One of the city's great hidden treasures, the Brussels music scene hosts some of the biggest and best up-and-coming artists and bands in the international, European and Belgian scene.
Every month, Europe's capital has no shortage of thrilling concerts – and picking out the best gigs can be tough. This is why we have put together a monthly guide to discover the best live acts in the city, perfect for new and old Brussels folk alike.
Carefully selected by music journalist Simon Taylor, here are The Brussels Times' choices for the concerts and gigs that you and your friends should not miss throughout July.
This month, the Brussels gig circuit usually quietens down – so we zoom in on gigs at Brosella Festival, and Gent Jazz.
Best gigs this month:
5 July
Salif Keita
Brosella, Osseghem Park, near the Atomium
Brosella is a little gem of a summer festival. First launched in 1977, it offers two days of some of the best folk and jazz artists, mixing up big international names with local talent. This year is no different. The highlight of Saturday is the Malian master musician and singer Salif Keita. Known as the "golden voice of Africa", Keita is a member of the Royal family of Mali but was ostracised by them because of being an albino. He took to music, also against his family’s wishes, and joined a number of famous groups in Bamako in the 1970s which established his reputation, before embarking on a solo career.
Salif Keita
Keita achieved international acclaim in 1987 with the release of his album, Soro. He retired from performing in 2018 but has returned triumphantly this year with a new record, So Kono, which was recorded on mainly acoustic instruments including the n’goni, a traditional Malian six-stringed instrument, related to the banjo. I saw Keita at Primavera music festival in June, accompanied by a second guitarist, a percussionist and a n’goni player, and it was one of the most moving performances of the festival. Keita’s keening voice is as strong as ever and cuts through over the rich polyrhythms of the two guitars, n’goni and percussion. Listen to Chérie from that album to get a taste of the beauty of his man’s music. At the age of 75, Keita’s return to live performance might not be for long so catch him and his wonderful musicians while you can.
5 July
Peixe e Limão
Brosella, Osseghem Park, near the Atomium
With a name that celebrates the celestial pairing of fish and lemon, this Belgian-Italian trio plays a mix of bossa nova, folk, classical music and jazz that is the perfect blend to listen to on a hot summer’s day. I saw them at the Brussels Jazz Weekend in May when the spring rain did not suit their summery vibe.
Peixe e Limão
Brosella should be perfect for them. Belgian-Italian Flavia Clementi has an enchanting voice, perfectly framed by the two other musicians on cello and acoustic guitar. They brought out their first album, Salta! (jump!), at the end of 2024.
6 July
Lakecia Benjamin
Brosella, Osseghem Park, near the Atomium
Despite recording her first record as a leader back in 2012, New York-born and raised saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin is being written up as the most exciting talents on the US jazz scene. That is due largely to her 2023 album, Phoenix, which she wrote and recorded after a car accident that nearly cost her life and injuries, including a broken jaw, that nearly ended her career. Last year, she recorded and released a live version of the album, called Phoenix Reimagined, featuring some jazz greats including guitarist John Scofield, sax player Randy Brecker and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts.
Lakecia Benjamin
The two albums combined received five Grammy nominations. Starting out playing salsa and merengue in New York bands, Benjamin moved on to playing sax with some of the biggest names in the US soul, R’n’B and hip-hop scene, including Alicia Keys and Missy Elliot before dedicating herself to playing jazz. Her playing is clearly influenced by saxophonist John Coltrane and she recorded an album in 2020, Pursuance, of music written by him and his wife, pianist and harpist Alice.
6 July
Stéphane Galland and the Rhythm Hunters XTNDD
Brosella, Osseghem Park, near the Atomium
Galland is a world-class jazz drummer and composer who has played with the Zawinul Syndicate, founded by the Austrian keyboard player behind Weather Report. The Brussels-born musician is best known for his role in Belgian trio, Aka Moon, that he founded in 1992 with saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol and bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou.
Stéphane Galland and the Rhythm Hunters XTNDD. Credit: Alexander Deprez
Aka Moon played a very distinctive mixture of jazz and music styles from all over the world and were, for a while, one of the most exciting outfits in contemporary jazz. Galland will be playing Brosella with his eight-piece band, the Rhythm Hunters, which includes the great Shoko Igarashi on tenor sax and New York luminary Robin Eubanks on trombone.
6 July
The Roots
Gent Jazz Festival, Bijloke site
Summer festivals are a chance for groups that have fallen out of the current spotlight but still continue to play live to get some gigs and earn some money. Hip-hop/R&B band The Roots are a good example. Formed in 1987 by drummer Ahmir 'Questlove' Thomson and singer Tariq Trotter, they are now probably best known as the current house band on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. That leaves out the fact that they recorded one of the most important albums in hip-hop/R&B history: Things Will Pass from 1999.
The Roots
The album featured neo-soul star Erykah Badu on You Got Me, legendary rappers Common on Act Two (The Love of My Life) and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) on Double Trouble. Back in the 1990s, the Roots were the leaders in playing hip hop as a live band. Questlove even has his own signature hip-hop drum kit, made by Ludwig. They haven’t released a new studio LP since 2014 but they are not short of great tunes and are bound to wow even the sedate jazz crowd you get at Gent Jazz.
6 July
Jamila Woods
Gent Jazz Festival, Bijloke site
Hailing from Chicago, Woods should really be much bigger than she is. Maybe this down-bill appearance at Gent Jazz plus a string of dates across Europe in July will help raise her profile. Woods is a poet as well as a distinctive neo soul/r’n’b singer.
Jamila Woods
Woods has appeared on several tracks by fellow Chicago artist Chance the Rapper as well as on UK electronic artist Bonobo’s Tides. Her most recent album, Water Made Us, released in 2023, is a highly introspective work, conceived during the Covid-19 lockdown and showcases her smooth voice and distinctive lyrics set against glitchy beats.
12 July
Tigran Hamasyan
Gent Jazz Festival, Bijloke site
Hamasyan is a phenomenal pianist and composer from Armenia. A prodigy on piano, he moved to the US when he was 16 but later returned to his homeland. His music is a mixture of jazz and Armenia’s rich and diverse folk heritage. On his latest LP, The Bird Has a Thousand Voices, he explores traditional folk songs.
Tigran Hamasyan
The record is a good example of his lyrical side. But he also has an unusual (for a jazz musician) interest in progressive heavy metal, a sub-set of the genre that explores odd time signatures as well as the telltale loud, distorted guitar and bass. One of his best albums, Mockroot, is heavily influenced by Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. Fear not, jazz fans. Hamasyan is unlikely to play any of that album in Ghent. You can safely assume he will be performing his more accessible music.
12 July
Ganavya
Gent Jazz Festival, Bijloke site
Ganavya Doraiswamy was born in New York but raised in her family’s home of Tamil Nadu in south-eastern India. An upright bass player, Ganvya’s music explores the world of spiritual jazz, with John and Alice Coltrane being two major sources of inspiration, mixing it with traditional Indian singing which she approaches as a collective and community activity and not a solitary or commercial one.
Ganavya
At a recent show at the Ancienne Belgique, she flummoxed the audience by asking them not to clap before she performed one of her songs, saying that no-one in her village was ever clapped for doing what she was about to do. Live, she is usually accompanied by a harpist. If you can’t see her in Ghent, she will also be playing at Flagey in November. Her most recent album, Nilam, which came out in May, was produced by German keyboard and post-classical star Nils Frahm.
