded the group together with Aarich Jespers and also played in

dEUS ''Deus'' (, ) is the Latin word for 'God (word), god' or 'deity'. Latin ''deus'' and ''dīvus'' ('divine') are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''deiwos'', 'celestial' or 'shining', from the same root ( ...

. The same group released ''Everyday I Wear A Greasy Black Feather On My Hat'' under the name Moondog Jr. in 1995. Shortly thereafter they encountered legal trouble over the name

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

with

Louis T. Hardin Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, Music theory, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a c ...

, and changed it to Zita Swoon (Zita = intense, Swoon = desire). The success of this album was awarded with invitations to the

Lowlands Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

Pinkpop Pinkpop is an annual music festival held in Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. Starting in ...

and

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiva ...

festivals. The same year they also appeared live on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

in '' Most Wanted'' with Michael Blair. Their first appearance in the US was at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival in 1998. Zita Swoon has played in New York, the Belgian

festival, the

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and architec ...

, as well as in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In early 1999 their work was recognized by the Flemish government with a grant of 1.5 million Francs and the title

Cultural Ambassador of Flanders Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

(a title previously awarded to

DAAU DAAU (short for Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung) is a classical, jazz, experimental and multi-genre music group from Antwerp, Belgium. The band was founded in 1992 and borrowed its name from the novel '' Der Steppenwolf'' (1927) by Hermann H ...

and

). In 2009 Stef Kamil Carlens participated with Lexus Concert, a 'hybrid' concert where Stef does a crossover concert at Klara festival with a musician from a totally different style and background. The winner of Lexus concert wins a private try out concert on board a new Lexus RX 450h.

Members

Original members

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Aarich Jespers –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Additional members

* Amel Serra – percussion * Joris Caluwaerts – piano,

rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

* Bart Van Lierde –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Eva Gysel – backing vocals *

Kapinga Gysel Lesedi Alton Kapinga (born 25 May 1995) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for South African Premier Division side Sekhukhune United. Career Having started his senior career at Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, ...

– backing vocals

Ex-members

Tom Pintens Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

– guitar, backing vocals, piano,

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

(as of April 2008) (died 2023) * Kobe Proesmans – percussion *

Thomas de Smet Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

– bass * Bjorn Eriksson – guitar *

Benjamin Boutreur Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Leonie Gysel Leonie or (in French) Léonie or (in German) Leonie is a Latin-origin feminine given name meaning "lioness", from the masculine personal name ''Leon'' (meaning "lion"). It is rare as a surname. People People with the name or its variants include: ...

– backing vocals

Discography

As A Beatband

* ''Jintro Travels the Word in a Skirt'' (1993)

As Moondog Jr.

* ''Everyday I Wear A Greasy Black Feather On My Hat'' (1995)

As Zita Swoon

Studio albums: * ''I Paint Pictures on a Wedding Dress'' (1998) * ''Life = A Sexy Sanctuary'' (2001) * ''

A Song About a Girls ''A Song about a Girls'' is a studio album by the Belgian indie rock band Zita Swoon. It was released in the fall of 2004. The album reached #4 in the Flemish Ultratop chart. Background ''A Song about a Girls'' is the most introspective and mel ...

'' (2004) * ''Big City'' (2007) * ''Big Blueville'' (2008) Live albums: * ''Live at Jet Studio Brussels'' (2001) * ''A Band in a Box'' (CD and DVD) (2005) Soundtracks: * ''Music inspired by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

, a film by

F.W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An e ...

'' (1997) * ''Plage Tattoo/Circumstances'' (music from the performance) (2000) Compilations: * ''To Play, To Dream, To Drift – An Anthology'' (2009)

As Zita Swoon Group

* ''Dancing With The Sound Hobbyist'' (2011) * ''Wait for Me'' (2012) * ''New Old World'' (2014) * ''Nothing That Is Everything'' (2015)

External links

Official website

Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zita Swoon Belgian alternative rock groups Belgian indie rock groups English-language musical groups from Belgium Musical groups established in 1993