Voice featuring character Dani Klein swing and blues with gypsy touchesHe established himself on the European scene in the late 80s and much of the 90s: ‘Don’t cry for Louie’, ‘No no no’, ‘What is a woman’… Vaya con Dios, a Belgian band with a Spanish name and a multilingual repertoire, said goodbye in 2014, but the pandemic brought it back and here it is, enjoying the moment despite intense changes in the music industry. “Everything is different from what I know. “I can’t say if it’s better or worse because I don’t understand anything.”Between laughs, he gestures at his fluent Spanish, perfected in the town of Osuna (Sevilla), where he has had a home for 20 years.
Vaya con Dios were an odd band in their day because they ignored the trends of the moment and looked for inspiration in a mestizo, slightly ‘retro’ mix of African-American music and a gypsy accent. There was the self-titled debut album (1987) and its successor, ‘Night Owls’ (1990), the most commercially successful album. “We’ve always done a little bit of everything. Double bass player Dirk (Schoufs) loved rockabilly, Willy (Lambregt) was very hard rock like Iggy Pop, and I listened to Aretha Franklin and ‘tsigane’ music. Vaya con Dios was a mix of things we liked,” explains Dani Klein, who is not only the singer but also the only consistent member of the band.
a normal life
They came up with the name Spanish after watching a documentary about Miami and the Cuban community. “It said ‘Go with God’ on a wall, and I told my partner, double bassist Dirk (Schoufs), that I liked that phrase. Moreover, In cowboy movies, when saying goodbye, the saying ‘God willing’ was often said. “At first they told us in Spain that they didn’t like the name, that it was a bit ridiculous, but we had already decided and couldn’t change it,” he explains. In Belgium, he says, they always pronounce it their own way, emphasizing the letter i in the word ‘god’ in a slightly Italian way.
The band performed extensively throughout much of Europe in 1993 (“very heavily in Finland,” he notes) as well as the south of the Pyrenees, where they played at venues such as Zeleste (now Razzmatazz). It ended a while ago. Ten years ago, Klein was once tired of traveling. ““There came a time when what I wanted was to be home with my dogs and live a normal life.”, he states. The austere existence that he will now try to combine with his new Vaya con Dios campaign, after reconstituting the trio with other members: The originals, Schoufs and Willy Lambregt, left in the early 90s (the former died shortly after, aged just 29 years old) and are replaced by François Garny and Thierry Plas . “We started making songs during the pandemic and ended up with a whole album.”
And here it is ‘Shades of joy’, an album with a brilliant title, the first album with new songs since the French-speaking ‘Comme on est venu’ (2009). String ballads, pop with traces of funk and soul, jazz touches… With the Spanish theme ‘Una mujer’ inspired by the poetry of Mexican shaman María Sabina.
Klein made his Catalan debut on TV3 with a song he recorded for the album ‘La marató’, which was not included on the album: a version of his hit song ‘What’s a Woman’, ‘What is a donut?’ “It talks about the importance of respect in any relationship,” explains this singer, who grew up in a bilingual household in Brussels. “I went to school in French, but we also spoke Dutch at home. I do not identify with either the Flemish or the Walloons. “I’m on both sides.”