“Sounds from the Global Underground”

Rebel Up has become a household name in the world of underground global music in Brussels, Amsterdam, allover Belgium & The Netherlands and beyond. Their sets and party nights are a global and political culture mash of global sounds spiced with contemporary urban & bass sounds with traditional ethnic reflections from all corners of the world. The cultural diaspora does not need to be defined by borders.

For more than 15 years, Rebel Up is a DJ collective of global, groovy, organic and electronic music from all over the world. With concerts & parties in Brussels, the aim of Rebel Up is to spread sounds from the global underground, youth movements, social and political music styles to dancefloors allover. Rebel Up features regularly on numerous Belgian and international festivals. Since 2017 Rebel Up became a record label for contemporary artists from Brussels & allover the globe. The collective and record label is run by busy bee SebCat, who also hosts various radio shows & sessions on Radio Campus Bruxelles, BRUZZ and Kiosk Radio.

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Founded in the beginning of 2007 by Seb Bassleer aka SebCat and VJ Maarten van der Glas, the idea of Rebel Up! Soundclash was to bring more diverse global styles and potentially more raw and organic sounds to the dance floor out of the big musical biotope that our world has to offer. Instead of dancing to the same well known tunes over and over we at Rebel Up! offer a stage to discover unsuspected sounds, feelings and expressions. At Rebel Up nights, we always invite border breaking international artists, or local artists with a worldly view to bring our audience to new heights.

The core team consists of dj’s Seb Bassleer (SebCat / BE), Rico Medeiros (Drache MuMu / FR), Robert Kroos (Duckfood / NL) and VJ Maarten van der Glas aka VJ M (NL). Past members and contributors; Pascal Milard (Palm M / FR), Rik Adriaans (Otarik / NL), Bram De Cock (LeBlanc, BE), Diana Barreto (DiDi) and the designers Jet van Zwieten & Vanessa Verbeiren.

It all started in 2007 in the alternative OCCII venue, in Amsterdam, guided by programmer Sjoerd Stolk in particular and all the volunteers. The result was our monthly Rebel Up! Soundclash nights which were fundraisers for small NGO’s. From 2010 onwards, the focus of Rebel Up also shifted to Brussels, Belgium, a true cultural melting pot of many international communities and a hotbed for alternative global cultural nights. Ever since, Rebel Up has organised countless concerts, party nights and cultural concepts in Brussels, Amsterdam and many other cities and even curating nights for venues or festivals. In the past Rebel Up has performed on festivals such as Fusion Festival (DE), WOMEX 2014 (ES), La Mar de Musicas (ES), All Tomorrow’s Parties (GB), EXIT Festival (RS), Goulash Disko (HR), Zenith Fusion (BG), Uma Nota Festival (CA), Atlas Electronic (MA), La Nature (BE), Esperanzah (BE), Gentse Feesten (BE), Dour (BE), Couleur Café (BE), Listen Festival (BE), Les Nuits Sonores (BE), Sfinks Mixed (BE), Amsterdam Roots (NL), Balkan Trafik (BE), Le Guess Who (NL), Incubate (NL), Into The Village (NL), Kokopelli (BE), Recyclart Holidays (BE), Polé Polé (BE), Zomerparkfeest (NL), Valkhof (NL), Music Meeting (NL), Fiesta Mundial (BE), and many others.

Rebel Up has shared stages with artists/bands such as The Ex (NL), Omar Souleyman (SY), Group Doueh (WS), Konono No1 (RDC), Jagwa Music (TZ), Shangaan Electro (SA), Kumbia Queers (AR), Skip & Die (NL), Acid Arab (FR/AL/MR), Baba Zula (TR), Islam Chipsy (EG), 47Soul (PL), King Ayisoba (GH), Awesome Tapes From Africa (US), La Yegros (AR), Dengue Dengue Dengue (PE), Los Wemblers (PE), Los Mirlos (PE), Systema Solar (CO), Meridian Brothers (CO), Issa Bagayoko (ML), Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (CH), Ukandanz (FR/ET), Les Ambassadeurs (ML), Mdou Moctar (NG), Les Filles de Illighadad (NG), Etran de l’Aïr (NG), Maga Bo (US/BR), Filastine (US/ES), Uproot Andy (US), Celso Pina (MX), Toy Selectah (MX), Chancha Via Circuito (AR), Tremor (AR), Fauna (AR), Los Siquicos Literalenos (AR), El Hijo De La Cumbia (AR), DJ Tudo (BR), Chief Boima (US), La Makina Del Caribe (CO), Chico Correa Pocket Band (BR), Russo Passapusso (BR), Hayanlar Alemi (TR), Altin Gun (NL/TR), Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek (TR/FR/IT), Ifriqiyya Electrique (TN/FR/IT), Baloji (BE/RDC), Kokoko! (RDC), Throes + The Shine (PT/AN), Gato Preto (MZ/GH/DE), Octa Push (PT), Africa Negra (ST/PT), Chalo Correia (PT/AN) and many many more…

Besides being a collective and organisation, Rebel Up does monthly radio shows Rebel Up Nightshop on Radio Campus Bruxelles, Kiosk Radio (Rebel Up & friends), BRUZZ and Rhythm Passport / Groovalizacion radio, as well as occasional residencies at We Are Various (BE), Radio Campus France (FR), East Side Radio (PT) and Lusophonica (PT). Rebel Up also runs a small vinyl distro with the better global sounds. In 2017 they celebrated their 10 year anniversary and 2017 marked the birth of Rebel Up Records, a digital and vinyl label for global music from allover. So far they have released albums, singles and compilations from Ghana, Angola, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Portugal and Brussels and much more places to follow!

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Contact

email: rebeluppa [at] gmail [dot] com or info [at] rebelup [dot] org
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