Normally, singers can rely on the instruments leading them through a song. Not so for the six performers from Belgium. Asked how their first rehearsal went, Tenor voice Nicolas responded: “We’ve got many hip-hoppy, jazzy harmonies and it’s tricky if we can’t hear each other. And it was quite scary on the high stage. But after the 5th run we were quite confident,” he concludes.
Beat boxer RoxorLoops adds: “Instead, we have to rely on our in-ear system in which we hear a little click track, it’s like a metronome sound.” He stresses the fact that the sound engineer is like a seventh band member. “He’s the link between us and the guys from the Eurovision.”
Belgium hosted the first open competition for candidates ever last year, in which contestants were not only required to present a good song and performance but also had to bring their producer to finance them along. The members of Witloof Bay, who have collaborated for five years and hail from all three regions of the country, came out on top. “It was a big surprise for us because a cappella is so strange to the public, but the Belgians voted for us,” says Nicolas.
