BRAND!

2026

DANGEROUS SOUNDS

The 11th edition of our jazz festival BRAND! takes place in 2026 from 25th utill the 28th November and is dedicated to Denmark, the land of hygge and wood-burning stoves. The peninsula has a long tradition of ‘Dangerous Sounds’ - farlige toner was a frequently used rhetorical term in the Danish press during the 1920s and 30s for any music that threatened to shake public morality. The country has never quite let go of that reputation. With this eleventh edition of BRAND!, we step straight into that Danish sonic history. We are dubbing this edition Dangerous Sounds, after the podcast of the same name in which drummer and key figure Kresten Osgood dissects the history of Danish jazz: from forbidden saxophones to slaughterhouse clubs, and from quiet rebellion to loud experimentation.

While we are keeping the full line-up under wraps for now, we are happy to lift a corner of the red-and-white flag. We open with a double bill that immediately embraces the danger: the young Belgian-French revelation Ola Tunji - thriving in free jazz - and ØKSE, which, led by pivotal Danish figure Mette Rasmussen, sounds as if the Monday Club from Osgood's stories never closed its doors. The final chord on Saturday is curated by Loveland Music, echoing Copenhagen’s vibrant new jazz festival. Danish guitar virtuoso Jakob Bro is the linchpin and curator of this final evening, gathering a bunch of musicians from Denmark and Belgium in the Jakob Bro Large Ensemble, including our central guest from BRAND! 2025, Hanne De Backer.

— FUELED BY OMER —
In collaboration with Cultuurcentrum Mechelen. 
With the valued support of festival partners Omer Vander Ghinste Brewery, Eubelius and the Nationale Lotterij.