Biography
MARKA
Serge Van Laeken was born in Moelenbeek (a suburb of Brussels) on 27 May 1961. Serge, who was born into a Flemish family, spent most of his childhood with his grandparents as his own parents were too busy to cope with their son's upbringing. This did not seem to have any lasting negative effects on Serge however. On the contrary, Serge enjoyed a peaceful, untroubled childhood hanging out at the local football pitch with his friends. (And football remains a major passion in his life today).
Serge acquired the nickname Markassou in early childhood but later in life this was shortened to Marka (which, in some African language means "Africain little Tiger"). It was during the punk phase in the late 70's that Marka first came into contact with the music world, working as a roadie with various Belgian groups. Inevitably, Marka would also be bitten by the music bug and in 1981 he started playing bass guitar with Allez Allez (a Belgian band heavily influenced by Marka's favourite group the Clash).
Allez Allez went on to record a reasonably successful single entitled "African Queen". But in 1984 Serge left the group and began playing with Les Cactus, alongside the guitarist from the Wild Ones and a double bass player who would go on to make a name for himself with Vaya Con Dios. Les Cactus' songs were very reminiscent of French star Jacques Dutronc's repertoire. Indeed, nearly all of the groups Marka worked with in the early days of his career went in for humorous lyrics tinged with a certain irony - a style Marka himself would become famous for when he launched a solo career.
Going Solo
Around 1985 Marka began playing with a group called Bla Bla Bla, but the young musician was already beginning to think about launching his own solo career. Marka set to work on his first solo material, but in the meantime continued to collaborate with his old friend and accomplice, Riton Liebman, a famous Belgian actor. In 1989 the pair went on to write the soundtrack to Gérard Mordillat's film "Cher Frangin".
When Marka recorded his debut solo album "Je vous dis tout" in 1992 his old friend Riton Liebman would step in to give him a hand with the lyrics. Marka also enlisted the aid of songwriter Jacques Duvall (renowned for writing many of Lio's greatest hits) and Thierry Robberecht (who proved the perfect writing partner for Marka's barbed lyrics). The album "Je vous dis tout" proved to be an iconoclastic, eclectic affair, Marka dipping into a wide range of different musical styles and experimenting with weird and wonderful fusion sounds.
Marka had already made a name for himself on the Belgian music scene in the early 80's so he had no trouble promoting his new album. On the contrary, he soon had a hectic tour schedule lined up with dates all over Belgium and France. Marka also brought the house down when he appeared at the short-lived Francofolies music festival in Sofia (Bulgaria). However, when it came to finding a label to distribute his album, things proved much more problematic. Marka went to France and did the round of all the major record labels - but, unfortunately, no record deals were forthcoming.
Finally, after getting his debut album released on the small Belgian label PIAS (Play It Again Sam), Marka managed to get himself signed to the major international label Sony/Columbia. This new contract allowed Marka to shut himself away in the studio and immediately get to work on his second album "Merci d'avance". The songs on Marka's second album (released in 1995) were almost entirely a collaboration between Marka and Robberecht. But Marka did pen one solo effort, which turned out to be an absolute classic - "Accouplés". This wacky, and often extremely comic, track consisted of Marka reciting a list of famous names (Benazir Bhutto, Chou En Laï, Rika Zaraï etc.) over a backbeat of catchy Arab-style rhythms.
Released as a single, "Accouplés" not only attracted a great deal of attention and airplay, it also proved a real hit with Marka's fans. Marka's album "Merci d'avance" went on to sell 15,000 copies - a small, but respectable figure - but by now Marka was well on the way to becoming a major name on the Belgian music scene. After doing the rounds of the summer music festivals and appearing at the Francofolies festival in Spa (Belgium), Marka embarked on a brief French tour in December '96 with the Belgian star Maurane.
The Man Who Loved The Stage
The success of the single "Accouplés" encouraged Marka to begin work on a new album, "L'Idiomatic", which was released in 1997. By this stage in his career Marka had earned an excellent reputation on the Belgian music scene. While his off-the-wall eclectic style had never really proved commercial, Marka had nevertheless established himself as an integral part of the Francophone music scene.
On 20 December 1997 Marka kicked off his first series of concerts in Paris, performing at Le Sentier des Halles. Six months later he went on to record his first live album "L'Homme qui aimait la scène" (The Man Who Loved The Stage") at the AB club in Brussels. The album, released at the beginning of '99, featured two tributes to Marka's favourite artists, the Clash ("I Fought the Law") and French rap star MC Solaar ("Caroline").
Marka was eventually abandoned by his French production company, where they judged him as not profitable enough. Yet the artist continued to tour relentlessly, managing to perform up to a hundred times a year. With the collaboration of his wife, actress Laurence Bobet, he put on a show entitled "A Nous Deux" at the Botanique in Bruxelles during the winter of 1999. They also produced an album in May 2000 with the artist’s own Label, Daring Records.
In 2001 Marka released a new album "Avant Après". Influenced by the artist’s age (forty), the album featured a mixture of seriousness and comedy. The theme of death recurred in most songs. The CD was only released in Belgium and did not enjoy any media coverage in France in spite of a few successful gigs there. Nevertheless, thanks to a passage at the Francfolies Festival in La Rochelle, Marka signed a contract with the French Label Inca. The album was released again in 2003 and re-entitled "L'Etat Des Choses". Three of the previous version’s titles were replaced with four tracks co-written with MC Solaar.
In July 2003, the CD came out in Quebec and on September 9th, 2003 in France. From July 22nd to 27th Marka came back to France for a gig at the Parisian venue, the Méry.
September 2003
Any reproduction of this website - either whole or partial - is strictly prohibited without the agreement of the authors.
28/02/2002 -
